■-'-'••■>- 
 
 JHHUy 
 
Qass^c ?/ — 
 
 
 
 Book 
 
 ^— 
 
 Class 
 
 v r>^cn 
 
 ISSUE SECTIi 
 
 189 T 1 
 
 052 
 
 D . 
 
 t— -i l> 
 00 
 
 
 * I fa- i 
 
MENTAL HYGIENE. 
 
^ 
 
AN ESSAY 
 
 ^ 
 
 THE PRINCIPLES 
 
 MENTAL HYGIENE 
 
 BY 
 
 D. A. GORTON, M.D. 
 
 " What should fairly and honestly be weighed is, that mind is the last, the highest, 
 the consummate evolution of nature's development, and that therefore it must be 
 the last, the most complex, and most difficult object of human study." — Maudsley. 
 
 " Sana mens in corpore sano." — Horace. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 i873- 
 
 2* 
 
/ 
 
 \0 
 
 y 
 #$ 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
 Lippincott's Press, Philadelphia. 
 
TO 
 
 W. S. D., 
 
 AS A TOKEN OF RESPECT FOR A MAN 
 
 IN WHOM THE LOVE OF TRUTH FOR ITS OWN SAKE 
 
 IS A CARDINAL VIRTUE, 
 
 THIS VOLUME 
 
 IS FAITHFULLY INSCRIBED 
 
 BY HIS FRIEND, 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 \V \, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Mental Influence of Physical Agents . . . 9-60 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Mental Influence of Physical Agents — Continued . 61-94 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Reciprocal Influences of Corporeal and Mental 
 
 Exercise 95-127 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Moral and Religious Influences .... 1 28-1 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Moral Agents and Influences 162-194 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Marriage 195-233 
 
 7 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This essay has been prepared with the profound 
 conviction that mind is the most important part of 
 man ; and that the least contribution tending to ex- 
 tend the world's knowledge and appreciation of the 
 relation of mind to nature is of superlative interest to 
 him. 
 
 There is a strong conviction in the minds of many 
 in the medical profession, as well as among intelligent 
 lay-people, that there exists an intimate connection 
 — an interdependent relation — between the physical 
 conditions and environments of man and his moral 
 status. The purpose of this essay is to throw some 
 light upon that interesting subject. 
 
 The medical profession has been charged with 
 apathy toward this field of physiological inquiry ; and 
 if the charge be just, I am confident that the neglect 
 has arisen not so much from a want of a just appre- 
 ciation of its importance, as from a disinclination to 
 intrench upon a department of study which the cus- 
 tom of centuries has wrongfully confided exclusively to 
 the profession of theology, and perhaps, also, from a 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 modest disinclination to needlessly appear in the un- 
 popular role of a teacher of heretical views. The time is 
 come, it seems to me, when justice to an intelligent 
 conviction requires such scruples to be laid aside. 
 The cause of human progress demands the conse- 
 cration of the highest professional endeavor in this 
 regard. Truth is a legacy too precious to mankind 
 to be sacrificed in the interest of conventional usages 
 and set formulas. Whatever be the fate of these, 
 truth must abide forever. 
 
 If the sense of security which this faith awakens in 
 me has emboldened plainness of speech in reference 
 to religious dogmas, I beg to say that it has been in- 
 dulged with a deep respect for religious truth and 
 sentiment; and I am more and more convinced with 
 each new thought and observation that man's great 
 want is more religion, — a more substantial growth in 
 the religious graces : faith, hope, charity, honor, hon- 
 esty, virtue. Mental hygiene comprehends the nur- 
 ture of these ennobling graces. 
 
 In the following pages I have purposely confined 
 myself to general principles, as to write out their 
 application to individual exigencies would swell the 
 bounds to which I had limited myself. The wisdom 
 of this course will be questioned by many practical- 
 minded people; but I have greatly mistaken the 
 mental capacity of the average reader if he, by careful 
 reading of the text and due reflection thereon, be not 
 
PREFACE. x i 
 
 able to comprehend the bearing of these principles, 
 and to make such application of them as individual 
 and society's needs require. Development is the grand 
 fact of all nature. It is exhibited in the condensation 
 of the primordial atoms; in chemical affinity and crys- 
 tallization; in the foliage which drapes the planet; in 
 the flowers and fruits which crown the vegetable king- 
 dom ; no less in the countless phenomena of conscious 
 life, and the sublime unfolding of the human brain 
 and mind. What is most needful to be known in 
 respect to it is, that proper conditions are the antecedents 
 indispensable to its highest realization in any department 
 of nature y or realm of matter or of mind. 
 
 If I mistake not, when this fact is duly appreciated 
 it will be a comparatively easy task to ascertain the 
 conditions best suited for each particular unfolding, 
 and to place one's self and one's children in accord 
 therewith. Knowledge — knowledge of ourselves — is 
 the most effectual savior from the evils which afflict 
 mankind. 
 
 He who reads the following pages with the atten- 
 tion the importance of the subject demands, cannot 
 fail to remark the number of quotations introduced 
 from the writings of distinguished savants, past and 
 present. To my mind, that is the best feature of my 
 volume. And I cannot bring myself to believe that 
 an apology for the innovation is at all necessary. Had 
 I paraphrased freely, my paragraphs would have 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 looked — only looked — more original. The authors 
 from whom I have quoted, however, write good Eng- 
 lish as well as good sense; and in bringing their ideas 
 to my support, it seems only just to them that I 
 should use their own superior language, instead of 
 paraphrasing their ideas in the inferior one of my 
 own. Moreover, a vast deal of time and mental 
 labor is saved by pursuing the former course ; a 
 desideratum of itself sufficiently important in this 
 busy world to embolden me to strongly commend 
 the practice to others under like circumstances. Our 
 writings would sometimes appear to be less original 
 in consequence, it is true. But appearances are often 
 deceitful, as ail know. I do not say, however, that they 
 are always so when the -opposite course is pursued. 
 Pas du tout! 
 
 Deeply sensible of the shortcomings and imper- 
 fections of the volume, but conscious, at the same 
 time, of having done the best I could with the leisure 
 and materials at my command, I submit it to the 
 kind consideration of the profession, and of all others 
 interested in the moral and intellectual progress of 
 man. 
 
 D. A. G. 
 
 311 Clinton Street, 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., May, 1873. 
 
THE 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF MENTAL HYGIENE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Mental influence of physical agents. 
 
 The art of preserving the health of the mind com- 
 prehends a knowledge of the laws and conditions of 
 sentient beings. These laws and conditions comprise 
 man's relation to the Infinite; and if the study of them 
 has raised hygiene to the rank of a science, the credit 
 must be given to the progress of rational philosophy, 
 the diffusion of which is like the reflection of light in 
 dark places. 
 
 The bane of hygiene, like that of religion, has been 
 superstition. Indeed, medical history is, to a great ex- 
 tent, the record of the struggle between rational ideas 
 on the one hand, and blind, unreasoning credulity on 
 the other. In the choice of means and observances 
 for the mental and physical improvement of mankind, 
 the most rational are by no means always the most 
 effective. Faith is still a more ready resource in human 
 affairs than reason ; and the day is not yet past, in 
 the progress of either religion or medicine, when the 
 
 2 9 
 
IO 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 crudest form of that element has ceased to be a sani- 
 tary as well as a religious virtue. 
 
 The change which human opinion is undergoing in 
 this respect is, in the highest degree, interesting. In 
 ancient Greece, among the blind, credulous wor- 
 shipers at the celebrated temple of ^Esculapius, when 
 a malady was to be cured, or the ravages of a pesti- 
 lence stayed, the holy serpents kept at the temple were 
 brought out and displayed among the credulous popu- 
 lation of the infected districts. The charm seems to 
 have fulfilled its purpose in a measure, for the serpent 
 is still retained as the emblem of the healing art. The 
 Romans invoked the magic aid of Apollo under simi- 
 lar circumstances, and, it is presumed, with similar suc- 
 cess. The practice of Christendom is not altogether 
 dissimilar. Even in our day it is customary, among 
 the devout followers of Christ and the advocates of 
 the mystical doctrines of Saint Paul, to appeal to the 
 former for assistance and support in all serious emer- 
 gencies, as when an epidemic of cholera, diphtheria, 
 or a drought is threatened, or a prince, or some other 
 important personage, is in danger from an infection of 
 typhus ! The philosopher's method, in dealing with 
 these exigencies, comprehends an entirely different 
 conception of the divine order and processes. It 
 comprehends the discovery of the causes of pestilence 
 and other abnormal phenomena, and averts and re- 
 moves their invasion by a resort to rational means. 
 There is no lack of faith in this method ; but it is a 
 faith of a higher order than that exhibited in priest- 
 craft and jugglery. It is a faith founded on a knowl- 
 edge that the universe is governed by no arbitrary 
 edicts or transitory laws ; and that the phenomena of 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 II 
 
 nature, including those of man's physical and mental 
 organization, proceed entirely from legitimate antece- 
 dents.* These antecedents may not always be readily 
 apprehended nor easily removed ; but, nevertheless, no 
 well-balanced mind, in the full possession of its facul- 
 ties, could doubt for an instant their existence, nor 
 hope for redress or exemption from their disturbing 
 influence by frantic appeals to the Supreme Being, no 
 more than to the holy serpents, of which the goddess 
 Hygeia is said to have had charge at Epidaurus. 
 
 Mental diseases and derangements do not differ in 
 their essential causes from the more obvious corporeal 
 maladies. An unsightly physical deformity represents 
 so much morbid force, spent in the direction of the 
 least harm to the mental character of the individual. 
 A goitre for example may, and I believe often does, 
 
 * "All mundane events are the results of the operation of law. Every 
 movement in the sky, or upon the earth, proclaims to us that the universe 
 is under government." — Draper s Intellectual Developme7it of Europe, 
 p. 4. 
 
 " To those who have a steady conception of the regularity of events, and 
 have firmly seized the great truth that the actions of men, being guided by 
 their antecedents, are in reality never inconsistent, but, however capricious 
 they may appear, only form part 'of one vast scheme of universal order, of 
 which we, in the present state of knowledge can barely see the outline. 
 . . . Indeed, the progress of inquiry is becoming so rapid and so earnest, 
 that I entertain little doubt that before another century has elapsed the 
 chain of evidence will be complete ; and it will be as rare to find an histo- 
 rian who denies the undeviating regularity of the moral world, as it now is 
 to find a philosopher who denies the regularity of the material world." — 
 Buckle's History of Civilization in England, vol. i. p. 31. 
 
 "Whether we examine the course of the planets, or the world of the 
 animalcula, to whatever field of physical nature our researches turn, the 
 uniform invariable result of scientific inquiry is to show that even the most 
 apparently irregular and surprising phenomena are governed by natural 
 antecedents, and are all parts of one connected system." — Lecky's History 
 of European Morals, vol. i. p. 375. 
 
12 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 hold in its cells the condensed essence of a mania ; 
 rheumatism may divert a pneumonia; and a tuber- 
 cular phthisis obviate or subvert an incurable neurosis. 
 This important truth is well known to mental patholo- 
 gists and physiologists, and yet it is continually mis- 
 apprehended or disregarded by those whose business 
 and duty it is to appreciate it. Nothing is susceptible of 
 a more easy and complete demonstration than that the 
 mind, no less than the body, is subject to physical laws ; 
 and that corporeal and mental maladies may mutually 
 supplement and counteract each other. Eminent sci- 
 entists have long been of the opinion that the mental 
 processes, — the correlation of ideas and feelings, moral 
 perceptions, etc., — are phenomenal processes peculiar 
 to the nervous functions.* To that, however, it is 
 quite unnecessary to do more than to allude in this 
 connection. All intelligent people, of every shade of 
 philosophic or theologic belief, are firmly united in 
 the opinion that the brain is the physical organ of 
 the mind, — its seat, residence, and visible source ; and 
 that their connection is quite indissoluble during life.f 
 
 * "It must be distinctly laid down," says Maudsley, "that mental 
 action is as surely dependent on the nervous structure as the function of 
 the liver confessedly is on the hepatic structure." — Physiology and Pathol- 
 ogy of the Mind, p. 44. 
 
 f " If the growth of the cerebral organs be incomplete, the faculties of 
 the mind are equally defective." — Spurzhcim ' s Phrenology, vol. ii. p. 87. 
 
 " The possibility of exercising and training the faculties of the mind also 
 shows their dependence on the organization ; for that an immaterial being 
 can be exercised is inconceivable." — Ibid., p. 36. 
 
 Dr. John Mason Good, whose learning and moral qualities "The Study 
 of Medicine" sufficiently attests, acquiesces blindly and reverently in the 
 revelations of Scripture for light upon all matters psychical and spiritual, 
 confessing his utter ignorance of their nature and essence. " Of the nature 
 of the mind or soul itself," he says, "we know little beyond what revela- 
 tion has informed us." But we are also equally in the dark concerning the 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. ^ 
 
 Like matter and force, the one may be conceived as 
 existing separable from the other, but it is only in con- 
 ception after all. In fact, the twain are inseparable 
 and indissoluble by any process short of breaking up 
 and destroying the physical organization, by which 
 the psychical is actuated and made known to us. 
 Physiologically, brain and mind are to be considered 
 one and inseparable.* 
 
 nature of matter. He says : "Of the essence of matter we know nothing, 
 and altogether as little of many of its more active qualities. . . . But if 
 we know nothing of the essence, and but little of the qualities of matter, of 
 that common substrate which is diffused around us in every direction, and 
 constitutes the whole of the visible world, what can we know of that which 
 is immaterial?" — Study of Medicine, vol. ii. pp. 161-2. 
 
 At the time our author wrote the whole scientific world was divided 
 into materialists and immaterialists. Since the brilliant discoveries of 
 the later physiologists, and more notably those of the spectroscope, 
 materialistic problems have measurably ceased to disturb the moral equi- 
 librium of any class of thinkers ; matter being sufficiently wonderful in its 
 strange metamorphoses to enlist the earnest attention of the most enlight- 
 ened and spiritually minded. 
 
 * "Consciousness gives no account of the essential material conditions 
 which underlie every mental manifestation and determine the character of 
 it : let the function of an individual's optic ganglia be abolished by disease or 
 otherwise, and he would not be conscious that he was blind until experi- 
 ence had convinced him of it. On grounds which will not easily be shaken 
 it is now indeed admitted, that with every display of mental activity there 
 is a correlative change or waste of nervous element ; and on the condition 
 of the material substratum must depend the degree and character of the 
 manifested energy or the mental phenomenon." — Mauds ley s Physiology 
 and Pathology of the Mind, p. 13. 
 
 " Magendie, the celebrated French physiologist of the last century, also 
 held that the phenomena of life and mentality were the sequence of vital 
 and nervous functions. Concerning the genesis of mind and intelligence, 
 he says : ' L'intelligence de l'homme se compose de phenomenes tellement 
 differens de tout ce que presente d'ailleurs la nature, qu'on les rapporte a 
 un etre particulier qu'on regarde comme une emanation de ia Divinite.' 
 And while the physiologist cannot doubt the existence of a Supreme Being, 
 it is well, he thinks, to use guarded language in expressing his relations to 
 him, since that is a subject of which he knows so little. Then he con- 
 
! 4 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 "In dead matter," says Maudsley,* "the form is 
 looked upon as the attribute of the matter ; whereas, 
 on the other hand, in living bodies, the matter is 
 treated as the attribute of the form. In inorganic 
 nature the matter is the essential thing ; in the or- 
 ganic creation the form is all in all. But to neglect 
 the exact consideration of the conditions and combi- 
 nations of matter, as determining organic form, is not 
 less mischievous than it is to concentrate all the atten- 
 tion upon the matter in inorganic nature. What are 
 inseparably joined together in nature let us not vainly 
 attempt to put asunder." 
 
 " This doctrine of the brain," says Lewes,f " is un- 
 derstood in two different ways by two contending 
 schools. The one regards the brain as the original 
 agent ; the other regards it as the intermediate instru- 
 ment. According to the one, the brain thinks as the 
 stomach digests ; according to the other, the brain is 
 the instrument of thought, played upon by the mind 
 as a piano is played upon by a musician. These two 
 schools, however opposed, meet on neutral ground 
 when they come to the laws of physiology. ... A 
 piano out of tune will yield discordant music, let the 
 performer be ever so skillful. A penny-whistle can 
 never have the clang of a trumpet. It is obvious, 
 
 tinues: ' Mais la severite de langage ou dc logique que comporte main- 
 tenant la physiologie, exige que Ton traite de 1" intelligence humaine 
 comme si elle etait le resultat de Taction d'un organe. ... II existe une 
 science dont le but est d'apprendre a raisonner justement, c'est la logique; 
 mais le jugement errone ou 1' esprit faux tiennent a 1' organisation. II est 
 impossible de se changer a cet egard : nous restons tels que la nature nous a 
 faits.' " — Precis Elementaire, from Good's Study of Medicine, vol. ii. p. 162. 
 
 * Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, p. 75. 
 
 f Physiology of Common Life, vol. ii. p. 13. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 15 
 
 therefore, that on the structure and state of the instru- 
 ment will depend the quality of the sounds produced." 
 It is curious to observe that the materialistic physi- 
 ologists and the metaphysical physiologists diverge 
 just at this point. The subject is a legacy bequeathed 
 to medicine by a dead and decaying theology.* The 
 discussion which it has awakened in the profession of 
 medicine resembles the wrangles of the monks of the 
 Middle Ages over such questions as the attributes of 
 Deity, the heat of hell, and the size of the human 
 soul, etc. The result of the discussion has been quite 
 as idle and profitless. It is now generally conceded 
 that matter and force are each inexplicable, and that, 
 in the last analysis, as much is known of one as of the 
 other. To the physiologist it is surely enough to 
 know, what is no longer disputed, and all that can be 
 known, namely, the mutual dependence of matter and 
 force, of brain and mind ; and that the principles 
 which preside over the well-being of one are equally 
 operative upon the destiny of the other. " That 
 which perceives," says Dr. Thomas Brown,f " is a part 
 of nature as truly as the objects of perception which 
 act on it, and, as a part of nature, is itself an object of 
 investigation purely physical." And Dr. Haven admits 
 
 * "The habit of viewing mind as an intangible entity, or incorporeal 
 essence, which science inherited from theology, prevented men from sub- 
 jecting its phenomena to the same method of investigation as other natural 
 phenomena." — Maudsley s Gulstonian Lectures on Body and Mind, p. 12. 
 
 f Philosophy of the Human Mind. This comprehensive idea of nature 
 is the revival of a very old doctrine. The earliest Greek conception of 
 nature included the objective world, simply — earth, fire, water, and an 
 active principle, or force — air. " Afterward," says Maine, " the later Greek 
 sects, returning to a path from which the greatest intellects of Greece had 
 meanwhile strayed, added the moral to the physical world in the conception 
 of nature. They extended the term till it embraced not merely the visible 
 
l6 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 substantially the same doctrine. " The human mind," 
 says he, " is strictly a part, and a most important part, 
 of nature, unless we exclude man himself from the 
 world to which he belongs, and of which he is lord."* 
 It may be still further observed, in passing, that from 
 the habit of ignoring mental hygiene, by both classes 
 of physiologists, or of giving the subject but an insig- 
 nificant treatment in the study of the laws of health, 
 and leaving to theology what it is the clear province 
 of medicine to accomplish, has arisen the custom, by 
 no means extinct, of observing and studying mental 
 disorders from the purely metaphysical or subjective 
 point of view. It has been usually assumed, by the 
 dominant school, and tacitly admitted by the other, 
 that mind, in the abstract, is a spiritual entity, or an 
 " incorporeal essence," separable from the body, as 
 force is conceived by many to be separable from mat- 
 ter, and independent of the recognized laws of vitality. 
 Little attempt has been made, until modern times, to 
 analyze its nature from a physiological stand-point, or 
 to reduce its phenomena to a strictly scientific basis 
 of objective observation. The physical side of men- 
 tality has been, for the most part, if not wholly, con- 
 fined to a description of the brain and nervous system, 
 and the part they play in the corporeal system ; the 
 
 creation, but the thoughts, observances, and aspirations of mankind." — 
 Ancient Law, p. 51. 
 
 Nature comprehends all things within the ken of human reason and ob- 
 servation. "Not the smallest atom," says Maudsley, "that floats in the 
 sunbeam, nor the minutest molecule that vibrates within the microcosm of 
 an organic cell, but is bound as a part of the mysterious whole in an inex- 
 tricable harmony with the laws by which planets move in their appointed 
 orbits, or with the laws which govern the marvelous creations of godlike 
 genius." — Maudsley' s Physiology and Pathology of the A find, p. 26. 
 
 * Mental Science, p. 16. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 17 
 
 influence of light, sleep, rest, exercise, and recreation 
 on its functions : nothing more. Books of hygiene 
 may be consulted in vain for definite information re- 
 specting the precise influence of morbific causes and 
 agents on the mind, or of rational means of restoring 
 and preserving the health of a mind disordered by 
 them, especially if the phenomena presented be re- 
 moved from the ordinary plane of physical observa- 
 tion. Surely, if mind be the most important part of 
 man, as Sir William Hamilton and the philosophers 
 of his type were pleased to believe, this is a grave 
 neglect. A system of hygiene, or of moral philos- 
 ophy, which does not recognize the superior excel- 
 lence of man's nervous organization ; which appre- 
 ciates not the grand distinction and superiority of his 
 mentality over that of other animals ; which, in short, 
 fails to recognize his grand spirituality, and to per- 
 ceive the wide chasm which separates him from all 
 other orders of beings in nature, must obviously be 
 defective. The works on physiology and hygiene, of 
 which there are many admirable in their way, apply 
 almost equally well to man as an animal, or to an 
 animal as man. The higher functions of the nervous 
 system, comprehending the religious element, and the 
 influence of physical causes upon its manifestations, 
 are but slightly and incidentally touched upon. 
 Studies in mental hygiene and therapeutics should 
 remedy this obvious deficiency; and a few writers 
 have lately been bold enough to risk the charge of 
 heresy in opening the discussion.* Among the most 
 
 * If mind be a part of nature, and held in subjection to her laws, it is 
 natural to conclude, what indeed is fully demonstrated by the facts of 
 
1 8 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 prominent works which have taken advanced views 
 on the subject is Mr. Graham's "Science of Human 
 Life," an able book, but little read, owing to the un- 
 popularity of its author's well-known views of dietet- 
 ics. " The Constitution of Man," by George Combe, 
 tends in the same direction. " The Principles of 
 Physiology," by Dr. Andrew Combe, is also an excep- 
 tion, in this respect, to the usual works on hygiene ; 
 and Dr. Ray's " Mental Hygiene" is an admirable 
 monograph, fulfilling, in many respects, the just re- 
 
 mental physiology and pathology, viz., that there is an intimate connection 
 between morbific causes and mental disease; between, in other words, sin 
 and sickness, immorality and morbid anatomy. Those who read attentively 
 the records of criminal trials cannot fail to have been impressed with the 
 frequency with which disease and crime are associated together in the 
 same person. So constant is this phenomenon in our law-courts, that the 
 defense have no difficulty in getting well-informed experts to testify in 
 support of the plea of insanity on the part of the culprit. The fact is 
 urged by the unthinking public as an evidence of the unreliability of 
 medical evidence in such cases. It should rather be regarded as evidence 
 of the intimate connection subsisting between crime and disease, for which 
 doctors and criminal counsel are, in most cases, assuredly not responsible. 
 
 These facts, in connection with the psychical influence of morbific and 
 drug agents, point unmistakably to the ultimate establishment of a science 
 of moral therapeutics and pathology. Mr. Lecky, the able author of the 
 " History of European Morals," has already anticipated such a result. He 
 says : — 
 
 " He who raises moral pathology to a science, expanding, systematizing, 
 and applying many fragmentary observations that have already been made, 
 will probably take a high place among the master intellects of mankind. 
 The fastings and broodings of the mediaeval monk, the medicines for allay- 
 ing or stimulating the sexual passions, the treatment of nervous diseases, 
 the moral influences of insanity and castration, the researches of phrenol- 
 ogy, the moral changes that accompany the successive stages of physical 
 development, the instances of diseases which have altered, sometimes per- 
 manently, the whole complexion of the character, and have acted through 
 the character upon all the intellectual judgments, are examples of the kind 
 of facts with which such a science would deal." — History of European 
 Morals, vol. i. p. 167. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. IO/ 
 
 quirements of the subject. In conjunction with 
 Maudsley's* and Winslow'sf able contributions to 
 mental physiology, the subject of mental hygiene 
 becomes tolerably comprehensible to those at least 
 whose minds are free from the unhappy bias of theo- 
 logical tradition, and the fallacious doctrines of the 
 earlier physiologists. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that man is a physiolo- 
 gical unit. Divide his organization into as many parts 
 as we may, his individuality comprehends them all ; 
 and the loss of the most inconsequential part destroys 
 his identity. In him the animal and the human har- 
 moniously blend. The higher attributes of a human 
 being, the cerebrum, may be destroyed, and yet 
 the animal part of his organization preserve its vital 
 integrity. This fact is illustrated in idiocy and im- 
 becility. Moreover, M. Flourens and others have 
 actual!^ removed the cerebra of birds and other 
 animals without impairing the functions of the lower 
 animal life. The animal part of man is thus observed 
 to be, in a measure, independent of the human, and may 
 maintain a separate existence. The characteristically 
 human part of his organization, however, is not thus 
 independent of the animal organs, but is united to them 
 by an inseparable bond. The cerebrum is the flower 
 of organic creation, — its supreme coronation. Its 
 vital integrity is maintained by the corporeal system. 
 The radicle may live and flourish independent of the 
 flower; but if the flower be disconnected from the 
 radicle, it speedily withers and dies. So is it with the 
 
 * Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, 
 f Obscure Diseases of the Mind. 
 
2o MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 human mind : its health and integrity are inseparable 
 from a sound body ; and it may be seriously questioned 
 if mind in any form or condition is ever separable in 
 terrestrial life from the material casement of the nerv- 
 ous system. Mental hygiene necessarily comprehends 
 the laws and conditions of man's whole being, physi- 
 cal and mental, one and inseparable. In respect to 
 the corporeal or animal life, let us premise that its 
 laws and conditions are well known and appreciated, 
 and proceed to the consideration of those of the more 
 complex and characteristically mental and human. 
 
 The brain and nervous system may, in one respect, 
 be compared to the sensitive plate in the camera, 
 registering faithfully all the various and conflicting 
 impressions received from without ; but, unlike the 
 camera, receiving and registering likewise all those 
 from within.* The brain is the centre of the individual 
 universe. Through the reflex action of the nerves, 
 and vascular circulation, the various diseased states of 
 the body are duly, it may be said unceasingly, re- 
 corded upon it, modifying its function, and interrupt- 
 ing, more or less seriously, the orderly flow and se- 
 quence of ideas. Thus it is impossible for a disease, 
 however slight or inconsequential, to exist in the most 
 
 * Dr. Combe, whose able work on physiology and hygiene I have before 
 alluded to, after admitting the existence in the brain of a distinct mental 
 essence, — mind in the abstract, — declares : " It requires, however, to be dis- 
 tinctly understood that activity of mind and activity of brain are not only 
 inseparable, but that so long as life remains the mental operations are dis- 
 tinctly influenced by the condition of the brain." And again : " The brain 
 being a part of the animal system and subject to the same general laws as 
 the other organs, the reader will not be surprised that I should, as in the 
 case of the lungs, state a sound original constitution as the first condition 
 of its healthy activity." — The Principles of Physiology, p. 216. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 2 I 
 
 remote extremity of the body without making itself 
 morbidly manifest in the brain. The mental effect of 
 a mechanical injury, as a cut or a bruise, with a knife 
 or other instrument ; the shock coincident with a blow 
 or a fall, the dislocation of a joint, or the fracture of a 
 limb; or a slight loss of blood or other humors of the 
 body, — are frequently similar to those produced on 
 the mind by excessive fear, intense anxiety or grief, or 
 other powerful emotions. The sight of blood causes 
 fainting in some persons ; and I have known strong 
 men to sink into complete coma by an unimportant 
 cut of a finger, or from the pain of an old tooth, or the 
 suffering attending its extraction, and even by the 
 sympathy with the trifling pangs incident to that 
 operation in others. Indeed, the mutual sympathy 
 and reciprocity between mind and body are so intimate 
 and strong, that it is impossible to conceive of the 
 affection of one without the other being morbidly dis- 
 turbed by that affection. " Experience, our only sure 
 guide in medical inquiries," says Forbes Winslow,* 
 " instructs the physician that a diseased condition of the 
 body produces an alteration in the condition of the 
 mind ; and that certain emotions of the soul, whether 
 of a pleasurable or painful nature, are universally 
 attended with reciprocal alterations in the bodily func- 
 tions."! Every thought, no less every muscular act, 
 
 * Body and Mind, p. 153. 
 
 f " All mental excitements, therefore, are causes of some degree of disturb- 
 ance to the nerves of organic life ; and when violent and frequently re- 
 peated, they necessarily induce and permanently establish a morbid irri- 
 tability and sympathy throughout the whole domain, generally involving, 
 also, the brain and spinal marrow, and especially the brain. Functional 
 aberration and derangement necessarily result from this state of things, 
 leading to disease and change of structure in the organs. On the other 
 
 3 
 
22 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 is attended with consentaneous changes in the nervous 
 structure ; and there is reason to believe that the 
 nature of those changes is modified according to the 
 character or quality of the thoughts and emotions ex- 
 cited. The exercise of agreeable emotions and ideas is 
 highly salutary on the general health and circulation ; 
 while painful emotions are well known not only to de- 
 stroy the physiological poise and equilibrium, but to 
 actually poison the blood and secretions as effectually 
 as the absorption of malaria or medicinal and toxical 
 agents. This may be effected in part, it is true, from 
 arrest or modification of the functions of the excretory 
 organs; but that it cannot result wholly from that cause 
 seems to be demonstrated by the fact that the exercise 
 of different morbid emotions produces different de- 
 rangements of the secretions. The milk, for example, 
 of an angered mother sickens her child ; but it is not 
 known that the effect of grief produces a similar mor- 
 bific effect upon her milk. 
 
 Be that as it may, that field of medical inquiry is an 
 
 hand, the mind sympathizes in the most delicate and powerful manner with 
 the nerves of organic life in all their general affections and conditions." — 
 Graham's Science of Human Life, sees. 304, 305. 
 
 Long ago Descartes observed: " That the soul is so much influenced by 
 the constitution of our bodily organs, that if it were possible to find out a 
 method of increasing our penetration, it should certainly be sought for in 
 medicine." — Quoted from Winslow's Body and Mind, p. 153. 
 
 Dr. Combe, although an adherent of the metaphysical school of philoso- 
 phy, frequently lapses to the physiological. "A good deal of observation," 
 he observes, " has convinced me that the transmission of imperfectly oxy- 
 genated blood to the brain is greatly more influential in the production of 
 nervous disease and delicacy of constitution than is commonly imagined." 
 — The Principles of Physiology, p. 220. It is impossible to be oblivious to 
 the fact that the blood~deranged from other causes may be equally or even 
 more vicious and vitiating in its influence on the mind. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 23 
 
 interesting one, and requires a stronger hand than 
 mine to work it profitably. Moreover, its cultivation 
 is outside the limits of my present task, which is con- 
 fined to subjects more easily demonstrable. 
 
 Dr. Johnson facetiously observes, that " every man is 
 a rascal as soon as he is sick." Whether he designed 
 the remark to be taken in its literal sense or not, there 
 is certainly an immense amount of literal truth in it. 
 The modification of the morals, passions, and intellect 
 is most marked in a variety of physical derangements, 
 as all who have been ill even to an inconsiderable de- 
 gree can attest. Aside from actual mental aberration, 
 consequent on many disorders of the corporeal organs, 
 ill humor and nervous irritability may be induced by 
 very slight disturbances of the general health, as a cold 
 in the head, disordered stomach, privation of sleep, etc. 
 Thus it is that peculiarities of climate, sudden atmos- 
 pheric changes, and unwholesome, vitiated air, exer- 
 cise an important influence upon the mental functions, 
 as well as upon bodily disease. Abodes in dark, over- 
 heated, ill-ventilated apartments, where the air is con- 
 fined, and in consequence loaded with the effete debris 
 and noxious vapors necessarily incident to organic 
 life, are prolific of manifold derangements. The blood 
 becomes poisoned, and through it the fountain of 
 thought and feeling is correspondingly corrupted. 
 In a small way these vitiating causes and conse- 
 quences may be observed in the homes of the indi- 
 gent poor in any large city. Poor air, unwholesome 
 food, ill health, vice, poverty, and crime go hand in 
 hand, and are mutual concomitants of each other. On 
 a larger scale, the moral influences of unwholesome 
 climates and conditions are illustrated in the lives of 
 
24 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 various peoples and nations. The characteristically 
 stimulating climate of the United States induces nervous 
 restlessness, mental activity, desire for stimulants, and a 
 tendency to suicidal mania. The climate of the whole 
 Atlantic coast is particularly irritating and unfavorable 
 to long life and good morals. Nor is this atmospheric 
 condition alone peculiar to the United States. It is 
 said by Dr. Ray,* that " during the prevalence of the 
 sirocco wind in Malta, Sicily, and the south of Italy, 
 there is observed to be a great increase of irritability 
 and excitement, and nervous disease is more readily 
 developed where the predisposition exist. The damp 
 winds of La Plata produce a general lassitude and re- 
 laxation, accompanied by remarkable irritability and 
 ill humor. It is a common thing for men among the 
 better classes to shut themselves up in their houses 
 during its continuance, and lay aside all business until 
 it has passed ; while among the lower classes cases 
 of quarreling and bloodshed are more frequent." 
 
 Moreover, nothing is susceptible of an easier de- 
 monstration than that the love of intoxicating drinks 
 is largely influenced by climatic and atmospheric con- 
 ditions. Drunkenness is almost unknown among the 
 dusky inhabitants of equatorial regions ; while the 
 vice advances with an ever increasing ratio as we ap- 
 proach the more northern latitudes. The love of 
 stimulants is not uncommon to man in all latitudes 
 and under all circumstances ; but it requires the 
 colder regions of the north to develop that love into a 
 passion, and to convert the innocent jollity of a south- 
 ern and eastern savage into a wild and brutal Saxon 
 
 * Mental Hygiene, p. 90. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 25 
 
 of North America. America is peculiarly prolific of 
 the vice of intoxication. The quiet and ease-loving 
 inhabitant of Europe, although an habitual drinker, 
 falls readily into the gravest habits of intoxication 
 upon emigrating to the western continent. Mr. John 
 Jay, our minister to Austria, says that he has ob- 
 served more drunkenness in a single day in New 
 York than in a whole year in Vienna.* Yet the use 
 of alcoholic and fermented beverages is more general 
 in the Austrian capital and dominions than it is in 
 New York and America. 
 
 Statistics of crime, moreover, prove that the morals 
 of mankind are influenced in no small degree by the 
 succession of the seasons, as well as by sudden mete- 
 orological changes of the atmosphere. Causes that 
 heat the blood and depress the pulse and physical 
 energies inflame the passions and lower the tone of 
 the moral energies. Disease and crime are, accord- 
 ingly, more prevalent in torrid climates, and in the hot 
 seasons of temperate climates; /and it is impossible to 
 estimate the measure of one's responsibility for his 
 acts, or to determine with precision how much of our 
 benevolence and kindly intent are the result of cheer- 
 ful moral surroundings, good digestion, and favorable 
 wind and sunshine, and how much of one's badness and 
 cheerlessness to attribute to the opposite physical and 
 meteorological conditions. It is certainly true that 
 very good people sometimes find it exceedingly diffi- 
 cult to fulfil the just requirements of an enlightened 
 conscience, or even to restrain impulses peculiar to a 
 
 * Letter to Professor H. J. Bowditch, Boston, Mass. Vide Second 
 Annual Report of the State (Mass.) Board of Health on the Subject of 
 Intemperance. Boston, 1872. 
 
26 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 decidedly vicious nature ; and that very bad people 
 experience no difficulty sometimes in being good 
 and well-behaved, and both from causes inexplicable 
 to themselves, and least of all deserving either praise 
 or blame. On this subject Forbes Winslow forcibly 
 remarks : — 
 
 ^>*ln some conditions of nervous disorder the slight- 
 est meteorological changes give rise to singular alter- 
 nations of despondency, despair, hope and joy, so com- 
 pletely does the mind succumb to physical influences. 
 I have known a person subject to attacks of suicidal 
 melancholia during the prevalence of a cold, blight- 
 ing, depressing east wind, who appeared happy, con- 
 tented, and free from all desire to injure himself, under 
 other and more congenial conditions of the atmos- 
 phere ! An Italian artist never could reside a winter 
 in England without the distressing idea of self-destruc- 
 tion suggesting itself to his morbidly-depressed mind. 
 I have known natives of France, accustomed, from 
 early life, to the buoyant air and bright azure sky of 
 that country, sink into profound states of mental de- 
 spondency if compelled to reside many weeks in Lon- 
 don during the earlier portion of the winter season."* 
 Our author proceeds to relate a case of a gentleman 
 "suffering from severe mental dejection," who was 
 painfully depressed when the sky was overcast with 
 black clouds, and cheered and comforted by the glory 
 of the returning sunshine. I have myself repeatedly 
 observed similar effects from clouds and sunshine 
 upon such invalids ; and a patient of that class now 
 under advisement finds it exceedingly uncomfortable 
 
 * Obscure Diseases of the Brain, p. 165. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 2/ 
 
 to occupy a shaded room, or a room with a northern 
 exposure; and another is always gloomy and dis- 
 consolate on rainy days, and buoyant and happy when 
 the air is clear and sunny. Hypochondriacal people, 
 in general, are deeply influenced by the weather, and 
 especially require a maximum of balmy air and sun- 
 light. The poet Cowper bears testimony to this truth 
 in his own unhappy experience. In one of his letters 
 to a friend, he says : " I rise cheerless and distressed, 
 and brighten as the sun goes on." Such are some of 
 the effects of external, atmospheric conditions upon 
 the nervous functions of man. 
 
 Emerson finds confirmation of these facts in the 
 promptings of his own intuition. In one of his best 
 essays he says : " When our higher faculties are in 
 activity we are domesticated, and awkwardness and 
 discomfort give place to natural and agreeable move- 
 ments. It is noticed that the consideration of the 
 great periods and spaces of astronomy induces a 
 dignity of mind and an indifference to death. The 
 influence of fine scenery, the presence of mountains, 
 appeases our irritations and elevates our friendships. 
 Even a high dome, and the expansive interior of a 
 cathedral, have a sensible effect on our manners. I 
 have heard that stiff people lose something of their 
 awkwardness under high ceilings and in spacious 
 halls. I think sculpture and painting have an effect 
 to teach these manners and abolish hurry."* 
 
 The influence of climate, seasons, sanitary condi- 
 tions, and certain drugs and morbific agents, upon the 
 more purely animal functions has long been under- 
 
 * The Conduct of Life, p. 138. 
 
2 8 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 stood, in a general way, by physicians and socialistic 
 philosophers. The effects of the same agents and in- 
 fluences upon the mind, however, have not received, 
 until more recently, any considerable degree of atten- 
 tion, for the reason, as has been already stated, that its 
 phenomena were considered to be independent of the 
 laws of nature and sense, derived, in fact, from a source 
 above the realm of finite comprehension, and which it 
 would indeed be the grossest presumption for cold, 
 irreverent reason to enter, in an attempt to pry into 
 its sacred secrets. The interesting studies of MM. 
 Quetelet,* Guerry,f Esquirol,J and others, early in 
 the present century, concerning the mental influence 
 of climate, seasons, social conditions, etc., opened a 
 new field for reflection and observation. In the preface 
 to his remarkable work, the " Science of Man," first 
 published in Paris in 1835, M. Quetelet boldly affirmed 
 that society was responsible, in a measure, for the 
 crimes of the individual, by affording the " facilities 
 for their development." " It is the social state," he 
 says, " in some measure, which prepares these crimes, 
 and the criminal is merely the instrument to execute 
 them."§ If this doctrine were heretical then, it has 
 ceased to be regarded as wholly so now ; for the inti- 
 mate relation of crimes and diseases — diseases which 
 the progress of sanitary science has demonstrated, in 
 every civilized community upon the planet, to be 
 within the control of civilized society — is a fact of 
 common observation. He must, indeed, have a crude 
 
 * Sur l'l-Iomme, et le Developpement des Facultes. Paris, 1835. 
 f Essai sur la Statistique Morale de la France, 1830. 
 % Annales d' Hygiene— Remarques sur la Statistique des Alienes, 1830. 
 § Preface to the English translation, page 6. Edinburgh, 1842. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 2 9 
 
 sense of justice, who supposes that the individual acts 
 committed against the peace and order of society are 
 to be attributed alone to the criminal, when the merest 
 novice in philosophy can demonstrate that that very 
 criminal is to a great extent a creature of conditions and 
 environments, of antecedents which he did not make 
 and could not control; that, in fact, he himself is 
 sinned against as well as sinning, and has just cause 
 of grievance against society for permitting the exist- 
 ence of conditions which breed in him ill health and 
 morbid impulses without end, and then turning upon 
 him the avenging hand of remorseless law ! The 
 criminal has as clear a case against a community 
 which permits the existence of avoidable causes of dis- 
 ease and crime as the man who falls into an unguarded 
 pit in the public highway has against the city or vil- 
 lage corporation where the incident occurs, or as the 
 victim of a railroad accident has against the criminal 
 carelessness of its managers. The cases are clearly 
 analogous, as I apprehend them ; but society does not, 
 unhappily, yet appreciate the analogy which makes her 
 a party to such grave responsibilities. She is slow in 
 discerning relations not apparent upon the surface ; 
 and while she exercises good sense with railroad com- 
 panies and other incorporated bodies in holding them 
 responsible for the lives and limbs of their patrons, 
 imposing heavy fines for the consequences of their 
 neglect of duty, she has Bibles and tracts, handcuffs 
 and hemp, for those whom her wrongs have too often 
 goaded into making retaliatory reprisals upon indi- 
 viduals : I say retaliatory reprisals advisedly, for this 
 is the view most intelligent criminals take of the 
 matter. 
 
30 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 The difficulties environing this subject arise from the 
 failure to correctly apprehend the operation of moral 
 causes, and the just relation of the individual to society. 
 The justice of holding corporations responsible for 
 the evils growing out of manifest neglect in the per- 
 formance of their functions is universally recognized, 
 except by the corporations themselves ; the propriety 
 of making corporate communities answerable to the 
 individual for the consequences of infectious and pesti- 
 lential diseases was long since openly advanced in 
 high places.* But it remains for the modern mind to 
 discern that moral disorders have also their avoidable 
 causes, which are as fixed in their laws of operation as 
 are the more obvious physical laws ; and that the 
 community which neglects their observation and en- 
 forcement shares with the culprit the guilt of murder, 
 theft, and other crimes which occur in consequence 
 of such neglect, in the same way, precisely, as if the 
 evil had been a Westfield explosion, a Car-Rock dis- 
 aster, or an influx of cholera or typhus. f 
 
 * " To every evil the Author of nature has kindly prepared an antidote. 
 Pestilential fevers furnish no exception to this remark. The means of pre- 
 venting them are as much under the power of human reason and industry 
 as the means of preventing the evils of lightning or common fire. I am so 
 satisfied of the truth of this opinion, that I look for the time when our courts 
 of law shall punish cities and villages for permitting any of the sources of 
 bilious and malignant fevers to exist within their jurisdiction." — Dr. Ben- 
 jamin Rush. 
 
 f " It is absurd to suppose that the crimes in great cities are attributable 
 altogether to the free agency of the poor wretches who are transported or 
 hung for them. The nation which can and does not prevent the existence 
 of a criminal class is responsible collectively for the evil done by this class. 
 This we can see plainly enough, although the exact distribution of the re- 
 sponsibility among the different members of society may be impossible to 
 determine." — E. B. Taylor, in the Nation, 1872. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 31 
 
 Objection is urged against these views that they are 
 opposed to the dogmas of free will and human ac- 
 countability. They do, certainly, restrict individual 
 accountability, and subordinate human volition to 
 moral and physical laws. But what the individual 
 loses in this respect is put upon the shoulders of so- 
 ciety; so that in the end man — the average man of 
 Quetelet — is relieved of no burden or responsibility, 
 but, on the contrary, is held more justly and properly 
 responsible for all his acts, neglects, and their attend- 
 ant conseqences ; while it frees an inscrutable Provi- 
 dence from the odium unjustly charged to him by an 
 inscrutable blindness, of causing the more obscure evils 
 that afflict the social state. If it be sacrilege to advo- 
 cate truths and principles inconsistent with the stability 
 of theological dogmas, it is impious to impute to Prov- 
 idence those countless crimes and casualties which 
 occur outside the confines of a narrow and antiquated 
 philosophy. 
 
 It is foreign to the purpose of an essay of this kind, 
 however, to enter upon an extended discussion con- 
 cerning the bearings of the principles herein advo- 
 cated, or of the numerous facts adduced in their sup- 
 port. M. Quetelet, in the volume referred to, has 
 collated in a tabular form many facts from the writ- 
 ings of Esquirol and others, which serve to show in 
 clearer light than argument can do the regularity of 
 moral phenomena under the joint operation of moral 
 and physical laws, and man's complete subordination 
 to his environments. We have already referred to the 
 remarkable influence which is exercised by seasons 
 and climate upon the mental state. The following table 
 from Esquirol shows the influence of the seasons upon 
 
32 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 mental alienation among both sexes, in France, at 
 Charenton :* 
 
 Influence of the Seasons upon Insajiity. 
 
 
 Admissions, 
 
 
 
 
 
 1828- 
 
 1829. 
 
 Admis- 
 
 
 
 Months. 
 
 
 
 sions be- 
 fore 1829. 
 
 Cures. 
 
 Deaths. 
 
 
 
 
 Men. 
 
 Women. 
 
 
 
 
 January . 
 
 42 
 
 21 
 
 37 
 
 11 
 
 21 
 
 February- 
 
 
 
 40 
 
 33 
 
 49 
 
 10 
 
 24 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 49 
 
 25 
 
 53 
 
 10 
 
 16 
 
 April 
 
 
 
 50 
 
 38 
 
 58 
 
 16 
 
 22 
 
 May. 
 
 
 
 58 
 
 36 
 
 44 
 
 15 
 
 18 
 
 June. 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 34 
 
 70 
 
 19 
 
 18 
 
 July . 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 36 
 
 61 
 
 23 
 
 18 
 
 August 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 24 
 
 64 
 
 22 
 
 13 
 
 September 
 
 
 48 
 
 26 
 
 47 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 October . 
 
 
 44 
 
 47 
 
 49 
 
 24 
 
 3° 
 
 November 
 
 
 47 
 
 22 
 
 35 
 
 22 
 
 22 
 
 December 
 
 
 35 
 
 28 
 
 52 
 
 15 
 
 8 
 
 Total . 
 
 565 
 
 37° 
 
 619 
 
 209 
 
 221 
 
 It will be observed, according to this table, that in- 
 sanity is evidently more rife in hot weather, and that 
 its decline in the season of autumn is quite in accord 
 with what one would suppose to be natural, with the 
 decline of the apparent exciting cause, — excessive 
 heat. 
 
 The same author shows, also, the connection of age 
 with the same disease. It would not appear, however, 
 that any attempt was made to discriminate in the 
 table between the differing types and varieties of 
 insanity. 
 
 Quetelet's Science of Man, p. 76. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 33 
 
 Influence of Age upon Insanity. 
 
 
 At Charenton, 
 
 
 z 
 
 At Charenton, 
 
 
 before 
 
 1829. 
 
 
 
 
 bi s £ 
 
 1829 to 1833. 
 
 Ages. 
 
 
 
 Ratio. 
 
 §*3 
 
 
 
 Admis- 
 sions. 
 
 Cures . 
 
 Men. 
 
 Women. 
 
 15 to 20 years . . 
 
 22 
 
 II 
 
 2.0 
 
 24 
 
 24 
 
 II 
 
 20 to 25 " 
 
 
 
 6 7 
 
 3° 
 
 2.2 
 
 79 
 
 65 
 
 23 
 
 25 to 30 " 
 
 
 
 86 
 
 40 
 
 2.2 
 
 109 
 
 78 
 
 31 
 
 30 to 35 " 
 
 
 
 98 
 
 36 
 
 2.7 
 
 134 
 
 79 
 
 47 
 
 35 to 40 
 
 
 
 81 
 
 25 
 
 3-3 
 
 125 
 
 65 
 
 64 
 
 40 to 45 
 
 
 
 79 
 
 21 
 
 3-8 
 
 129 
 
 64 
 
 59 
 
 45 to 50 " 
 
 
 
 72 
 
 14 
 
 5-i 
 
 131 
 
 52 
 
 44 
 
 5° to 55 " 
 
 
 
 52 
 
 12 
 
 43 
 
 108 
 
 54 
 
 37 
 
 55 to 60 " 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 6 
 
 3-5 
 
 5i 
 
 32 
 
 20 
 
 60 to 65 
 
 
 
 21 
 
 9 
 
 2.3 
 
 63 
 
 33 
 
 18 
 
 65 to 70 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 1 
 
 6.0 
 
 24 
 
 14 
 
 9 
 
 70 and upwards 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 3-5 
 
 45 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 This table is highly instructive, particularly in 
 showing the bearings of age upon the disease in ques- 
 tion, and the comparative predisposition of the sexes 
 to mental derangements. Man is more subject to 
 the disease in early manhood, at the period of his 
 greatest intellectual activity. Its greatest activity in 
 woman, on the other hand, is the period preceding the 
 change of life. Men at all ages, particularly that of 
 youth, are more subject to it than women, except in 
 the very evening of life, when women exceed them in 
 liability. It was this fact, constant in the phenomena 
 of madness, of the greater liability to attacks of the 
 disease during the period of the greatest intellectual 
 activity, that led M. Esquirol to declare insanity to be 
 a disease of civilization. 
 
 The following table illustrates more forcibly the 
 comparative liability of the sexes to the disease : it is 
 also from Esquirol : 
 
 4 
 
34 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 Comparative Liability of the Sexes to Insanity. 
 
 
 Paris. 
 
 Norway. 
 
 Ages. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Men. 
 
 Women. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Women. 
 
 Men. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Before 20 years . . 
 
 436 
 
 348 
 
 784 
 
 141 
 
 188 
 
 329 
 
 From 20 to 25 . 
 
 624 
 
 563 
 
 1,187 
 
 83 
 
 IOI 
 
 184 
 
 25 to 30 . . 
 
 635 
 
 727 
 
 1,362 
 
 88 
 
 97 
 
 185 
 
 " 30 to 40 . . 
 
 1 441 
 
 1607 
 
 3,048 
 
 173 
 
 214 
 
 387 
 
 " 40 to 50 . . 
 
 1298 
 
 1479 
 
 2,777 
 
 155 
 
 150 
 
 305 
 
 " 50 to 60 . . 
 
 847 
 
 954 
 
 1,801 
 
 115 
 
 128 
 
 243 
 
 " 60 and upwards 
 
 875 
 
 1035 
 
 1,910 
 
 140 
 
 117 
 
 257 
 
 Total .... 
 
 6156 
 
 6713 
 
 12,869 
 
 895 
 
 995 
 
 1890 
 
 Then again, in the morbid phenomenon, mental, of 
 suicide, may be observed the evidence of man's moral 
 subjection to physical environments. M. Caspar has 
 attentively studied the subject of suicide as it is affected 
 by climate, age, sex, etc. Suicide, according to the 
 researches of that author, is far more prevalent among 
 men than women; in cities and large towns than in 
 the rural districts ; in summer than in the cooler 
 months. It is rare in childhood ; has a period of ex- 
 acerbation in early manhood; of decline at the prime 
 of life ; another period of exacerbation from the ages 
 of fifty to sixty, and another period of decline toward 
 the evening of life. The table below shows, in various 
 localities, the 
 
 Influence of the Seasons upon Suicide. 
 
 Months. 
 
 Berlin. 
 
 1812-1822. 
 
 Hamburg. 
 1816-1822. 
 
 West- 
 minster. 
 
 l8l2 1 -l82I. 
 
 Paris. 
 Six years. 
 
 Jan., Feb., and March. 
 April, May, and June . 
 July, Aug., and Sept. . 
 Oct., Nov., and Dec. . 
 
 109 
 
 155 
 173 
 
 145 
 
 39 
 3i 
 41 
 38 
 
 67 
 55 
 60 
 46 
 
 42 
 58 
 61 
 
 31 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 35 
 
 The followinsr table, showing: the influences con- 
 tingent upon the different epochs of life and their 
 relation to suicide, is made up by M. Quetelet from 
 the works of MM. Caspar, at Berlin, and Beitrage, 
 at Geneva:* 
 
 
 
 Suicide and 
 
 Age. 
 
 
 Ages. 
 
 Berlin. 
 
 Geneva. 
 
 1818-1824. 
 
 1820-1826. 
 
 Below 10 years 
 
 * ) 
 
 
 From 10 to 15 years 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 r 
 
 5 
 
 
 ' 15 to 20 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 32 j 
 
 
 
 ' 20 to 25 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 30 1 
 
 
 
 ' 25 to 30 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 25 \ 
 
 24 
 
 
 ' 3° to 35 " • 
 
 
 
 
 
 12 \ 
 
 
 
 ' 35 to 40 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 j 
 
 
 
 ' 40 to 50 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 34 } 
 
 32 1 
 
 45 
 
 
 ' 50 to 60 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ' 60 to 70 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 17 ) 
 
 
 
 ' 70 to 80 " . 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 f 
 
 21 
 
 80 and upwards 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 J 
 
 
 Total 
 
 220 
 
 95 
 
 Influence of Knowledge upon Crime. — The intimate 
 relation which subsists between ignorance and crime 
 has already been referred to. It is too obvious in the 
 present state of our knowledge to require facts and 
 argument, that as man rises in the scale of being and 
 more fully appreciates his higher relations to the di- 
 vine, the further removed is he from thu dominion of 
 the wayward impulses of his lower nature. 
 
 The demand which is at the present time heard, 
 from all the great centres of modern civilization, is, 
 in view of this new-born conviction, for compulsory 
 
 Quetelet's Science of Man, p. 81. 
 
36 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 education; for it is manifestly more economical to the 
 state to provide free schools for children than alms- 
 houses, jails, and penitentiaries for grown-up beggars 
 and ignorant and lawless poor. The acceptance of 
 this view of the relation of ignorance and immorality 
 marks an era in the world's mental progress ; and yet 
 it is but a single step on the part of society towards a 
 just appreciation of her obligation to provide for the 
 moral welfare of her members. It is her duty, as we 
 have observed, to protect the individual, as she only can 
 do, in his condition of dependent helplessness, from all 
 those agents and influences of demoralization, as de- 
 fective generation, (ante-natal,) foul air, impure water, 
 and unwholesome food, dark, unclean, over-crowded, 
 and unventilated abodes, pestilence, the vicissitudes of 
 the seasons, ignorance of the laws of his surroundings, 
 both moral and physical, etc. These conditions are all, 
 every one, indispensable to good morals, no less than to 
 good health, but such as the individual by himself, un- 
 aided, could never achieve, and which only society can 
 and ought to secure to him. I may be pardoned, per- 
 haps, for insisting upon the necessity of proper condi- 
 tions as antecedent to wholesome moral and physical 
 progress. 
 
 In doing so it is unnecessary, I hope, for me to dis- 
 claim any desire to speak in derogation of religious 
 influences, except only to the extent which the exi- 
 gencies of the occasion and the interest of truth require. 
 When reading Mr. Mayhew's voluminous work on 
 " The London Poor" some time since,* I was forcibly 
 impressed with the statement that " the great need of 
 
 * Preface. Published in 1852. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 37 
 
 the London poor is the word of God." When one 
 reflects upon that statement, in full view of the fact 
 that hundreds of thousands of London poor occupied 
 underground apartments and sub-cellar kennels unfit 
 for animals above the order that crawl, over-crowded 
 at that, without light and ventilation; scantily supplied 
 with water of miserable quality, with absolutely no 
 means of cleansing either body or the scanty supply 
 of rags upon their backs ; eating, for the most part, 
 the refuse of kitchens, understocked at best; having 
 nothing to read, and unable to read even what they 
 had ; the word of God given under such circumstances 
 seems to me like adding insult to injury. Misplaced 
 good is positive evil. To throw Bibles before such 
 squalid wretchedness, is not pitching pearls before 
 swine, but it is mocking the hungry and impoverished 
 with crude, inappropriate, and indigestible matter. It 
 is giving pearls for food ; baptism for baths ; piety for 
 pure air; the light of Revelation for the light of 
 heaven. When religion indulges such incongruity it 
 merits contempt rather than respect. It is faith with- 
 out works, with the usual result. Good intentions 
 there may be ; but good intentions to be fruitful must 
 have wise adaptation. Hell is said to be paved with 
 good intentions ! 
 
 On the next page we submit some figures from 
 Quetelet, compiled from the Belgian prisons, which 
 may serve to elucidate the relation of ignorance and 
 crime. 
 
33 
 
 MENIAL INFLUENCE 
 
 
 The Relation of Ignorance and Crime* 
 
 Intellectual State 
 
 Absolute Number. 
 
 Relative Number. 
 
 Accused in 
 
 ndemned 
 
 Belgium, 
 
 1833- 
 
 Accused in 
 
 -a j- 
 
 of the Accused. 
 
 
 France. j 
 
 France. 
 
 = 5 
 
 -O 1) 00 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1828-29. 
 
 1830-31. 
 
 o.H 
 1,972 
 
 1828-29. 
 
 1830-31. 
 
 c3.s 
 
 Could not read 
 or write 
 
 1 
 
 8,689 
 
 8,919 
 
 61 
 
 61 
 
 19 
 
 Could read and 
 
 ) 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 write imper- 
 fectly . . 
 Could read and 
 write well . 
 
 1 
 } 
 
 3,805 
 I.509 
 
 3.873 
 1,455 
 
 472 
 } 
 
 27 
 10 
 
 27 
 10 
 
 15 
 
 34 
 
 Had received a 
 
 1 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 I.776 
 
 
 
 superior edu- 
 cation to the 
 
 286 
 
 3i9 
 
 J 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 ist degree . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total . . . 
 
 14,289 
 
 I4-5 66 
 
 3220 
 
 IOO 
 
 IOO 
 
 IOO 
 
 According to these data, while the diffusion of 
 knowledge would not wholly depopulate the prisons, 
 it would reduce the number confined in them to a 
 minimum of their present population. Below I append 
 a table from the same learned author, giving the ratio 
 of sex to crime under similar conditions and influences. 
 The table is highly creditable to the moral superiority 
 of woman; but it shows also, as M. Quetelet says, 
 "how much influence our habits and social position 
 have on crime."t 
 
 * Quetelet's Science of Man, p. 85. 
 
 f Ibid., p. 92. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 39 
 
 Comparative View of the Relation of Ignorance and Crime to Sex. 
 
 Intellectual state. 
 
 Men. 
 
 w 
 
 Women. 
 
 Ratio 
 1828-29. 
 
 Men. 
 
 Women. 
 
 Ratio 
 1830-31. 
 
 Unable to read or j 
 write . . . J 
 
 6,537 
 
 2152 
 
 3-° 
 
 6,877 
 
 2042 
 
 3-3 
 
 Able to read ancH 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 write imperfect- > 
 ly . . . . J 
 
 3,308 
 
 497 
 
 6.6 
 
 3,422 
 
 451 
 
 7.6 
 
 Could read and j 
 write well . J 
 
 1,399 
 
 no 
 
 12.7 
 
 1-373 
 
 82 
 
 16.7 
 
 Had received anl 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 excellent edu- ! 
 cation to the ist j 
 
 283 
 
 5 
 
 56.6 
 
 314 
 
 5 
 
 62.8 
 
 degree . . J 
 
 Intellectual state ) 
 
 not mentioned, j 
 
 374 
 
 104 
 
 3-6 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 11,901 
 
 2868 
 
 4.2 
 
 11,988 
 
 2580 
 
 4.6 
 
 The Influence of the Seasons upon Crime. — I have 
 treated this subject at some length in another part 
 of this chapter ; but before taking final leave of a 
 most interesting subject, I cannot forbear to add a 
 tabular argument upon it. It will be observed that 
 there is a close analogy between the causes which in- 
 fluence suicides and mania and those which exert a 
 marked influence upon crime. To my mind the co- 
 incidence is sufficiently striking to identify them in 
 the same category of causes of morbid psychology. 
 The table which is found on the following page has 
 been compiled from the "Comptes Generaux de la 
 Justice." 
 
4 
 
 MENTAL IX FLUE NCR 
 
 Influence of the Seasons upon Crime. 
 
 
 
 
 Crimes 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 Ratio 
 
 Crimes 
 
 AGAINST. 
 
 Ratio 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Persons. 
 
 Prop- 
 
 1827-28. 
 
 
 Prop- 
 
 1830-31. 
 
 
 
 erty. 
 
 
 
 erty. 
 
 
 January 
 
 282 
 
 I.095 
 
 3-89 
 
 189 
 
 666 
 
 3-52 
 
 "February 
 
 
 
 272 
 
 910 
 
 3-35 
 
 194 
 
 563 
 
 2.90 
 
 March 
 
 
 
 335 
 
 968 
 
 2.89 
 
 205 
 
 602 
 
 2.94 
 
 April . 
 
 
 
 314 
 
 841 
 
 2.68 
 
 197 
 
 548 
 
 2.78 
 
 May . 
 
 
 
 381 
 
 844 
 
 2.22 
 
 213 
 
 569 
 
 2.67 
 
 Tune , 
 
 
 
 414 
 
 850 
 
 2.05 
 
 208 
 
 602 
 
 2.90 
 
 July . 
 
 
 
 379 
 
 828 
 
 2.18 
 
 188 
 
 5oi 
 
 2.66 
 
 August 
 
 
 
 382 
 
 934 
 
 2.44 
 
 247 
 
 596 
 
 2.41 
 
 September 
 
 
 
 355 
 
 896 
 
 2.52 
 
 176 
 
 584 
 
 3-32 
 
 October 
 
 
 
 285 
 
 926 
 
 3-25 
 
 207 
 
 586 
 
 2.83 
 
 November 
 
 
 
 301 
 
 961 
 
 3.20 
 
 223 
 
 651 
 
 2-95 
 
 December 
 
 
 
 347 
 
 i,i5 2 
 
 3-33 
 
 181 
 
 691 
 
 3-82 
 
 Total . 
 
 3847 
 
 11,205 
 
 2-77 
 
 2428 
 
 7159 
 
 2.94 i 
 
 M. Quetelet, in whose able work, before quoted, I 
 find the table, remarks the coincidences above alluded 
 to. He writes: "We can also compare the numbers 
 of this table with those which I have given to show 
 the influence of seasons on the development of aliena- 
 tion, and we shall find the most remarkable coinci- 
 dences, especially for crimes against persons, which 
 would appear to be most usually dependent on failure 
 of the reasoning powers."* 
 
 Insanity and Crime. — A comparison of the statistics 
 of crime and of mental disease, such as we have, shows 
 that the frequently occurring identity of the etiology 
 of the two classes of morbid psychology is by no means 
 a chance phenomenon. Some statistics recently pub- 
 
 * Quetelet's Science of Man, p. 92. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 41 
 
 lished in England indicate that the ratio of insane to sane 
 criminals is "thirty-four times as great as the ratio of 
 lunatics to the whole population of England; or if we 
 take half the population to represent the adults which 
 supply the convict prisons, we shall still have the crim- 
 inal lunatics in excess in the high proportion of 17 
 to I !" The following table, constructed from figures 
 furnished by Dr. Wm. A. Guy, F.R.S., in an elaborate 
 paper on " Insanity and Crime," read before the Statist- 
 ical Society, London, 1869,* places the subject in as 
 clear a light as it is possible to do in the present im- 
 perfect state of statistical knowledge on the subject : 
 
 The Connection of Crime and Insanity. 
 
 Total Popula- Aggre 
 tion of England 'gate Num- 
 and Wales, ber of Lu 
 1867. natics 
 
 21,429,508 
 
 35,758 
 
 Ratio 
 per 1000 
 Inhabit- 
 
 I.67 
 
 Total 
 Number of 
 
 Sane 
 Criminals. 
 
 Total I Aggregate 
 Number of Number of 
 
 Insane 
 Criminals. 
 
 39 6 
 
 Sane and 
 
 Insane 
 Criminals. 
 
 7294 
 
 Ratio 
 per 1000 
 Criminals. 
 
 57 
 
 These figures certainly justify the conclusion at 
 which Dr. Guy arrives, and which I have endeavored 
 to establish, namely, " that the criminal population is 
 much more liable to insanity than the community at 
 large," only with the statement reversed thus : the in- 
 sane population is much more liable to crime, than the 
 community at large. 
 
 Let us now turn from general to some more special 
 effects of corporeal disease on the mind. 
 
 Fevers of the simplest type produce confusion of 
 the mind, so that an individual, if in the habit of writ- 
 
 * Journal of Statistical Society, vol. xxxii. pp. 166-67. 
 
42 
 
 ME NT A L I NFL UE A 'CE 
 
 ing, finds it difficult to collect his thoughts or to ex- 
 press himself connectedly. The more serious parox- 
 ysms of fever destroy the orderly procession of ideas 
 altogether, and at the same time morbidly impress the 
 affectional and emotional powers. So sensitive is the 
 brain to bodily impressions and conditions, that de- 
 rangements of the latter may often be detected soonest 
 in the former. If a child, he is easily teased, and hard 
 to please; cries on slight pretexts ; is combative and 
 obstinate. All this is unlike him, perhaps, and it is 
 generally agreed that he is sick. If a woman, she is 
 morose, peevish, or sensitive ; takes more than her 
 usual delight in giving " curtain lectures," etc. If a 
 man, he is irritable ; everything goes wrong ; his ac- 
 counts won't balance ; he is taciturn ; out of patience 
 with the children ; does not refrain, as usual, from 
 scolding his wife (when, perhaps, she deserves it) ! 
 His conduct is unnatural, and his friends know that 
 he is ill, although no derangement of the bodily func- 
 tions can yet be detected. 
 
 Moreover, particular diseases produce characteristic 
 mental affections and disturbances of the sensorium. 
 An onset of gout, or rheumatism, induces ill humor, 
 irascibility; gastric derangement produces melan- 
 cholia; inflammation of the liver excites hypochon- 
 driasis ; inflammation of the lungs causes a variety of 
 beautiful hallucinations, etc. Many of the more seri- 
 ous forms of fever are sadly demoralizing to the mind. 
 Ague and fever furnish an illustration. The best of 
 Christians, it is believed, find it difficult, and some of 
 them impossible, to maintain a reputation for a good 
 moral character under an aggravated attack of that 
 disease. The wide diffusion of that form of malaria 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 43 
 
 is certainly highly destructive of morals ; and a 
 remedy that can successfully cope with it deserves to 
 be ranked among the choicest moral agents. The in- 
 troduction of the "Jesuits' powder" (Peruvian bark) into 
 England, in the seventeenth century, did more, by the 
 cure of ague, from which thousands died, and many 
 more were mentally demoralized, annually, to correct 
 the gross immorality of those times than any reform in 
 the government and laws, or the pious precepts of 
 over-pious Dissenters. Typhus has been known to im- 
 pair the moral perceptions, and it has, also, sometimes 
 restored them. Dr. Tuke* details the case of a 
 chronically-demented person, whose only interlude of 
 reason for many years was during the delirium of fever. 
 An eruption of measles, or variola, has frequently 
 been known to invigorate the moral and intellectual 
 powers. In general, it may be observed, that eruptive 
 fevers leave a salutary impression on the mind. I 
 have myself observed several cases of good recov- 
 eries from measles, scarlet fever, and variola, followed 
 by the eradication of petty vices and perversities from 
 the character. Such results are certainly very happy 
 compensations for the infliction of very disagreeable 
 maladies. 
 
 The effects of gastric disorder upon the mind and 
 morals have been alluded to. The peevishness, mo- 
 roseness, mental disquiet, and morbid hatefulness of 
 children with sour stomachs, or some other equally 
 slight functional derangement of that organ, is a mat- 
 ter of common observation by parents and nurses the 
 world over; and this cause alone is prolific of more 
 
 * Vide Maudsley's Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, p. 260. 
 
44 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 hard scolding and vigorous bare-bottom spanks than 
 all other varieties of inbred or acquired depravity put 
 together. The moral derangements from this source, 
 in the adult, are among the most unhappy and invet- 
 erate in the long catalogue ; and they lie at the 
 foundation, source, fountain-head, of many of the 
 crimes and misdemeanors that disgrace the court- 
 calendar of civilization. " The despondency and irri- 
 tability of the dyspeptic," says Dr. Black,* " are 
 burdens grievous to be borne. Miserable in his 
 gloom, pleasure is impossible; and from the merest 
 trifles spring mountains of suspicion, hatred, jealousy, 
 and revenge." 
 
 Space will not permit me to give more than this 
 brief passing glance at a very disagreeable, but in- 
 structive picture. It will suffice, perhaps, to indicate 
 the intimate relations of body and mind, of crime and 
 disease; and to show the reason why no mind can be 
 certainly sound, in all respects, that is nourished by 
 blood circulating through a body diseased. 
 
 " Do we sufficiently estimate," says Winslow, " in 
 our appreciation of others, the effects of physical dis- 
 ease upon the character and action of those upon 
 whose conduct we are sometimes called to adjudicate 
 and pronounce judgment? How slight are the 
 changes in the corporeal health ! how subtle the va- 
 riation in the delicate organization of the brain, that 
 precede and accompany remarkable alterations in the 
 moral and intellectual character ! The brave and 
 heroic become as timid and bashful as coy maidens, 
 in particular states of ill health. Mild, inoffensive, 
 
 * The Ten Laws of Health, p. 91. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 45 
 
 and humane men are driven to acts of desperation 
 and cruelty, under the influence of certain physical 
 diseases disturbing and deranging the operations of 
 thought."* 
 
 Again : the influence of medicinal and toxical 
 agents on the mind is analogous to that of bodily dis- 
 ease. " If the state of the blood be vitiated," says 
 Maudsley,f "by reason of some poison bred in the 
 body, or introduced into it from without, the mental 
 functions may be seriously deranged. We are able, 
 indeed, by means of the drugs at our command, to 
 perform all sorts of experiments on the mind: we can 
 suspend its action for a time by chloral or chloro- 
 form ; can exalt its function by small doses of opium 
 or moderate doses of alcohol ; can pervert them, pro- 
 ducing an artificial delirium, by the administration of 
 large doses of belladonna and Indian hemp." Cer- 
 tainly, this is all true, and much more, also, of a 
 similar nature. Certain drugs, in their secondary and 
 permanent effect, possess the property of radically 
 corrupting the ordinary procession of ideas ; of per- 
 
 * Obscure Diseases of the Brain, p. 164. And Feuchterslcben says: 
 " Could we penetrate into the secret foundation of human events, we 
 should frequently find the misfortunes of one man caused by the intestines 
 of another, whom the former endeavored to inspire with sympathy in his 
 fate at a moment when the frame of mind of the latter was affected by 
 impeded secretion. An hour later, and his fortune would have been made." 
 — Ibid., foot-note, p. 165. 
 
 f Body and Mind, p. 90. " Sometimes a man, who is patient in the en- 
 joyment of health, becomes passionate, violent, capricious, and unbearable, 
 or impatient and despairing, when he is ill ; or those formerly chaste and 
 modest often become lascivious and shameless. It is frequently the case 
 that a sensible man becomes stupid in sickness, whereas, on the contrary, 
 a weak mind is rendered stronger, and a man of slow temperament acquires 
 great presence of mind and resolution." — Hahnemann's Organon of Medi- 
 cine, foot-note to sec. 212. 
 
 5 
 
46 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 verting the moral feelings, character, and intellectual 
 judgments, so that the victim is no longer exactly 
 the being that God made him. These properties are 
 peculiar to narcotic and intoxicating agents in gen- 
 eral, as opium, tobacco, hasheesh, belladonna, hyoscy- 
 amus, stramonium, henbane, alcohol, etc. 
 
 It is interesting to observe the property which some 
 of our best-known drugs have of exciting in the mind 
 peculiar psychical effects. The destructive mania pro- 
 duced by overdoses of belladonna; the jealous furore 
 of hyoscyamus ; the religious melancholy of pulsatilla 
 anemone ; the obstinate self-will and combative humor 
 of sulphur or chamomilla; the ill humor and pas- 
 sionate irritability of nux strychnos ; the moral per- 
 version of mercury ; the dejected and sorrowful humor 
 of ignatia, lycopodium, and a few other drugs ; the 
 lascivious influences of Peruvian bark ; the paralyzing 
 effect of opium on conjugal love and the sexual in- 
 stinct; the intellectual ideation of the same drug; the 
 maddening, vicious, and profane impulses of alcohol; 
 the morbid fear and cowardice of stramonium ; the 
 quieting, soothing, and sensuous hyperesthesia of 
 tobacco ; the intellectual delusions of hasheesh and 
 stramonium, etc., are a few prominent examples of the 
 psychical properties of medicinal agents, well known 
 to all good students of therapeutics and materia 
 medica. It is not unlikely that drug agents may yet 
 be discovered which will supplement, in their action on 
 the mental functions, all the faculties and sensorial 
 impulses of the mind ; and be able thus, according to 
 the circumstances and occasion of their use, to exalt 
 the weak faculties and restrain the power and activity 
 of the strong ones. The power of disease to modify 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 47 
 
 the mental characteristics has already been observed ; 
 and it is generally agreed among therapeutists that 
 medicines act on the same principles that morbific 
 agents in general do. " There is no difference in prin- 
 ciple," says Dr. Martin Paine, "as to their absolute 
 action. In certain remedial quantities, many may in- 
 duce, in the healthy organism, various degrees of 
 disease with as much certainty as those agents which 
 are called morbific."* They enter the circulating 
 system and are carried to every part of the organic 
 domain, acting on it, and are in turn acted upon, 
 absorbed into the structure, and become a component 
 of every fibre and nerve-cell of every organ of the 
 body. Thus do they penetrate and influence the 
 inmost source of mental power in a characteristic 
 manner. It may not be unprofitable to examine, in 
 some detail, the mental effects of a few substances 
 of questionable utility, but in general use, among 
 mankind. In the first place, however, it is import- 
 ant to notice the general bearings of diet on the 
 processes of the mind, both as to its quality and 
 quantity. 
 
 I. In respect to the essentials of a proper diet for 
 man, the scientific world are at loggerheads. The 
 chemists claim that an article of food which meets all 
 the demands of nutrition must have represented in 
 its elementary constituents all the chemical elements 
 of which the human body is composed. Moreover, 
 there must be carbonaceous food to give warmth, and 
 nitrogenous food to furnish the requisite flesh and 
 strength, — to provide the plasm out of which the sub- 
 
 * Institutes of Medicine, \ 854, c. 
 
48 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 stantfal parts of the body are built up and maintained. 
 The vital physiologists, on the other hand, invest the 
 living tissues with the power of transmuting elements, 
 and thus of elaborating, from any compound possessing 
 the proximate principles of food, every needed element 
 of nutrition. The chick, they say, elaborates bone from 
 a pabulum in which exists no calcareous substance ; 
 and the human economy can manufacture bone and 
 brain as well from one alimentary substance as another. 
 This is a very common error, and one which finds ex- 
 cuse in the evils and absurdities of those who attempt 
 to educe by chemical analysis and the balance the 
 amount and kinds of food required for the sustenance 
 of the body. Many of the Greek philosophers and 
 poets thought it grossly unbecoming in man to busy 
 himself with the process of digestion or the care of 
 his body, which at best was only a poor tenement 
 which he was better off without than with. Thus 
 says Plato : " How can they addict themselves to the 
 practice of virtue and the service of God, who are ever 
 caring for their own miserable bodies ?" The question 
 raised by Plato was thought unanswerable by the 
 Stoics of his day and the hosts of Christians of a later 
 day, who sustained their pretensions to piety by the zeal 
 with which they mortified and debased their bodies. 
 Moral ideas and ethicsQiave undergone a change since 
 then ; and the pious devotee is no longer slow to accept 
 a philosophy which makes the perfection of the body 
 an indispensable concomitant of morality. 
 
 Among all classes of writers on the subject, two 
 conditions only are recognized as indispensable to a 
 proper dietary: first, alimentary material; and second, 
 digestibility. Dietitians may differ widely in respect to 
 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 49 
 
 the dietetic character of man ; but once having agreed 
 upon the kind of diet, whether flesh and mixed, or 
 vegetables and fruits, the rest is arranged without dis- 
 pute. The organism is likened to a piece of subtle 
 mechanism, requiring nothing from external sources 
 but materials for repair and lubrication, and sufficiency 
 of fuel to furnish heat and maintain the movement of 
 its complex enginery. The stomach is conceived to 
 be a mill for breaking down and othewise converting 
 crude materials into proper conditions for vital uses. 
 If there are aliments unwholesome and incapable of 
 subserving these purposes, it is owing to the existence 
 in them of chemical reagents or principles incompa- 
 tible with the normal constituents of the blood, rather 
 than to any peculiar and inappropriate vital quality 
 which they possess ! It will be observed that this 
 philosophy of diet and nutrition is as appropriate to 
 the animal as to man ; and if it be inadequate in its 
 application to the latter, it is owing to the crude and 
 incomprehensive views of chemists and physiologists, 
 rather than to any unfair or undigested statement of it. 
 This philosophy of diet and nutrition is too narrow 
 in its application to either animals or man. If man 
 be a natural being, formed from the dust of the earth, 
 every element of his mentality, — every moral and 
 intellectual principle and selfish and personal impulse 
 of his nature, — is comprehended in the "protoplasm" 
 from which his organization is derived. The elements 
 and proximate principles of food must contain the 
 sublime possibilities of human mentality, and it needs 
 but the vital chemistry of the human body, and the 
 transforming influences of the solar ray, to detect and 
 transform them to its uses and give them visible ex- 
 
 5* 
 
50 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 istence. This sounds like rank materialism ! and so it 
 is ; but it is a logical deduction from our premise, for 
 all that. Nor should the conclusion startle any one, 
 for it is undeniable, unless indeed man is supernatural 
 in his derivation, that matter and mind supplement 
 each other in the organic world. Their relations are 
 mutually dependent and interdependent; and no nar- 
 row prejudice, or preconceived notions of materialism 
 or immaterialism, can disturb that relation. The 
 province of the philosopher is to observe nature, not 
 to make her ; to study phenomena, not to transform 
 and mould it ; to accept sequences with reverent faith 
 and trust, and not attempt to circumvent them with 
 trembling doubt and distrust. If God, the Eternal, 
 resides in matter, materialism is, surely, respectable. 
 If he breathes his life and immortality upon it, it 
 certainly is not unequal to the evolution of the noblest 
 powers of which man can boast.* 
 
 That man derives his mental powers from nature 
 is no new hypothesis, as has already been observed. 
 Hippocrates, the "father of medicine," endeavored to 
 establish that all men were born with equal mental 
 capacity ; and that the subsequent mental variations 
 arose altogether from differences of diet in after-life. \ 
 
 Nutrition, then, comprehends, not only the supply 
 of the visible and material fabric of the corporeal sys- 
 
 * " And so I look on those sentiments which make the glory of the human 
 being, love, humility, faith, as being also the intimacy of Divinity in the 
 atoms ; and that, as soon as the man is right, assurances and previsions ema- 
 nate from the interior of his body and his mind : as, when flowers reach 
 their ripeness, incense exhales from them, and as a beautiful atmosphere is 
 generated from the planet by the average emanations from all its rocks and 
 soils." — Emerson's Conduct of Life, p. 202. 
 
 ■f" Winslow's Body and Mind, p. 114. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 5 r 
 
 tern, the bone and sinew, muscle, and nerve, and brain, 
 but, also, the psychical powers of thought and feeling. 
 The quality of the diet influences the quality of the 
 mind and disposition. The mental character is modi- 
 fied, exalted, or depraved, according to the quality and 
 quantity of the food one eats. The most important 
 question in dietetics, therefore, is, What kind of food 
 is most conducive to the development of the human 
 excellences? rather than, What is most digestible? 
 What kind of diet is most favorable to civilization, to 
 the growth of honor, honesty, and virtue ? rather than, 
 What is most prolific of bone, brain, and fat ? for it is 
 undeniable that the latter elements are largely in excess 
 of the former in modern society and civilization. 
 
 The facts in support of our hypothesis are by no 
 means few. The influence of quality of diet on one's 
 disposition is strikingly illustrated in the animal king- 
 dom. Contrast the mild herbivora with the flesh-eating 
 carnivora; or, more strikingly still, compare the effect 
 of different diets on the same species. If we wish a 
 dog to be particularly ferocious, we give him raw flesh 
 to eat. The common house-cat is rendered decidedly 
 feline in disposition by an exclusive diet of flesh, or 
 mild and tractable on a mixed diet. Wild animals are 
 tamed and made docile, and many of them companion- 
 able, by substituting a vegetable or mixed diet for 
 their native one of flesh. A mild, soothing diet very 
 soon subdues the ferocity of the tiger, and subjugates 
 the ravenous propensities of the other members of that 
 family. Moreover, the converse of this mental trans- 
 formation, through the influence of food, is illustrated 
 by feeding the herbivora on animal food. Mr. Graham 
 quotes an observation of Bishop Heber, to the effect 
 
52 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 that, " in Norway, as well as in some parts of Hadra- 
 maut, and the Coromandel coasts, the cattle are fed 
 on the refuse of fish, which fattens them rapidly, but 
 serves at the same time totally to change their nature, 
 and render them unmanageably ferocious." Many 
 other writers have made similar observations. Who 
 knows but that a diet of milk and honey would trans- 
 form the disposition of a lion, and enable that classic 
 beast and a lamb to lie down together peacefully?* 
 
 The effect of an exclusive flesh diet on man is 
 similar to that which it produces on animals. " Fu- 
 seli, the painter, was in the habit of eating raw meat 
 for the purpose of engendering in his imagination hor- 
 rible fancies. . . . With the view of making 
 Achilles a hero, he was fed on the marrow of lions. "f 
 Illustrations of the hypothesis may be found among the 
 savage tribes on our borders, the natives of the islands 
 of the South Seas, and all other exclusively flesh-eating 
 peoples. Exclusive flesh-eaters are characterized, the 
 world over, as mercilessly cruel, revengeful, and blood- 
 thirsty. The fish-eating tribes are an exception to 
 this statement ; but, then, fish is not flesh ! People 
 who subsist exclusively on fish and the animal oils, 
 while not distinguished for exemplary piety, are, 
 nevertheless, less given to the indulgence of savage 
 impulses than other flesh-eating tribes. In Green- 
 
 * " If any dependence can be placed upon the statements which have 
 come to us from reputable authority, even the tiger, if taken very young 
 and reared upon a vegetable and milk diet, without ever being permitted to 
 taste of flesh, becomes remarkably gentle, and manifests none of that fero- 
 ciousness which is common to its species ; but if afterwards it be fed upon 
 flesh, it soon becomes ferocious and cruel, and destructive." — Graham' s 
 Science of Human Life, p. 486. 
 
 | Winslow's Body and Mind, p. 114. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 53 
 
 land, Nova Zembla, and other northern countries, 
 where the natives live chiefly, and sometimes exclu- 
 sively, on fish, seals, and other animal substances, 
 corporeal sluggishness and mental stupidity are the 
 predominating traits of character. Fish, therefore, is 
 regarded as less stimulating than the flesh of warm- 
 blooded animals. " Flesh-meat is more stimulating," 
 says Sylvester Graham,* " more heating, than vegeta- 
 ble food ; and its immediate effect on those who eat it 
 is to increase the energy of the more exclusively selfish 
 propensities, and the violence of the more turbulent, 
 ferocious, and mischievous passions. Its permanent 
 effects, from generation to generation, as a general 
 fact, are to increase the relative proportion of the 
 lower and back part of the brain, and to cause the 
 animal to predominate over the intellectual and moral 
 man." The author sustains his position with an array 
 of facts from natural history and individual experience, 
 which challenges the respectful consideration of those 
 who have the moral well-being of man at heart.f 
 On the other hand, a mild, unstimulating diet 
 
 * Science of Human Life, § 1232. 
 
 -j- It will be observed, that it is no part of my subject to discuss the natural 
 dietetic character of man. While an exclusive vegetable diet lessens the force 
 and activity of the propensities, it probably impairs the vigor of the intel- 
 lect also, and the stamina of the physique in general. Mr. Graham, in his 
 able work on the "Science of Human Life," brings forward a long array of 
 facts respecting the mental effects of various articles of diet, which he claims 
 demonstrate his vegetarian hypothesis. While we are not at liberty to dis- 
 pute the facts he adduces, since they are drawn from natural history, and are 
 accessible to all, we may reject his logic ; or, accepting both facts and logic, 
 we may still dissent from his conclusion ; for it may be reasonably doubted 
 if mankind are ready for the era contemplated as contingent on the uni- 
 versal abandonment of flesh food, and other stimulating substances, when 
 the nations shall dwell together in peace, and " the lion shall eat straw like 
 the ox" ! 
 
54 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 weakens the force and activity of the passions, and 
 promotes mildness, placability, and sweetness of tem- 
 per. This fact finds confirmation* in the well-known - 
 manners and customs of all vegetable-eating tribes of 
 the human family. With no desire to claim for these 
 numerous races transcendent virtues, or to concede to 
 them a mentality, as a whole, superior to that of the 
 omnivorous Caucasian, it is undeniable that their dis- 
 positions exhibit characteristics just the opposite of 
 those of the exclusively flesh-eating savages ; and that 
 public morality among them is in striking contrast 
 with that of the most civilized Christian community of 
 which history has any knowledge. Take, for exam- 
 ple, the numerous family of Hindoos. Their food 
 consists chiefly of rice and fruits, to which is added a 
 moiety of pulse, or dried fish. They are the mildest- 
 mannered race on the face of the earth. Their regard 
 for life, in every form, is too sacred to permit its 
 sacrifice for any purpose whatever. They have an 
 instinctive horror of fat, which is so deep and ineradi- 
 cable that its bare mention is regarded as a gross 
 insult. Their civilization and code of laws are the 
 oldest in history; and if the people are mild and un- 
 warlike, — more Christ-like than their western neigh- 
 bors, — the better classes of them are not inferior to 
 them in the power of subtle analysis or metaphysical 
 research. The theology of Gotama is certainly more 
 logical and of finer conception than that of Paul or 
 Constantine. 
 
 If the comparative excellence of food be tested by 
 the power it has of influencing the moral and intel- 
 lectual character of man, preference must obviously be 
 given to the higher productions of the vegetable king- 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 55 
 
 dom, — fruits and farinaceous food. In this class must 
 also be included those precious concomitants of civili- 
 zation, — tea and coffee. Physiologists and dietitians 
 differ widely respecting the physiological properties 
 of those peculiar substances, and also in the estimate 
 of their value as food, and their specific effects upon 
 the animal economy. The modern chemical and 
 physiological estimate of food, however, is based, as it 
 has been shown, on a very crude and imperfect — I 
 should say, fallacious — judgment. They may, indeed, 
 analyze it; point out, weigh, and measure the proxi- 
 mate principles and chemical elements of an aliment 
 submitted to them; but the subtle, deific essence and 
 potential quality is beyond the detective agencies of 
 acids and alkalies, or the crucible and balance. The 
 chemical properties, for instance, of caffeine and theine 
 are identical, and yet their specific effect upon the 
 cerebral functions of most people is very dissimilar. 
 
 Individual experience is the final test of the specific 
 virtues or vices, or other properties, of any alimentary 
 or other substance, interpreted by broad observation, 
 objective as well as subjective. The verdict of this test 
 is overwhelmingly favorable to the hypothesis that both 
 tea and coffee support the nervous energies, and main- 
 tain the intellectual processes. Literary people resort 
 to them for aid in composition, and students and men 
 of science imbibe them to clear the mind and sustain 
 prolonged mental effort. The German chemist, Liebig, 
 it is said, was in the habit of writing with a cup of 
 coffee always before him. In circumstances of great 
 anxiety, or unusual tension of the nervous system, 
 prolonged watching, depressing emotion, privation of 
 food, etc., tea and coffee — especially coffee — are most 
 
5 6 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 serviceable. "What an important effect is this!" ex- 
 claims Dr. Chambers, in dilating upon the influence of 
 these substances in restraining the waste of the system. 
 "The tea and coffee drinker may have less to eat, and 
 yet lose less weight — wear his body out less — than the 
 water drinker. At a comparatively small expense, he 
 may save some of the costly parts of his diet, — those 
 nitrogenized solids that entail so much thought, labor, 
 and anxiety to obtain."* 
 
 Abd-el-Kader, the son of Mohammed, may well 
 have gone into ecstasies over the discovery of coffee. 
 The following encomium upon that beverage is said to 
 have been written by him : 
 
 "O Coffee! thou dispellest the cares of the great! 
 thou bringest back those who wander from the paths 
 of knowledge! Coffee is the beverage of the people 
 of God, and the cordial of his servants who thirst for 
 wisdom. When coffee is infused into the bowl, it ex- 
 hales the odor of musk, and is of the color of ink. 
 The truth is not known, except to the wise, who drink 
 it from the foaming coffee-cup. God has deprived 
 fools of coffee, who, with invincible obstinacy, con- 
 demn it as injurious. 
 
 " Coffee is our gold, and in the place of its libations 
 we are in the enjoyment of the best and noblest 
 society. Coffee is even as innocent a drink as the 
 purest milk, from which it is only distinguished by its 
 color. Tarry with thy coffee in the place of its prepa- 
 ration, and the eood God will hover over thee and 
 participate in the feast. Then the graces of the 
 saloon, the luxury of life, the society of friends, all 
 furnish a picture of the abode of happiness. 
 
 * Digestion and its Derangements, p. 249. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 57 
 
 "Every care vanishes when the cup-bearer presents 
 the delicious chalice. It will circulate fleetly through 
 thy veins, and will not rankle there. If thou doubtest 
 this, contemplate the youth and beauty of those who 
 drink it. Grief cannot exist where it grows. Sorrow 
 humbles itself in obedience before its powers. 
 
 " Coffee is the drink of God's people. In it is health. 
 Let this be the answer to those who doubt its qualities. 
 In it we will drown our adversities, and in its fire con- 
 sume our sorrows. Whoever has once seen the bliss- 
 ful chalice will scorn the wine-cup. Glorious drink ! 
 Thy color is the seal of purity, and reason proclaims 
 it genuine! Drink with confidence, and regard not 
 the prattle of fools, who condemn without founda- 
 tion !"* 
 
 Bayard Taylor says "the coffee of the East is the 
 finest in the world;" and while he does not give its 
 virtues the extravagant praise which he bestows upon 
 tobacco, he remarks that he has " found it so grateful 
 and refreshing a drink, that I can readily pardon the 
 pleasant exaggeration of the Arabic poet, Abd-el- 
 Kader Anazari Djezeri Hanbali, the son of Mohammed, 
 who thus celebrates its virtues. "f 
 
 It would seem in bad taste to follow this fine 
 eulogium with any statement derogatory of coffee ; 
 but with every possible deference to Abd-el-Kader's 
 highly-wrought opinion, it must be admitted that 
 there are temperaments and conditions with which 
 the beverage disagrees ; moreover, its influence upon 
 
 * Dr. C. A. Lee's " Notes to Pereira's Food and Diet." This eulogy on 
 coffee was translated from the Arabic, and published in a German journal 
 in 1834, according to Dr. Lee. 
 
 t The Lands of the Saracen, p. 184. 
 
 6 
 
58 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 the propensities generally is anything but sedative. 
 In this respect its world-renowned congener and sup- 
 plement, tea, is far more deserving of the high com- 
 pliment of being the "drink of God's people." Pure, 
 unadulterated tea is an intellectual tonic of unalloyed 
 efficacy. 
 
 2. Quantity in diet is also an influential agency in 
 mental hygiene. Excessive alimentation produces 
 plethora and a general increase of the powers of the 
 animal functions. This fact is noticeable in all high 
 and irregular feeders. Thackeray observed, " that 
 sometimes, especially if he had been dining late, and 
 did not feel in remarkably good humor next morning, 
 he was inclined to make his characters villainously 
 wicked ; but if he arose serene, with an unclouded 
 brain, there was no end to the lovely actions he was 
 willing to make his men and women perform."* The 
 mental demoralization from this cause has been recog- 
 nized from time immemorial. The leading moralists 
 of the world have been mindful of the value of the 
 fact ; and in order to fit their minds for the perception 
 of the true and divine, have abstained from food, some- 
 times for long periods. Fasting is necessary to rise 
 to the dignity of a Buddhist in the great Hindoo sys- 
 tem of religion. Christ fasted forty clays before fully 
 entering upon his divine mission. The early Chris- 
 tians resorted to the fast to chasten their minds and 
 sweeten their hearts. Its influence is so potent upon 
 the morals of mankind that it early became an estab- 
 lished rite in the primitive Christian church ; and it is 
 to be sincerely regretted that its observance is so 
 
 Yesterdays with Authors. Fields. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 59 
 
 lightly regarded in the Protestant churches. Milton 
 has remarked the favorable influence of fasting and 
 prayer upon the passions.* It is interesting to note, 
 that while any considerable degree of fasting weakens 
 the intellectual faculties, it quickens, if not carried too 
 far, the moral sensibilities, and enlivens the nobler 
 feelings and emotions. When carried to too great 
 lengths, however, it perverts and deranges them all- 
 Dr. Moleschott justly says • 
 
 " There is another instinct by which the vigor of 
 mind is vanquished in a more melancholy way. Hun- 
 ger desolates head and heart. Though the craving 
 for nutriment may be lessened to a surprising degree 
 during mental exertion, there exists nothing more 
 hostile to the cheerfulness of an active, thoughtful 
 mind than the deprivation of liquid and solid food. 
 To the starving man every passion becomes an intol- 
 erable burden ; for this reason, hunger has effected 
 more revolutions than the ambition of disaffected sub- 
 jects. It is not, then, the dictate of cupidity or the 
 claim of idleness which prompts the belief in a natural 
 human right to work and food."f Dr. Moleschott, 
 evidently, does not believe in the uniform beneficence 
 of fasting. 
 
 Moreover, the moral effect of fasting is also remark- 
 able on animals. Bears are tamed by being deprived 
 of their customary amount of food, and afterward con- 
 fined to a mild diet. In India, wild elephants, when 
 captured, are always tamed by depriving them of food 
 until signs of great emaciation are discovered. " They 
 
 * Prose Works, vol. iii. — Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce, 
 f Huxley's and Youmans' Physiology and Hygiene, pp. 32-7. 
 
5o MENTAL INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 are then fed with mild aliment, and soon acquire their 
 usual flesh, but without the least return of their fero- 
 city."* 
 
 In many diseases, likewise, fasting is highly bene- 
 ficial. I have known instances of the most inveterate 
 maladies yielding to the influence of a prolonged fast. 
 People with enlarged livers are always favorably in- 
 fluenced by it ; and gouty people in general find it 
 conducive to recovery. Dr. Rush recommends a low 
 diet in some forms of madness.f In spinal irritation, 
 I have known it to produce the most decided salutary 
 modifications of the disease. 
 
 It should be remembered, however,- that the hygienic 
 value of fasting can be realized and appreciated only 
 by those who habitually indulge in excess of eating 
 and drinking. The under-fed suffer from evils and 
 abuses of a totally different sort, to which fasting 
 manifestly does not apply. Such is the influence of 
 the corporeal functions upon the mind, that temper- 
 ance in all things is demanded by the highest con- 
 siderations of morality and hygiene. " If you would 
 live long," said the distinguished Hufeland, " live 
 moderately, and avoid a stimulating, heating diet, such 
 as a great deal of flesh, eggs, chocolate, wine, and 
 spices." 
 
 * Rush on the Mind, p. 193. | Ibid - 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS — CONTINUED. 
 
 However potent for mental weal or woe the influ- 
 ence of food may be, there are numerous stimulating 
 and narcotic substances in daily use, by many people, 
 whose specific effects are directly perverting to the 
 mental functions. These substances embrace the 
 whole catalogue of stimulating, medicinal, and nar- 
 cotic agents in general, alcohol, opium, and tobacco 
 in particular. 
 
 The warmest advocates of the habitual use of these 
 agents do not claim that they possess any special 
 nourishing quality. The most that can be said of 
 their physiological uses is, that alcohol furnishes heat 
 to the system in its chemical transformation, and that 
 all these agents restrain the vital wear and tear. It 
 remains to be seen if these uses are not fulfilled at a 
 fearful waste of mental and moral life. Mr. Graham 
 justly remarks, that "all pure stimulants, or those 
 substances which stimulate without nourishing, in- 
 crease the general irritability of the nervous system ; 
 and all alcoholic, narcotic, and other deleterious stim- 
 ulants always produce more or less of morbid irrita- 
 bility in the system, according to the extent to which 
 they are used. The activity caused by such means 
 never healthfully increases the size of any organ or 
 
 6* 
 
6 2 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 organs thus excited. But, as we have seen, it always 
 increases the influence of certain cerebral organs over 
 the others, — always tends to cause a predominance 
 of the more exclusively selfish propensities over the 
 intellectual and moral faculties."* 
 
 I. Opium, of all the pure narcotics, is the most 
 powerful in turning the mind out of its natural bent 
 and perverting the normal procession of ideas. If it be 
 " the sheet-anchor of the profession," its abuse has 
 caused thousands, who learned the secret of its powers 
 from the profession, to curse the very name of doctor, 
 and to regret that human ingenuity ever conceived the 
 necessity of the profession having a "sheet-anchor" at 
 all. Its specific action is chiefly on the imagination. 
 In small and repeated doses it increases the power and 
 brilliancy of the fancy, and adds a charm to the sensi- 
 bilities, which few, once under its fascinations, are able 
 to resist. In this respect its powers are superior to 
 any known drug, and are not even inferior to those of 
 the arch-beguiler, referred to in the ancient fable, nor 
 less potent to destroy. With the development of its 
 chronic effects, however, this charm is broken. The 
 faculty of ideation is gone ; ennui is induced ; many of 
 the animal instincts are destroyed ; the subject is pos- 
 sessed of strange fancies and forebodings, which give 
 him no rest by day nor sleep at night. The will is 
 broken, in serious cases, so that the individual is like a 
 ship on a restless sea without a helmsman, completely 
 at the mercy of restless impulses, which come and go 
 like the surging waves without his bidding or control. 
 Opium weakens the memory also, and in some in- 
 
 * Science of Human Life, $ 1202. 
 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 63 
 
 stances impairs the moral perceptions, the sense of 
 honor and veracity.* 
 
 Opium-smoking is largely practiced throughout 
 China, although the laws of that country forbid the in- 
 dulgence of the habit. Deaths from it there are not 
 unfrequent, and are among the most horrible known 
 to mankind. Experienced opium-smokers require 
 about twenty pipefuls to produce its characteristic 
 exhilarating effects. Bayard Taylor, when at Canton, 
 a few years since, smoked six pipefuls at one sitting; 
 and he found the experiment so fascinating upon his 
 emotions that he did not dare to repeat it. " To my 
 surprise," he writes, " I found the taste of the drug as 
 delicious as the smell is disagreeable. It leaves a 
 sweet, rich flavor like the finest liquorice upon the 
 palate, and the gentle stimulus it communicates to the 
 blood in the lungs fills the whole body with a sensa- 
 tion of warmth and strength. The fumes of the opium 
 
 * See Mr. Ludlow's paper on Opium-eating, in " Harper's Magazine," 
 vol. xxxv. A writer in " The Opium Habit" says : " Opium weakens or utterly 
 paralyzes the lower propensities, while it invigorates and elevates the supe- 
 rior faculties, both intellectual and affectional." — p. 216. This is the pri- 
 mary effect only. De Quincey was in the habit of augmenting his sensi- 
 bility with opium on any special occasion of interest or enjoyment. " In 
 those days," he says, " Grassini sang at the opera, and her voice was de- 
 lightful to me beyond all that I had ever heard ; and when she appeared 
 in some interlude, as she often did, and poured forth her passionate soul as 
 Andromache at the tomb of Hector, I question whether any Turk, of all 
 that ever entered the paradise of opium-eaters, could have had the pleasure 
 I had. And, over and above the music of the stage and orchestra, I had all 
 around me, in the intervals of the performance, the music of the Italian lan- 
 guage, talked by Italian women, for the gallery was usually crowded with 
 Italians ; and I listened with a pleasure such as that with which Wild, the 
 traveler, lay and listened, in Canada, to the sweet laughter of the Indian 
 women ; for the less you understand a language, the more sensible you are 
 to the melody or harshness of its sounds." — The Confessions of an Opium- 
 eater. 
 
64 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 are no more irritating to the windpipe or bronchial 
 tubes than common air, while they seem imbued with 
 a richness of vitality far beyond our diluted oxygen. 
 I had supposed that opium was smoked entirely for 
 the purpose of mental exhilaration ; and that to the 
 smokers, as to many who intoxicate themselves with 
 ardent spirits, there was no sensual gratification in the 
 mere taste of the article. The reverse is evidently the 
 truth, and the practice, therefore, doubly dangerous. 
 Its victim becomes hopelessly involved in its fasci- 
 nating illusions, and an awful death, such as I had wit- 
 nessed not long before, is sure, sooner or later, to over- 
 take him who indulges in excess. I have a pretty 
 strong confidence in my own powers of resistance, 
 but do not desire to make the experiment a second 
 time."* 
 
 2. The effects of opium may be deeper and more 
 subtle, but nothing in the whole range of toxicological 
 agents so soon dehumanizes an individual as the ex- 
 cessive use of alcoholic liquors. " Nothing, we think," 
 says Dr. Carpenter, " can be more plain to the unpre- 
 judiced observer than that the introduction of intoxi- 
 cating agents into the circulating system really pre- 
 vents the action of the mind, disordering the usual 
 sequence of phenomena most -purely psychical, and 
 occasioning new and strange results which are alto- 
 gether at variance with those of its normal action. "f 
 "A man who, sober, is a demi-god, is, when drunk, 
 below even a beast."J In small doses it is a direct 
 
 * India, China, and Japan, pp. 493-4. 
 f Human Physiology, p. 537. 
 % The Opium Habit, p. 216. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 65 
 
 stimulant, increasing the force and volume of the 
 pulse, the flow of ideas, and general mental activity. 
 
 History furnishes many distinguished examples of 
 mental dependence upon stimulants, alcoholics, and 
 nervines. "^Eschylus, if we are to credit ^Elian, could 
 never write until he was intoxicated, and according to 
 Horace, this was the case with Ennius and Cratinus. 
 Ben Jonson wrote best under the influence of canary; 
 Sheridan prepared his marvelous speech on the Oude 
 charge in a tavern, after swallowing tumbler after 
 tumbler of brandy. The younger Pitt was often under 
 the influence of port when he spoke, and Dundas, if 
 we may believe one of Porson's epigrams on the sub- 
 ject, could never speak till he was ' far gone.' Black- 
 stone wrote his ' Commentaries ' with a bottle of port 
 before him, and ' Vathek' Beckford was supported by 
 constant draughts of the same. Shadwell stimulated 
 himself by opium. The arch impostor, Psalmanazar, 
 Coleridge, and De Quincey, used the same stimulant. 
 Dryden and Fuseli ate raw meat to inspire vivid 
 dreams. Voltaire was never without his coffee, and 
 Byron wrote 'Don Juan' under the influence of gin."* 
 
 The mental vivacity of alcohol, however, is of short 
 duration, and the demand for repeated and increasing 
 doses is soon tumultuously experienced. With the 
 subsidence of its primary effects, there is exhaustion 
 of the physical and mental powers. The subject is 
 listless and nervous ; disinclined to physical or mental 
 effort ; loses all spirit and ambition. 
 
 The chronic moral derangements of alcohol are 
 much modified by temperament, occupation, and cli- 
 
 * The Golden Age. 
 
66 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 mate. Dr. Carpenter* says : " The irritable and ill- 
 tempered become quarrelsome ; the weak and silly 
 are boisterous with laughter and mirth, and profuse 
 in offers of service; and the sad and hypochondriacal 
 readily burst into tears, and dwell on mournful topics." 
 To an individual who is wanting in moral balance, 
 with dominant passions, or in whom the blood is thin, 
 cachectic, and impoverished, alcohol is, even in small 
 doses, most demoralizing. On such individuals the 
 effect is decidedly inflammatory, exciting the propen- 
 sities, and converting an otherwise inoffensive man or 
 woman into a ferocious fiend. The moral perceptions 
 are perverted by it. The slightest rebuff is magnified 
 into the grossest of insults, and made the occasion and 
 pretext for resentment and revenge. He labors under 
 insane delusions. He fancies he is wronged and per- 
 secuted by his dearest friends, — by his wife, or possibly 
 his children ; and the kindest overtures from them are 
 often interpreted as a disguise in order to obtain some 
 profit or personal advantage over him. He is sus- 
 picious and melancholic, or jealous and trusting, loving 
 and hating, or generous and parsimonious, in alternat- 
 ing and fleeting paroxysms. He is incapable of fidelity, 
 or of choosing between good and evil, right and 
 wrong, the false and true, or the magnanimous and 
 deceitful. When the moral judgments are thus per- 
 verted, an individual is surely reduced below the low 
 level of the wild beasts, that hunt their prey and de- 
 vour and appropriate, without mercy or remorse, what- 
 ever serves to appease hunger or to gratify animal de- 
 sire. Such beings have little moral responsibility ; and 
 
 * Alcoholic Liquors, p. 31. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 6 7 
 
 an individual who is thus debauched by alcohol, or 
 other intoxicating and demoralizing agents, or habits, 
 has little more sense of justice and right than the tiger 
 or gorilla of the African jungle. 
 
 These may be said, by the apologists for the use of 
 intoxicating drinks, to be the moral effects of abuses of 
 alcohol ; and such they are. It is, however, a matter 
 of controversy where the proper use ends and the abuse 
 begins. With all due deference to the distinguished 
 savants who think otherwise, my opinion is that in 
 health, alcohol, in any disguise, has no rights in the 
 human blood entitled to anybody's respect ; that it is 
 a toxical agent, with well-defined effects and morbific 
 tendencies upon both body and mind, and cannot be in- 
 troduced into the circulating system without seriously 
 compromising the physical and moral well-being. 
 
 The views of Dr. Carpenter and others concerning 
 the general and specific effects of alcoholic liquors 
 upon the animal economy, although opposed by 
 many, are corroborated by those of a large major- 
 ity of the medical profession. The State Board of 
 Health of Massachusetts, of which Professor H. J. 
 Bowditch is chairman, has recently (187 1-2) given the 
 subject of intemperance in the various countries of 
 the globe, and especially in Massachusetts, a most 
 thorough investigation. Its report to the legislature 
 of that State lies before me ; and it is replete with 
 facts and figures, going to show the general demoral- 
 ization consequent upon the habitual use of intoxicat- 
 ing liquors, and is derived from sources which cannot 
 be gainsaid, being the medical profession itself of 
 that State, and the ministerial and consular service of 
 the United States, throughout the civilized world. 
 
68 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 There is diversity of opinion expressed in response to 
 the inquiries of the Board; but the general sentiment 
 of a majority, as expressed by one of their number, is 
 that " the effect of the use of intoxicating liquor is 
 here, as elsewhere, injurious to health and destructive 
 to life ; never useful as a beverage, and seldom, if 
 ever, as a medicine. The users are not the only suf- 
 ferers, but they leave to their children an inheritance 
 of bodily and mental disease."* But the most im- 
 portant generalization to be deduced from the report 
 is that concerning the comparative prevalence of in- 
 temperance among the different climates and peoples 
 of the earth. The conclusion at which Professor 
 Bowditch arrives, and which is a legitimate inference 
 from the data collected, is thus stated by him : " In- 
 temperance prevails the world over, but it is very 
 rare at the equator. The tendency increases ac- 
 cording to latitude, being more frequent and more 
 brutal and disastrous in its effects on man and society 
 as we approach the northern regions. "f The clear- 
 headed Maudsley thus draws the parallel between 
 mania and alcoholism : 
 
 * Third Annual Report, State Board of Health, p. 77. 
 f " The State Board of Health" of Massachusetts, in 1870, addressed 
 the following inquiry to the members of the medical profession throughout 
 that State: "What in your judgment has been the effect of the use of in- 
 toxicating liquor as a beverage upon the health and lives of the people of 
 your town, or in the region in which you practice?" In response to this 
 inquiry one hundred and sixty-four [164] replies were received, of which 
 the following is a summary : 
 
 ' Very destructive to life and health 48 
 
 Injurious to a greater or less degree 49 
 
 Public health not affected by use in their town . . . .16 
 The people in their town very temperate . . . . .27 
 
 Intoxicating drinks not used in their town ..... 5 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 6 9 
 
 " Alcohol yields us, in its direct effects, the abstract 
 and brief chronicle of the course of mania. At first 
 there is an agreeable excitement, a lively flow of ideas, 
 a revival of old ideas and feelings which seemed to 
 have passed from the mind ; a general increase of 
 mental activity, — a condition very like that which often 
 precedes an attack of acute mania, when the patient 
 is witty, lively, satirical, makes jokes or rhymes, and 
 certainly exhibits a brilliancy of fancy which he is 
 capable of at no other time. 
 
 " Then there follows, in the next state of its increasing 
 action, as there does in mania, the automatic excitation 
 of ideas, which start up and follow one another with- 
 out order, so that thought and speech are more or 
 less incoherent, while passion is easily excited. After 
 this stage has lasted for a time, — in some shorter, in 
 others longer, — it passes into one of depression and 
 maudlin melancholy, just as sometimes mania passes 
 into melancholia, or convulsions into paralysis. And 
 the last stage of all is one of stupor and dementia. 
 If the abuse of alcohol be continued for years, it may 
 cause forms of mental derangement, in which the 
 muscular are curiously like the mental symptoms : 
 delirium tremens in one, an acute, noisy, destructive 
 mania in another, chronic alcoholism in a third, and a 
 condition of mental weakness, with loss of memory 
 and loss of energy, in a fourth."* 
 
 The evil is bad upon foreigners in their town, but not upon natives . 4 
 Useful in decline of life ........ 1 
 
 Use promotes longevity ........ 1 
 
 Indefinite replies 13" 
 
 The Report altogether is a most able and instructive document, and de- 
 serves to be widely read and reflected upon. 
 
 * Body and Mind, pp. 91-2. 
 7 
 
7° 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 In respect to the sphere of the specific influence of 
 alcohol, and the mode of its physiological action, Dr. 
 Carpenter observes : 
 
 " The selective power of alcohol appears to lead it 
 in the first instance to attack the cerebrum, the intel- 
 lectual powers being affected before any disorder of 
 sensation or motion manifests itself; and to this it 
 seems to be limited in what has been here described 
 as the first stage of intoxication. But with the more 
 complex perversion of the intellectual powers, which 
 characterizes the second stage, we have also a disturbed 
 function of the sensory ganglia, upon which the cere- 
 bral hemispheres are superposed ; this disturbance 
 being indicated by the disorders of sensation, and also 
 by the want of that control over the muscular move- 
 ments which require sensation for their guidance. In 
 the third stage the functions of the cerebrum and sen- 
 sory ganglia appear to be completely suspended ; and 
 those of the medulla oblongata and spinal cord now 
 begin to be affected, as we see to be indicated by the 
 difficulty of respiration, the strabismus, the dilated 
 pupil, and the tetanic spasms. 
 
 " As already stated, the admixture of alcohol with 
 the blood has a tendency to give a venous character 
 even to that of the arteries ; and when this tendency 
 is augmented by imperfect respiration, the blood will 
 become more and more venous, until its influence upon 
 the medulla oblongata is so directly poisonous that its 
 functions are completely suspended, the respiratory 
 movements are brought to a stand, and death takes 
 place by asphyxia, precisely as in narcotic poisoning 
 by other substances."* 
 
 ;i; Alcoholic Liquors, p. 36. Sec Notes at end of chapter, page 92. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 71 
 
 The fearful demoralization consequent upon the 
 habitual use of alcoholic liquors is a fact of too gen- 
 eral observation to need further elucidation. Statistics 
 of disease and crime have long since placed the matter 
 beyond the limits of reasonable skepticism. The fol- 
 lowing table, compiled from the records of the Essex 
 (Mass.) House of Correction, exhibits the percentage 
 of common drunkards admitted for a series of years. 
 The variations in the annual percentage of commit- 
 ments are owing to the different degrees of vigilance 
 exercised by the police and others in enforcing the 
 prohibitory and license laws:* 
 
 Years. 
 
 Whole No. of 
 Commitments. 
 
 Common 
 Drunkards. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 1861 
 
 402 
 
 107 
 
 24 
 
 1862 
 
 
 
 
 395 
 
 94 
 
 24 
 
 1863 
 
 
 
 
 415 
 
 121 
 
 29 
 
 1864 
 
 
 
 
 207 
 
 48 
 
 23 
 
 1865 
 
 
 
 
 174 
 
 27 
 
 IS* 
 
 1866 
 
 
 
 
 225 
 
 19 
 
 8i 
 
 1867 
 
 
 
 
 177 
 
 18 
 
 10 
 
 1868 
 
 
 
 
 261 
 
 39 
 
 I4i 
 
 1869 
 
 
 
 
 214 
 
 45 
 
 21 
 
 1870 
 
 
 
 
 232 
 
 29 
 
 12* 
 
 Returning to the influence of nervines and narcotics, 
 we remark that they all exercise specific affinities for 
 particular centres of the nervous system, and that their 
 abuse leads directly to the development or assertion 
 of those specific effects upon the nervous powers. 
 For example : the nux vomica has an affinity for the 
 medulla oblongata and the spinal cord, as observed in 
 its well-known power of producing paralysis and palsy; 
 
 * Third Annual Report State Board of Health of Massachusetts, p. 117. 
 
72 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 opium and alcohol for the brain and superior nervous 
 centres, as proved by their influence over the ideas 
 and feelings, and the power they possess of restraining 
 and causing nervous disintegration. Belladonna, Indian 
 hemp, hyoscyamus, prussic acid, stramonium, etc., have 
 also affinities for particular portions of the sensorium, 
 as shown in the peculiar character of their psychical 
 effects, — paralysis, hallucinations, delusions, etc. To- 
 bacco, on the other hand, seems to act more on the 
 social powers, — the selfish propensities and sentiments, 
 — according to the observation of many credible 
 writers. The immoderate use of coffee influences the 
 social instincts in a very similar manner, and exerts 
 also a decidedly tonic effect upon the brain, and, as 
 has already been observed, the faculty of ideation in 
 particular. 
 
 We are cognizant of the case of a little boy of a 
 most irritable and vexatious disposition, who is always 
 put in an agreeable, pleasant humor by a cup of tea 
 or coffee. Such facts are certainly not alone peculiar 
 to little children. We have frequently observed them 
 in children of a larger growth. There can be no 
 doubt, therefore, that nervines of such powers can 
 be easily abused, nor that they arc abused. The brain 
 and nervous system are frequently overtaxed through 
 their influence, and the mind impelled to do an 
 amount of work, and to undergo degrees of fatigue, 
 which, without the aid of coffee or tea, it could not do, 
 and would be all the better for the failure to do. 
 Sooner or later morbid consequences, of a nervous 
 character and serious nature, are likely to supervene. 
 
 If it be true — and nothing in medicine is more 
 firmly established — that certain medicines possess the 
 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 73 
 
 property of modifying the normal feelings, appetites, 
 and character of man, exalting, depressing, and actually 
 of corrupting his morals, and the quality of his thoughts 
 and sentiments, it is an interesting fact, and one having 
 an intimate connection with mental hygiene. The cir- 
 culation must be zealously guarded against their intru- 
 sion to the sacred domain, if we would avoid the risk 
 of developing impaired nerves, nervous idiosyncrasies, 
 and mental derangements, — a most difficult thing to 
 do, surely, when we reflect upon the wholesale and 
 almost universal adulteration of almost every form of 
 food and drink ; and that even the air we breathe is 
 filled with infusoria, dust, noxious gases, malaria, etc., 
 which prey upon the integrity of the organic functions. 
 
 Unwholesome causes from these sources may not 
 be wholly avoidable in the present state of public 
 morals, ignorance of the laws of health, and the insane 
 desire for riches ; but there are many other sources of 
 blood-poisoning and moral perversion equally flagrant, 
 which are by no means beyond our control. Among 
 them we may mention patent medicines ; indiscrimi- 
 nate or careless prescriptions of over-confident and 
 too hopeful doctors ; popular mineral waters and cure- 
 all springs ; innumerable varieties of beer-slops, 
 gulped down by the wholesale ; cheap wines and 
 liquors in general use ; tobacco-chewing and smoking, 
 etc.* The evils arising from the last-named sources are 
 of a nature too serious and wide-spread to be passed 
 over with the bare mention of them. 
 
 3. The influence of tobacco on the nervous system 
 
 * Prof. John Fiske estimates the number who habitually use tobacco at 
 800,000,000, an evident exaggeration. See his monograph in vindication 
 of tobacco-smoking and wine-drinking. 
 
 7* 
 
74 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 presents some features unlike those of other narcotics. 
 Poisonous to the last degree, as any novice in the ex- 
 ceedingly common ''accomplishment" of chewing or 
 smoking can attest, it cannot be wholly innocent of 
 the charge its enemies have made, of impairing the 
 physical energies, or of perverting the nervous func- 
 tions. To those whom temperament or peculiar idio- 
 syncrasy renders inordinately susceptible to its prop- 
 erties, tobacco does vitiate both body and mind ; on 
 others of less nervous susceptibility its effect is not 
 so clear and well defined. That such large numbers 
 of human beings are able to take, day after day, and 
 year after year, a drug of such confessed virulence, in 
 such massive doses, is one of the most remarkable 
 phenomena of organic life ! 
 
 The active principle of tobacco is nicotine, an alka- 
 loid exceedingly poisonous in its pure state, of which 
 there is enough in a single cigar to kill several men. 
 " According to the experiments of Vohl and Eulen- 
 berg, the nicotine is decomposed, in the process of 
 smoking, into pyridine, pieoline and other [less] poi- 
 sonous alkaloids." Mr. Axon, in the " Quarterly 
 Journal of Science," says that " the peculiar effects of 
 tobacco are due to the action of the essential oil of 
 tobacco in the case of chewing and snuffing, and to that, 
 combined with the empyreumatic oil, in smoking."* 
 
 From some systematic experiments of Dr. Edward 
 Smith, which he communicated to the British Asso- 
 ciation in 1864, tobacco, when smoked, acts primarily 
 upon the heart, accelerating the pulse in some in- 
 
 * See his able paper, " The Physiological Position of Tobacco," in the 
 Quarterly Journal of Science, London, October 1872. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 7$ 
 
 stances to a maximum of thirty-seven and a half pulsa- 
 tions per minute— thus increasing the labor of that 
 organ at least fifty per cent. " The effect upon the 
 heart," says Mr. Axon, in the paper referred to, " is 
 not caused by direct action upon that organ, but 
 by paralyzing the minute vessels which form the bat- 
 teries of the nervous system. Thus paralyzed, they 
 can no longer offer effectual resistance, and the heart, 
 freed from their control, increases the rapidity of its 
 strokes, expanding the vessels with an apparent acces- 
 sion, but real waste, of force." This effect of tobacco, 
 in accelerating the pulse, is well known to every 
 observant user of the weed. From several physicians, 
 smokers of tobacco, to whom I have put the question, 
 What effect does smoking have upon you, doctor ? the 
 reply has invariably confirmed this view of its influence 
 upon the pulse. An old client of mine has frequently 
 been compelled to abandon the habit of smoking,which, 
 aside from his sense of its luxury, he finds necessary 
 to restrain the tendency to obesity, owing to its effect 
 in accelerating the pulse. I have known his pulse to 
 increase its rate from twenty-five to thirty per cent, 
 by smoking a single cigar, which was followed by a 
 restless, sleepless night, although he is an old user of 
 tobacco, having smoked it for a quarter of a century. 
 Another patient, a young man of steady habits, and 
 several years addicted to the use of the weed, has been 
 obliged to forego its use for a like reason. The smok- 
 ing of one cigar is sufficient to increase the rate of his 
 pulse from eighty-five pulsations per minute to one 
 hundred and twenty. This effect continues several 
 days, more or less, and is so uniform with him that I 
 can always detect his indulgence of the cigar by an ex- 
 
76 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 amination of his pulse. In this patient, palpitation of 
 the heart and shortness of breath are also frequent 
 concomitants of tobacco-smoking. 
 
 Death from paralysis of the heart is not an uncom- 
 mon effect of tobacco. Druhen relates that a youth, 
 aged fourteen, " having smoked fifteen cents' worth of 
 tobacco, as a remedy for toothache, fell down senseless, 
 and died the same evening."* Blatin, also, relates 
 similar incidents from the effect of tobacco. But the 
 acute effects of the drug he regards as trifling com- 
 pared to "the gradual saturation of the system with 
 nicotine." " The trembling," says Mr. Axon, " which 
 is one of the usual symptoms of acute, is also a com- 
 mon result of chronic, nicotism." He mentions the 
 case of a distinguished Parisian physician, whose hands 
 "shook so much that he could not write. Whenever 
 he remained without tobacco for any length of time, 
 these tremblings disappeared. "f 
 
 Vertigo is another frequent concomitant of tobacco- 
 using. Blatin mentions the case of a man who con- 
 sulted him " respecting violent and numerous attacks 
 of vertigo. When he felt one of them approaching 
 he was obliged to lie down wherever he might be, in 
 order to avoid falling. In the country, where he had 
 plenty of exercise, they were less frequent than in the 
 town, where his occupation was sedentary. Cessation 
 from tobacco and a tonic regimen quickly restored 
 him."J Numerous cases of similar nature and char- 
 acter have been recorded among the observations of 
 medical men. If they are not sufficiently tragical to 
 deter the lovers of tobacco from the habits of smoking 
 
 * Quarterly Journal of Science. f Ibid. % Ibid. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 77 
 
 and chewing, they at least seem to prove the sphere of 
 its physiological influence on the nervous system, and 
 that of the heart particularly. Tobacco lowers the 
 animal temperature ; and if it soothes and comforts 
 the weary toiler in the study, or in the workshop, it 
 does so through its specific, medicinal effect upon the 
 sympathetic ganglia, rather than by any influence in 
 augmenting the vital energies of the nervous system. 
 " Tobacco," observes Mr. Axon,* " adds no potential 
 strength to the human frame*. It may spur a weary 
 brain or feeble arm to undue exertion for a short time, 
 but its work is destructive, not constructive. It can- 
 not add one molecule to the plasm out of which our 
 bodies are daily built up. On the contrary, it exerts 
 upon it a most deleterious influence. It does not sup- 
 ply, but diminishes, vital force. "f And in concluding 
 his interesting study of the habit, the writer pertinently 
 affirms, that " it is in no case necessary or beneficial ; 
 it is a social nuisance; it is devoid of aesthetic beauty; 
 it is an unmanly leaning on a solace to care and labor 
 neither sought nor needed by the weaker sex; it is an 
 enormous and yearly-increasing improvidence. Above 
 all, it is the foe to youthful development, the bane of 
 youthful blood and brain. The subject may seem to 
 some too trivial for serious attention ; but when we 
 consider the extent of juvenile smoking, we see that 
 the national life and stamina are seriously threatened 
 by this ignoble habit." 
 
 The effect of tobacco on the moral powers is nowise 
 less pronounced than it is on those of the more purely 
 physiological. J The author of " The Uses and Abuses 
 
 * Quarterly Journal of Science. f Ibid. 
 
 % Mr. Lewes, the clever author of " The Physiology of Common Life," 
 
yS MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 of Tobacco," an Edinburgh professor of surgery, says, 
 that " loss of memory takes place in an extraordinary 
 degree in the smoker."* A colleague, whose opinion 
 is influenced partly by the effect of the narcotic upon 
 himself, believes that its excessive use impairs the 
 memory. Another colleague who has studied the 
 subject objectively, having no experience with the 
 drug on himself, believes its long-continued use blunts 
 in a degree the moral perceptions. And still another, 
 whose opinion is entitled to respect, thinks its specific 
 effects on the mind lie in the direction of the afifec- 
 tional or social propensities. Dr. Lizars, before quoted, 
 thinks it produces cowardice.f Mr. Parton's opinion 
 on the subject is well known. He says :J "We must 
 
 being disposed to find good in everything, makes tobacco no exception. He 
 thinks a cigar a good digester, taken after dinner. But, he observes, it has 
 " other influences, some beneficial, some injurious ; the amount of injury de- 
 pends on the nature of the organism ; and therein each person must judge 
 for himself. There is only one caution, which it is right to place before 
 the reader. When tobacco is said not to be injurious, but beneficial, it 
 must always be understood to mean tobacco in small quantities. Excess in 
 tobacco is very injurious ; so also is excess in alcohol ; so also would be 
 excess in mutton-chops. All excess is dangerous. All stimulants should 
 be used sparingly. Yet the man who never thinks of exceeding his half 
 a pint of wine or pint of beer daily makes no scruple of smoking a dozen 
 cigars ! From my own experience, rendered vigilant as I am by a delicate 
 digestion and an easily-disturbed organism, I can conscientiously say that 
 two cigars daily, always taken after, and never before, the chief meals, have 
 proved themselves to be decidedly beneficial in many directions ; but I should 
 no more think of increasing that quantity than of increasing my daily 
 quantity of coffee or beer. Other organisms could of course endure greater 
 quantities. Each must determine the proper limit for himself ; and having 
 determined it, abide by it." — Physiology of Common Life, vol. i. p. 192. 
 
 * Dr. Lizars, p. 34. 
 
 f " I have invariably found that patients addicted to tobacco-smoking 
 were in sentiment cowardly, and deficient in manly fortitude to undergo any 
 surgical operation, however trifling, proposed to relieve them from the suffer- 
 ings of other complaints." — Ibid., p. 36. 
 
 X Smoking and Drinking, by James Parton. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 79 
 
 admit, too, I think, that smoking dulls a man's sense 
 of the rights of others." As he himself is a reformed 
 smoker, surely his opinion is not without weight. 
 My .own study and observation of the chronic effects 
 of tobacco have led me to believe that it impairs the 
 moral perceptions, to a greater or less degree, and 
 that it also perverts the social instincts. While it must 
 be freely admitted that many good and excellent men 
 smoke, — few such, I think, chew the "weed," — it is 
 believed that they would even be better than they are, 
 were it not for the morally sedative influence of the 
 drug ; for it is undeniably true that tobacco in any 
 form, not excepting the " fragrant Havana," is incom- 
 patible with the existence of the highest and finest 
 characters.* The noblest types of manhood and 
 womanhood generally have no affinity for the weed; 
 indeed, I have seldom known a man, and never a woman, 
 greatly distinguished for the high quality of his or her 
 moral perceptions, who was an habitual, or even an 
 occasional, user of tobacco. 
 
 The partisans of the smoking habit will find much 
 in these views to dissent from. Mr. Bayard Taylor, 
 whose observations on the subject are entitled to 
 respect, having more than ordinary opportunities to 
 test their soundness, says, that " its effect, when habit- 
 ually used, is slightly narcotic and sedative, not too 
 stimulating; or if so at times, it stimulates only the 
 imagination and the social faculties. It lulls the com- 
 bative and destructive propensities, and hence, so far 
 as a material agent may operate, it exercises a human- 
 
 * The great Napoleon said of smoking, that "it is a habit only fit to 
 amuse sluggards."- — The Uses and Abuses of Tobacco, p. 86. 
 
8 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 izing and refining influence." The effect upon himself, 
 he observes, is a " delicious sense of rest." " The pure 
 physical sensation of rest," he says, " is one of strength 
 also, and of perfect contentment. Many an impatient 
 thought, many an angry word, have I avoided by a 
 resort to the pipe." But would not a glass of cold 
 water have had a similar effect? Mr. Taylor is evi- 
 dently a natural smoker, and finds no limit to the 
 height and depth of the peculiar fascinations of the 
 habit. " I know of nothing," he continues, " more 
 refreshing, after the fatigue of a long day's journey, 
 than a well-prepared narghileh. That slightly fever- 
 ish and excitable feeling which is the result of fatigue 
 yields at once to its potency. The blood loses its heat 
 and the pulse its rapidity; the muscles relax, the 
 nerves are soothed into quiet, and the frame passes 
 into a condition similar to sleep, except that the mind 
 is awake and active. By the time one has finished his 
 pipe, he is refreshed for the remainder of the day, and 
 his nightly sleep is sound and healthy. Such are 
 some of the physical effects of the pipe in Eastern 
 lands. Morally and psychologically, it works still 
 greater transformations ; but to describe them now, 
 with the mouth-piece at my lips, would require an 
 active self-consciousness which the habit does not 
 allow."* Such, / should say, are some of the effects 
 of tobacco on a highly-poetic temperament! 
 
 Now, if tobacco, even in ever so small a degree, 
 promotes moral degeneracy, augments the power and 
 influence of the propensities in the character, to that 
 extent, at least, it has an evil tendency. This is a 
 logical sequence of the facts, which arc amply sup- 
 
 * The Lands of the Saracen, p. 182. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGEN\ 
 
 ported by trustworthy observation. 
 use of tobacco, Bayard Taylor to the contriS 
 standing, certainly augments the importance ol 
 the " I" in the character. It makes one more sensible 5 
 of his own personal existence. His personal wants, 
 desires, appetites, are increased in number and vigor. 
 He is, therefore, less likely to forget himself in his 
 zeal for the interests of others. He may be magnani- 
 mous still, but he grows less generous, — except, per- 
 haps, with his tobacco. The tobacco user may be 
 in straitened circumstances, and find it exceedingly 
 difficult to make his ends meet, but not to keep the 
 tobacco-box well supplied! The baby may be in 
 extremest want of a pair of shoes, but he never wants 
 for cigars or tobacco. The doctor's bill may have 
 laid in the drawer unpaid for months, or more, — fre- 
 quently more, — but he does not forget to pay for the 
 cigars, which he continues to puff with an ever-in- 
 creasing satisfaction and delight. The wife and chil- 
 dren may even want for the necessaries of life, — for food 
 and drink, — but still the husband chews or smokes, — 
 finding tobacco apparently the chief necessity of his 
 life. These facts are founded on personal observation. 
 Do they not sustain the allegation that tobacco pro- 
 motes the growth of selfism in man ? 
 
 Moreover, it must be conceded that the habitual use 
 of tobacco is destructive, in a greater or less degree 
 (secondary effect), of moral equanimity. The ma- 
 jority of chewers and smokers are conscious of being- 
 held in dominion by a power they cannot break. They 
 are restless and impatient under restraint. The merest 
 trifles vex and annoy. In general they are less kind 
 and sympathetic, more easily crossed and dispossessed, 
 
g 2 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 — especially if temporarily deprived of their customary 
 " solace." They are inclined to be less respectful and 
 self-respecting ; less refined in manner, feeling, and ex- 
 pression. The better class of those who are addicted 
 to the use of tobacco may not descend to actual vul- 
 garity, but, in general, they do not refrain from join- 
 ing heartily in the laugh it excites when uttered by 
 others. They are also less respectful and appreciative 
 of the character of woman, and are more inclined, 
 through the influence of the drug it is believed, to 
 regard her from the lower and more purely selfish 
 considerations. Tobacco may soothe and comfort 
 that morbid restlessness and irritability which is the 
 forerunner and positive indication of nervous derange- 
 ment, if not of actual nervous disease; but it certainly 
 is a blight upon that quality of genuine gallantry which 
 is the special adornment and glory of manhood. 
 
 These are obvious indications of a tendency to moral 
 apathy and mental derangement, which may be justly 
 attributed to tobacco. We know of no adequate com- 
 pensation for these effects, except it be in restraining 
 the appetite for substances, and the indulgence of 
 habits, still more demoralizing; or of quieting morbid 
 appetencies, hereditary or acquired, which, unchecked 
 by some equally potent counteracting agent, would 
 impel the individual into more disastrous ways. This 
 explanation of the possible compensations of the habit 
 is purely hypothetical ; but whether true or false, it 
 needs no marvelous powers of comprehension to un- 
 derstand that there can be no substantial, moral and 
 intellectual health, so long as poisonous, and wholly 
 inimical and vitiating, elements are necessary acces- 
 sories of human blood and brain. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 83 
 
 4. All through the East opium, tobacco, hasheesh, 
 etc., have been largely used for centuries for the pur- 
 pose of perverting the senses, — hasheesh particularly, 
 to augment the power and luxury of the imagination. 
 Bayard Taylor thinks he recognizes the agency of 
 hasheesh in the production of such tales as the Arabian 
 Nights, and in "the glow and luxury of all oriental 
 poetry." The same author observes, also, that an 
 infusion of the dried leaves of the cannabis indica 
 " is a more fierce and fatal stimulant than the paste of 
 sugar and spices to which the Turk resorts, as the 
 food of his voluptuous evening reveries. While its 
 immediate effects seem to be more potent than those 
 of opium, its habitual use, though attended with ulti- 
 mate and permanent injury to the system, rarely results 
 in such utter wreck of mind and body as that "to which 
 the votaries of the latter drug inevitably condemn 
 themselves."* 
 
 Mr. Taylor's account of his own personal experi- 
 ments with the hasheesh is as instructive as it is inter- 
 esting. While at Damascus, during his oriental tour 
 in 1852, that eminent tourist took, at a single dose, 
 one teaspoonful of a strong infusion of the hasheesh, 
 and after an interval of an hour took half as much 
 more. He had not long to wait for characteristic 
 symptoms: 
 
 " I was seated alone," he writes, " nearly in the mid- 
 dle of the room, talking with my friends, who were 
 lounging upon a sofa placed in a sort of alcove at the 
 farther end, when the same fine, nervous thrill of 
 which I have spoken suddenly shot through me. 
 
 * The Lands of the Saracen, pp. 133-4. 
 
84 - MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 But this time it was accompanied with a burning sen- 
 sation at the pit of the stomach ; and, instead of grow- 
 ing upon me with the gradual pace of healthy slumber, 
 and resolving me, as before, in the air, it came with 
 the intensity of a pang, and shot throbbing along the 
 nerves to the extremities of my body. The sense of 
 limitation — of the confinement of our senses within 
 the bounds of our own flesh and blood — instantly fell 
 away. The walls of my frame were burst outward and 
 tumbled into ruin ; and, without thinking what form I 
 were, — losing sight even of all idea of form, — I felt that 
 I existed throughout a vast extent of space. The blood 
 pulsed from my heart, sped through uncounted leagues 
 before it reached my extremities ; the air drawn into 
 my lungs expanded into seas of limpid ether, and the 
 arch of my skull was broader than the vault of heaven. 
 Within the concave that held my brain were the 
 fathomless deeps of blue ; clouds floated there, and 
 the winds of heaven rolled them together, and there 
 shone the orb of the sun. ... In the state of mental 
 exaltation in which I was then plunged, all sensations, 
 as they arose, suggested more or less coherent images. 
 They presented themselves to me in a double form : 
 one physical, and therefore to a certain extent tangi- 
 ble; the other spiritual, and revealing itself in a suc- 
 cession of splendid metaphors. The physical feeling 
 of extended being was accompanied by the image of 
 an exploding meteor, not subsiding into darkness, but 
 continuing to shoot from its centre or nucleus — which 
 corresponded to the burning spot at the pit of my 
 stomach — incessant adumbrations of light, that finally 
 lost themselves in the infinity of space. To my mind, 
 even now, this image is still the best illustration of 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 85 
 
 my sensations, as I recall them ; but I greatly doubt 
 whether the reader will find it equally clear. 
 
 " My curiosity was now in a way of being satisfied ; 
 the spirit (demon, shall I not rather say ?) of hasheesh 
 had entire possession of me. I was cast upon the 
 flood of his illusions, and drifted helplessly whither- 
 soever they might choose to bear me. The thrills 
 which ran through my nervous system became more 
 rapid and fierce, accompanied with sensations that 
 steeped my whole being in unutterable rapture. It 
 was accompanied by a sea of light, through which 
 played the pure, harmonious colors that are born of 
 light. While endeavoring, in broken expressions, to 
 describe my feelings to my friends, who sat looking 
 upon me incredulously, — not yet having been affected 
 by the drug, — I suddenly found myself at the foot of 
 the great Pyramid of Cheops. The tapering courses 
 of yellow limestone gleamed like gold in the sun, and 
 the pile rose so high that it seemed to lean for sup- 
 port upon the blue arch of the sky. I wished to ascend 
 it, and the wish alone placed me immediately upon its 
 apex, lifted thousands of feet above the wheat-fields 
 and palm-groves of Egypt. I cast my eyes down- 
 ward, and, to my astonishment, saw that it was built, 
 not of limestone, but of huge square plugs of caven- 
 dish tobacco ! Words cannot paint the overwhelming 
 sense of the ludicrous which I then experienced." 
 
 After writhing now " in an agony of laughter," 
 this scene melted away, to be followed with another 
 of such gorgeousness that he despairs " of represent- 
 ing its exceeding glory." 
 
 " I was moving over the desert," he continues, " not 
 upon the rocking dromedary, but seated in a bark 
 
 8* 
 
86 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 made of mother-of-pearl, and studded with jewels of 
 surpassing lustre. The sand was of grains of gold, 
 and my keel slid through them without jar or sound. 
 The air was radiant with excess of light, though no 
 sun was to be seen. I inhaled the most delicious per- 
 fumes ; and harmonies, such as Beethoven may have 
 heard in dreams but never wrote, floated around me. 
 The atmosphere itself was light, odor, music ; and 
 each and all sublimated beyond anything the sober 
 senses are capable of receiving. Before me — for a 
 thousand leagues, as it seemed — stretched a vista of 
 rainbows, whose colors gleamed with the splendor of 
 gems, — arches of living amethyst, sapphire, emerald, 
 topaz, and ruby. By thousands and tens of thousands 
 they flew past me, as my dazzling barge sped down 
 the magnificent arcade ; yet the vista still stretched as 
 far as ever before me. I reveled in a sensuous elysium, 
 which was perfect, because no sense was left ungrati- 
 fied. But, beyond all, my mind was filled with a bound 
 less feeling of triumph. My journeywas that of a 
 conqueror, — not of a conqueror who subdues his race, 
 either by love or by will, for I forgot that man ex- 
 isted, but one victorious over the grandest as well as 
 the subtlest forces of nature. The spirits of light, 
 color, odor, sound, and motion were my slaves ; 
 and, having these, I was master of the universe. . . . 
 Those finer senses, which occupy a middle ground 
 between our animal and intellectual appetites, were 
 suddenly developed to a pitch beyond what I had 
 ever dreamed, and being thus at one and the same time 
 gratified to the fullest extent of their preternatural 
 capacity, the result was a single harmonious sensa- 
 tion, to describe which human language has no epithet. 
 
OF PhYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 8 7 , 
 
 Mahomet's paradise, with its palaces of ruby and 
 emerald, its airs of musk and cassia, and its rivers 
 colder than snow and sweeter than honey, would have 
 been a poor and mean terminus for my Arcadia of 
 rainbows." 
 
 During these beautiful illusions, our author was 
 quite conscious of his precise whereabouts, and of the 
 fact that all these gorgeous fancies were the effects of 
 hasheesh. " Yet, singular as it may seem," he re- 
 marks, " neither conflicted with the other. My enjoy- 
 ment of the visions was complete and absolute, undis- 
 turbed by the faintest doubt of their reality; while, in 
 some other chamber of my brain, reason sat coolly 
 watching them, and heaping the liveliest ridicule on 
 their fantastic features. One set of nerves was thrilled 
 with the bliss of the gods, while another was convulsed 
 with unquenchable laughter at that very bliss. My 
 highest ecstasies could not bear down and silence the 
 weight of my ridicule, which, in its turn, was power- 
 less to prevent me from running into other and more 
 gorgeous absurdities. I was double, not ' swan and 
 shadow,' but rather, sphinx-like, human and beast. 
 A true sphinx, I was a riddle and a mystery to my- 
 self." 
 
 The full effect of the massive dose had not yet been 
 reached. Thus far the illusions had been highly 
 pleasing and enjoyable; but the more serious and suf- 
 fering symptoms came on apace : 
 
 " My perceptions now became more dim and con- 
 fused. I felt that I was in the grasp of some giant 
 force ; and, in the glimmering of my fading reason, 
 grew earnestly alarmed, for the terrible stress under 
 which my frame labored increased every moment. A 
 
38 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 fierce and furious heat radiated from my stomach 
 throughout my system ; my mouth and throat were 
 as dry and hard as if made of brass, and my tongue, 
 it seemed to me, was a bar of rusty iron. I seized a 
 pitcher of water, and drank long and deeply ; but I 
 might as well have drunk so much air, for not only 
 did it impart no moisture, but my palate and throat 
 gave me no intelligence of having drank at all. I 
 stood in the centre of the room, brandishing my arms 
 convulsively, and heaving sighs that seemed to shatter 
 my whole being. ' Will no one,' I said, in distress, 
 1 cast out this devil that has possession of me ?' I no 
 longer saw the room nor my friends. . . 
 
 " By this time it was nearly midnight. I had passed 
 through the paradise of hasheesh, and was plunged 
 at once into the fiercest hell. . . . The excited blood 
 rushed through my frame with a sound like the waves 
 of mighty waters. It was projected into my eyes until 
 I could no longer see ; it beat thickly in my ears, and 
 so throbbed in my heart that I feared the ribs would 
 give way under its blows. I tore open my vest, placed 
 my hand over the spot, and tried to count the pulsa- 
 tions ; but there were two hearts, one beating at the 
 rate of a thousand beats a minute [a poet's license], 
 and the other with a slow, dull motion. My throat, I 
 thought, was filled to the brim with blood, and streams 
 of blood were pouring from my ears. I felt them 
 gushing warm down my cheeks and neck. With a 
 maddened, desperate feeling, I fled from the room, 
 and walked over the flat, terraced roof of the house. 
 My body seemed to shrink and grow rigid, as I 
 wrestled with the demon, and my face to become 
 wild, lean, and haggard. . . . Involuntarily, I raised 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 8 9 
 
 my hand to feel the leanness and sharpness of my face. 
 Oh, horror ! the flesh had fallen from my bones, and 
 it was a skeleton head that I carried on my shoulders ! 
 With one bound I sprang to the parapet, and looked 
 down into the silent court-yard, then filled with the 
 shadows thrown into it by the sinking moon. Shall I 
 cast myself down headlong? was the question! pro- 
 posed to myself; but though the horror of that skeleton 
 delusion was greater than any fear of death, there was 
 an invisible hand at my breast which pushed me away 
 from the brink." 
 
 These pitjable sufferings went on without abatement 
 for several hours. And in addition to them was the 
 consciousness of being possessed by a demon, against 
 which he struggled with all the powers of his enfeebled 
 will ; and as it " became gradually weaker," he ob- 
 serves, " I felt that I should soon be powerless in his 
 hands." By-and-by a painful state of " gray blank 
 oblivion" came on, lasting some thirty hours ; after 
 which a warm bath and a glass of acid sherbet put 
 the reckless experimenter in the way of speedy con- 
 valescence. For a long time our author remained 
 broken in spirit, and deprived of sufficient energy to 
 prosecute the objects of his journey. " Yet," he writes, 
 " fearful as my rash experiment proved to me, I did 
 not regret having made it. It revealed to me deeps 
 of rapture and of suffering which my natural faculties 
 never could have sounded. It has taught me the 
 majesty of human reason and of human will, even in 
 the weakest, and the awful peril of tampering with that 
 which assails their integrity. I have here faithfully 
 and fully written out my experience, on account of 
 the lesson which it may convey to others. If I have 
 
90 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 unfortunately failed of my design, and have but 
 awakened that restless curiosity which I have en- 
 deavored to forestall, let me beg all who are thereby 
 led to repeat the experiment upon themselves, that 
 they be content to take the portion of hasheesh which 
 is considered sufficient for one man, and not, like me, 
 swallow enough for six."* 
 
 In finally concluding this chapter, we cannot for- 
 bear to do justice to the intuitional and theological 
 conceptions of our forefathers, and those of many of 
 our contemporaries, who regarded, and do now regard, 
 many forms of nervous derangement as the result of 
 " demoniacal possession." When we reflect upon the 
 multitude of morbid derangements that may be en- 
 gendered in the mind by agents, the use of which a 
 multitude of perverted instincts have rendered fash- 
 ionable and imperative ; and the various mental dis- 
 orders that may be and are artificially produced by 
 narcotics, and other agents of similar morbific nature, 
 which are so largely consumed in some form or other 
 by man, the possibility of " demoniacal possession" 
 seems highly plausible, and by no means incredible. 
 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in 
 many parts of Spain, France, and Italy, epidemics of 
 nervous disorders frequently occurred in various pro- 
 vinces, chiefly among the nuns, but the priests and 
 exemplars were by no means exempt from the baleful 
 influence. They were treated with Bibles and cruci- 
 fixes, thumb-screws and fagots, on the presumption of 
 their demoniacal origin. The treatment might have 
 been improved upon, surely, but the cause and nature 
 
 * The Lands of the Saracen, chap. x. 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 91 
 
 of the disorder were certainly not altogether misap- 
 prehended. The victims of the "possession" occu- 
 pied ill-ventilated rooms, in over-crowded, vitiated 
 apartments. The institutions themselves were sur- 
 rounded by an atmosphere of malaria. The inmates 
 were closely secluded from sunlight and pure air ; 
 used impure water and unwholesome food in deficient 
 and capricious quantities. Their minds were continu- 
 ally occupied with the super-sensuous ; their natures 
 dwarfed and impoverished by being deprived of the 
 vital stimulus of society and general social and in- 
 dustrial recreation. Under such circumstances, the 
 blood of the unfortunates must necessarily have be- 
 come foul ; poisoned, intoxicated with various noxious 
 and demoralizing agents, engendered and absorbed, 
 which, ascending to the brain through the medium of 
 the circulation, were absorbed into its substance, and 
 became substantial constituents of the delicate nerve- 
 cells and centres of thought and feeling. Thus were 
 their functions perverted, or possessed, so to speak, and 
 the individuals impelled to exhibit conduct the most 
 strange and extraordinary, but at the same time, spon- 
 taneous and wholly irresponsible. That they should 
 have felt themselves "possessed" by the devil, or some 
 other evil genii, is not at all strange, for they were, in 
 fact, possessed not merely by one, but by many devils, 
 far more vicious and vitiating than he of the horns and 
 cloven hoofs ! 
 
9 2 
 
 MENTAL INFLUENCE 
 
 Notes on Alcohol. — Page 70. 
 
 Pereira has classed alcohol among the alimentary 
 principles, in view of Liebig's hypothesis that it is 
 burnt in the lungs as fuel, and in that way ministers 
 to the maintenance of the animal temperature. But 
 he observes : " By itself it cannot form tissues, since it 
 is deficient in some of their essential ingredients, 
 namely, nitrogen, sulphur, and phosphorus ; and there 
 is no reason to suppose that it contributes, even in 
 part, to the renovation of the tissues. . . . By its 
 oxidation in the lungs it must evolve caloric, and 
 thus, when used in moderation, it serves to support the 
 temperature of the body." — Food and Diet, pp. 25-6. 
 
 Liebig says that, " if we hold that increase of mass 
 in the animal body, the development of its organs, and 
 the supply of waste, — that all this is dependent on the 
 blood, that is, on the ingredients of the blood, then 
 only those substances can properly be called nutritious, 
 or considered as food, which are capable of conversion 
 into blood." — Organic Chemistry. 
 
 Professor C. A. Lee remarks : " That animal heat is 
 promoted to any extent by the combustion of alcohol 
 in the lungs we think still more questionable, for ex- 
 perience has proved that, other things being equal, 
 a person will perish sooner when exposed to severe 
 cold, if he uses alcoholic drinks, than if he entirely 
 abstains from them. . . . There is, it is true, a popular 
 delusion on this subject, for if 'coachmen and others 
 take alcoholic drinks in cold weather to keep them 
 warm,' they also take them in hot weather to keep 
 them cool ; but in neither case can the custom be 
 quoted as an argument in favor of such use, or of the 
 
OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 93 
 
 justness of the views on which such views are founded." 
 — Note 2 to Pereira's Food and Diet. 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Rush says : " There cannot be a 
 greater error than to suppose that spirituous liquors 
 lessen the effects of cold on the body. On the con- 
 trary, they always render the body more liable to be 
 affected and injured by the cold." — Medical Inquiries. 
 
 Sir John Ross, whose experience in the Arctic 
 regions should give weight to his opinion, testifies : 
 " When men under hard and steady labor are given 
 their usual allowance or draught of grog, or a dram, 
 they become languid and faint, losing their strength 
 in reality, while they attribute that to the continuance 
 of their fatiguing exertions." — From Food and Diet, p. 
 269. 
 
 Dr. W. B. Carpenter observes : " That the capacity 
 of the healthy human system to sustain as much bod- 
 ily or mental labor as it can be legitimately called 
 upon to perform, and its power of resisting the ex- 
 tremes of heat and cold, as well as other depressing 
 agencies, are not augmented by the use of alcoholic 
 liquors; but that, on the other hand, their use, under 
 such circumstances, tends positively to the impairment 
 of that capacity." — Alcoholic Liquors, p. 19. 
 
 Lewes, on the other hand, says : " If it (alcohol) be 
 not food, neither, then, is sugar food, nor starch, nor 
 any of those manifold substances employed by man 
 which do not enter into the composition of his tissues. 
 That it produces poisonous effects when concentrated 
 and taken in large doses is perfectly true ; but that 
 similar effects follow when diluted, and taken in small 
 doses, is manifestly false, as proved by daily experi- 
 ence." — Physiology of Common Life, vol. i. p. 115. 
 
 9 
 
g4 MENTAL INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL AGENTS. 
 
 Moleschott, an eminent German physiologist, is 
 quoted by Lewes in support of the latter's views : " He 
 who has a little can give but little, if he wish to retain 
 as much as one who is prodigal of his wealth. Alco- 
 hol is the savings-bank of the tissues. He who eats 
 little, and drinks alcohol in moderation, retains as 
 much in his blood and tissues as he who eats more, 
 and drinks no alcohol." — Lehre der Nahriingsmittcl, p. 
 162. After all this assurance, respecting the conser- 
 vating properties of alcohol, Mr. Lewes concludes that 
 " the physiological action of alcohol is still unex- 
 plained !" and most people will agree with him. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF CORPOREAL AND 
 MENTAL EXERCISE. 
 
 In a previous chapter we have shown how the very 
 fountain of thought and feeling- may be perverted by 
 means of various physical agents and influences oper- 
 ating on the brain chiefly through the medium of the 
 blood. Specific influences of that order act more 
 vitally upon the brain and mental processes than 
 agents or influences of a moral nature; since with the 
 best of mental discipline, and the happiest moral sur- 
 roundings, if the blood be disordered, the brain and 
 mind may soon succumb to infirmity. 
 
 It is no longer a debatable question among any 
 class of thinkers, or people of any phase of religious 
 or theological belief, that the brain comprehends a 
 congeries of organs, each invested with or manifesting 
 a special psychical function of its own. " Most phys- 
 iologists," says Dr. Andrew Combe,* " are agreed that 
 the different parts of the brain perform distinct func- 
 tions, and that these functions are the highest and most 
 important in the animal economy. . . Further, by 
 nearly universal consent, the brain is held to be also 
 the seat of the passions and moral feelings of our nature, 
 
 * The Principles of Physiology, p. 2-12. 
 
 95" 
 
9 6 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 as well as of consciousness and every other mental act." 
 In the finely-endowed human being, these special 
 organs and nerve-centres, comprising the heart and 
 intellect of the theological system, are presumed to 
 sustain definite proportions of strength and activity to 
 each other. The character is thus enabled to present 
 and maintain that high degree of order and consist- 
 ency, in its relations to itself and to external nature, 
 for which the true man, above every other creature, 
 is so divinely distinguished. For a similar reason, 
 serious disproportion in the development of these 
 psychical powers of mind and heart results in bring- 
 ing the individual into serious conflict and opposing 
 relations with external nature, and the forms and 
 usages which society establishes for the guidance and 
 control of its members. Mental training, therefore, 
 comprehends all the means, of whatever nature, by 
 which the normal balance and activity of the mental 
 faculties and propensities may be promoted and pre- 
 served ; so that no organ or single group of organs, or 
 psychical powers, shall gain, or possess undue influence 
 or ascendency in the character. 
 
 Commencing then with exercise, we have to observe 
 that in accomplishing this end it is of no small mo- 
 ment, in physical and mental training, to preserve the 
 proper balance in the development of the bodily 
 powers and the mental faculties.* In reacting from the 
 former custom of overstraining the mental powers, the 
 
 * " The brain, being an organized part, is subject, in so far as regards its 
 exercise, to precisely the same laws as the other organs of the body. If it 
 be doomed to inactivity, its health decays, and the mental operations and 
 feelings, as a necessary sequence, become dull, feeble, and slow." — Combe s 
 Principles of Physiology, etc., p. 21. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE gy 
 
 tendency of the last half-century has been to go to the 
 opposite extreme, — to develop the body at the expense 
 of the mind. Tis a grave evil, and tends to put back 
 the moral progress of the age. Body and mind be- 
 ing an inseparable unit, limited in its constitutional 
 element's and resources, nourished from a common 
 source — the blood, it must needs follow that if the for- 
 mer absorb more than its proper proportion, the latter 
 is inevitably robbed of its rightful share. The inevU 
 table corollary of excessive corporeal training is, there- 
 fore, to render unduly weak and atrophic the organs 
 of the cerebrum, whose strength and activity are, 
 perhaps, the very sine qua non of moral and intellectual 
 excellence. Long experience in the observation of 
 human nature must convince any one that the will, 
 however strong, is impotent to reform defects of char- 
 acter which depend upon an organic or constitutional 
 bias, whether congenital or acquired. Moreover, in 
 mental disease the will itself is often subject to per- 
 versions quite as radical and constitutional as those 
 which afflict the other mental powers ; and however ap- 
 parently free its decisions and determinations appear, 
 they can easily be shown, in most instances, to be in 
 strict accord with antecedent influences, and as far as 
 possible from being the result of independent volition. 
 The will is more often a wreck in the torrent of human 
 impulses; adding no element of strength and cohesion 
 to the moral character, but drifting helplessly in the 
 current of phenomenal sequences. How impotent, then, 
 must often be appeals to the will for moral changes and 
 reforms ! Appeals against the rolling of the tempest's 
 waves, or the flames of the devouring element, would 
 be equally consistent and quite as effectual. There is 
 
 9* 
 
9 8 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 no assurance, there can be none, that the character can 
 be moulded into forms approximating ideal beauty and 
 perfection by any methods that do not comprehend 
 the harmonious balance of the faculties and powers, 
 by the mutual exercise of each in its own sphere and 
 upon its own object. 
 
 The principle is amply illustrated in daily life. 
 Among average people, great corporeal and mental 
 powers are seldom — I may say never — observed in 
 the same individual. If one is extraordinary, the 
 other is below mediocrity. Strong muscular de- 
 velopment and weak cerebra, or strong cerebra 
 and weak muscles, are the rule, — the reverse is the 
 exception. Dr. Winship, by long and tedious train- 
 ing, succeeded in lifting three thousand pounds : the 
 energy of his higher mental faculties is said to have 
 become greatly impaired by the extraordinary accom- 
 plishment; unless, indeed, he were a Hercules in vital 
 resources, it could not be otherwise. The pugilist, 
 who is distinguished for muscle, is never famous for 
 brains. The celebrity in letters is notoriously deficient 
 in muscular agility and development. The physical 
 athlete, who surprises the world with wondrous feats 
 of physical endurance in walking, rowing, boxing, 
 wrestling, running, etc. ; the gymnast, or acrobat, 
 who executes those wonders of physical achieve- 
 ments in climbing, jumping, balancing, summersault- 
 ing, and the various other monkeyisms to be seen in 
 any first-class gymnastic establishment ; the sports- 
 man, who rivals his fellows in cricket, base-ball, bil- 
 liards, ten-pins, etc., all and singular, do so by the 
 development of a physical prowess achieved at the 
 expense of the superior powers. However much 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. qq 
 
 such accomplishments may contribute to the pleasures 
 of existence, — to promote symmetry of size, form, and 
 movement, — they are, at the best, advantages confined 
 to the animal plane, Man's noblest achievements 
 would seem to lie in the direction of the moral and 
 intellectual faculties, in evolutions which widen the 
 distance between him and the purely animal. Surely, 
 these do not consist in perfecting himself in those 
 accomplishments wherein, try he never so hard, the 
 monkey will always be his rival ; but, rather, in those 
 acquirements of mind and heart which only a man can 
 achieve. Those who have imbibed the foolish ambition 
 to excel in physical development would do well to 
 remember that a brilliant success means an ignomi- 
 nious defeat in the attainment of the more purely 
 human characteristics. This law of the mutual inter- 
 change, correlation, of corporeal and mental forces, 
 underlies the achievement of extraordinary success in 
 any direction of individual effort, either of body or 
 of mind. Its operation is certainly least desirable 
 when the former is exalted at the expense of the latter. 
 It by no means follows from this position that the 
 less indulgence in manual exercise the better it is for 
 the activity of the mind. On the contrary, the mind's 
 highest vigor and usefulness depend on a due amount 
 of physical exertion and recreation. It is to be re- 
 gretted that no definite rule can be given to determine 
 the amount of physical exercise that is, in some shape 
 or other, requisite for the best mental condition. The 
 amount widely differs with the age, temperament, sex, 
 condition, and previous habits of different individuals. 
 Some need more, others less; but all require a suffi- 
 cient amount to secure harmony of organic develop- 
 
I0 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 ment, and to keep the physical and mental constitu- 
 tion in good, healthy, vigorous condition. " Exercise," 
 says Mr. Graham, " is the most important natural 
 tonic of the body. It serves to impart vigor and 
 activity to all the organs, and to secure the healthy 
 integrity and energy of all the functions, and the 
 symmetrical development and constitutional power 
 of the whole system ; and gives strength and agility, 
 elasticity and grace to the body, and energy and 
 activity to the intellectual and moral faculties."* 
 
 While it is no part of my object, then, to undervalue 
 the importance of corporeal exercise and training as 
 an indispensable adjuvant of human culture, and as 
 one of the primary conditions of physical excellence,, 
 without which no mind can be truly sound, it is 
 nevertheless desirable, conformable to the laws of 
 natural order, that muscular training should be con- 
 fined to its true sphere in the civilization of the age. 
 It must not be forgotten that the age of muscle is 
 passing away, and in its place comes the higher one 
 of nerve and brain. Steam and electricity on the one 
 hand, and mechanical inventions on the other, are 
 superseding the necessity for the stalwart frames and 
 heavy sinews which were in such prime demand a 
 few years since. Within my memory canals were 
 dug with the shovel and pick-axe; railroads built by 
 hand, with all the rough labor of excavating tunnels 
 and filling up the roadways. The hard, manual work 
 of the shop and farm was likewise done by arms 
 made strong by ceaseless toil. Even the delicate 
 work of the most skilled mechanic was, until recently, 
 
 * Science of Human Life, sec. 1619. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. I0I 
 
 accomplished by fingers, which only long years of 
 patient application and drilling could render efficient. 
 It is not long since migration was essayed on foot, with 
 bag and baggage borne on backs which, had they not 
 been trained to hardihood, must have broken and 
 failed under the burden. Within the memory of this 
 generation the pack-horse and stage-coach, ruder 
 forms of muscle, were indispensable accessories of 
 civilization. And not much farther back in the pres- 
 ent century, forests were felled single-handed; rude 
 homes constructed in like manner; wildernesses tamed 
 into gardens, and fortunes wrung from the rugged 
 earth by physical prowess, that are now engineered by 
 implements of mechanical ingenuity, without labor or 
 other devices save that of the brain and its mechanical 
 creations. When the brain and nervous energies, 
 backed by creations of mechanical art and skill, as- 
 sume the countless tasks so long performed by human 
 hands, propelled by hardy muscles, under the impetus 
 of hardier wills, we may be pardoned for questioning 
 the wisdom of continuing to maintain that degree of 
 muscular development, which obtained among our fore- 
 fathers, as a necessity of a civilization which no longer 
 exists. That civilization required brain to minister to 
 muscle ; this civilization has reversed the order, and de- 
 mands muscle to minister to brain in the development 
 of the finer and nobler energies of a newer era.* 
 
 * " The age of the quadruped is to go out, — the age of the brain and of 
 the heart is to come in. The time will come when the evil forms we have 
 known can no more be organized. Man's culture can spare nothing, wants 
 all the material. He is to convert all impediments into instruments, all 
 enemies into power. The formidable mischief will only make the more 
 useful slave. And \i one shall read the future of the race hinted in the or- 
 ganic effort of nature to mount and meliorate, and the corresponding im- 
 
I0 2 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 Manual exercise, therefore, should be regarded as 
 an adjuvant to moral culture and mental excellence, 
 since it is no longer required in subjugating rude na- 
 ture nor in doing the rough work of human industry. 
 Corporeal exercise should minister to mental diges- 
 tion and assimilation ; to the development of stronger 
 nerves and minds ; to the growth of finer organiza- 
 tions and higher mental attributes. If to this end the 
 gymnast swings his clubs and climbs his ropes and 
 poles ; the athlete balances his weights, walks, lifts, or 
 runs; the oarsman plies his oars ; the jockey trains his 
 horse ; the soldier drills or parades ; the mechanic 
 works at his lathe or bench, or engages in cricket or 
 base-ball ; the husbandman, or woman, cultivates the 
 earth, sows and reaps, raises stock, or engages in other 
 forms of productive industry, — it is all very well. Then 
 will there be no fear that proficiency in any of these 
 exercises and industries will be pushed to a degree in- 
 consistent with the ascendency of the mental arts and 
 accomplishments of an advancing civilization. 
 
 It has already been intimated that mental sym- 
 metry depended upon the symmetrical development 
 of the mental faculties. Inordinate activity of one dis- 
 poses to depression or defect in another : the result is 
 to develop incongruities and angularities in the char- 
 acter, quite fatal to order and consistency, or to a high 
 degree of usefulness. " In order to maintain the highest 
 degree of mental vigor," says Dr. Ray,* " it is neces- 
 
 pulse to the better in the human being, we shall dare affirm that there is 
 nothing he will not overcome and convert, until at last culture shall absorb 
 the chaos and gehenna. He will convert the Furies into Muses, and the 
 hells into benefit." — Emcrsou oil- Culture. 
 * Mental Hygiene, p 140. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. io ^ 
 
 sary that every power which nature has bestowed shall 
 have its rightful share of influence in the habitual ex- 
 perience of the individual."* This is the true end and 
 object of a sound education, and is as important to 
 virtue as it is to health. If it were folly to suppose 
 that the body could be in good physical condition 
 with some of its organs or tissues diseased or defect- 
 ive, it were equal folly to suppose that the brain, or 
 the mind, could be sound with some of its organs or 
 faculties in a defective, unsound, or undeveloped state. 
 Moreover, the want of this mental balance, or sym- 
 metry, leads directly to disease and crime. Undue 
 activity of one mental function tends to increase and 
 perpetuate its influence, and to deprive other organs, 
 already enfeebled by disuse, of their due amount of 
 stimulus. f • If it be the passions which have acquired 
 
 * " A passionate man is not strong-minded ; nor do the ravings of insanity 
 reveal mental vigor. A completely fashioned will is the true mark of a strong 
 mind. As in the order of natural development there has been an ascent from 
 the physical and chemical forms to the aim-working, vital force, and thence 
 from the lowest vitality to the highest manifestation thereof, so in the course 
 of mental development there is a progress through sensation, passion, 
 emotion, reason, to the highest plane of mental force, — a well-fashioned 
 will. The rightly developed mind, like the healthy cell, recognizes its rela- 
 tions to others ; self-feeling gives way to, or expands into, moral feeling, and 
 in the will all the phases of consciousness are co-ordinated into calm, just, 
 definite action." — Maudsley's paper on The Theory of Vitality, Appendix 
 to his Body and Mind, p. 154. 
 
 f " ' A perfect mind in a perfect body,' says Mr. Lecky, "was the ideal of 
 the [Greek] philosopher, and the latter was considered almost a condition 
 of the former. Harmonious sustained manhood, without disproportion, or 
 anomaly, or eccentricity — that godlike type in which the same divine energy 
 seems to thrill with equal force through every faculty of mind and body , 
 the majesty of a single power never deranging the balance or impairing the 
 symmetry of the whole, — was probably more keenly appreciated and more 
 frequently exhibited in ancient Greece than in any succeeding civilization." 
 — History of Rationalism in Europe, vol. ii. p. 351. 
 
104 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 this unnatural ascendency, the consequence is most de- 
 plorable upon the moral character. A condition is 
 developed which needs only exciting causes to throw 
 the individual into uncontrollable paroxysms of insane 
 anger, or render him a prey to a variety of morbid 
 impulses which he has neither the wish nor the power 
 to control. 
 
 Mr. Emerson, in one of his trenchant essays bearing 
 upon this subject, forcibly observes :* "There is an in- 
 timate interdependence of intellect and morals. Given 
 the equality of two intellects, which will form the 
 most reliable judgments, the good or the bad hearted ? 
 ' The heart has its arguments, with which the under- 
 standing is not acquainted.' For the heart is at once 
 aware of the state of health'or disease, which is the con- 
 trolling state, — that is, of sanity or of insanity, prior, of 
 course, to all question of the ingenuity of arguments, 
 the amount of facts, or the elegance of rhetoric. So 
 intimate is this alliance of mind and heart, that talent 
 uniformly sinks with character. The bias of errors of 
 principle carries away men into perilous courses, as 
 soon as their will does not control their passion or 
 talent. Hence the extraordinary blunders, and final 
 wrong head, into which men, -spoiled by ambition, 
 usually fall. Hence the remedy for all blunders, the 
 cure of blindness, the cure of crime, is love. ' As 
 much love, so much mind/ said the Latin proverb. 
 The superiority that has no superior ; the redeemer 
 and instructor of souls, as it is their primal essence, is 
 love." 
 
 It will be observed that I am stating an hypothesis 
 
 * The Conduct of Life, pp. 189-90. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. 
 
 I05 
 
 founded on physiological and mental science. In 
 actual life such cases are by no means hypothetical. 
 The late monstrosity in human form, the unhappy 
 Ruloff, who lately expiated his crime on the gallows, 
 is an illustration in point. Dissection of his brain 
 demonstrated inordinate strength and activity of both 
 the passions and the intellect ; while conscience and 
 the moral brain, in general, were singularly defective. 
 Occurrences of the kind, though happily not of degree, 
 are too numerous to mention. They maybe observed 
 everywhere, and in every degree or state of develop- 
 ment, from the slightly eccentric individual to him who 
 steals your purse, embezzles the public funds, outrages 
 private decency, or assassinates a fancied enemy. No 
 healthy or normally developed individual could be 
 tempted by the most orthodox devil in Christendom 
 to commit either of these acts, or any of the various 
 other nameless misdemeanors which disgrace modern 
 society. 
 
 It must be conceded, then, that no individual can 
 justly be supposed to be mentally sound, and in the 
 normal enjoyment of his mental being, who has one 
 faculty undeveloped, one talent unimproved. The 
 grand difference between a great man and a small one 
 — between a Bacon and most of his pupils ; or a Cullen 
 and a Brown ; or a Greeley and an ordinary man — is in 
 the power and activity of his superior faculties. Every 
 man and every woman may be presumed to be the 
 equal of every other man and woman, in so far as the 
 mere possession of the various mental elements can con- 
 tribute to that equality. In that respect the Creator has 
 been absolutely just to every human being. Man di- 
 verges from nature and equality into genius or medi- 
 
 10 
 
I0 6 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 ocrity just at this point, according as his superior 
 powers develop or remain in a rudimentary or an 
 unbalanced state. 
 
 Moreover, while atony of the superior faculties dis- 
 poses to disease and crime by supplying the requisite 
 mental conditions, viz. the preponderance of the ani- 
 mal over the human powers, activity in them promotes 
 health and the general well-being. The hardest 
 thinkers are healthier, happier, and longer lived than 
 any other class. According to statistical records, 
 philosophers and statesmen head the list of long-lived 
 people. Von Humboldt, the greatest naturalist of the 
 nineteenth century, though living in defiance of the 
 recognized laws of health, retained the fullness of his 
 intellect until the age of ninety. Buffon, the most cele- 
 brated French naturalist of the last century, died at 
 eighty-one. Lord Bacon, the philosopher, took cold in 
 one of his experiments and died at sixty-five. Caven- 
 dish, the brilliant chemist and physicist of the last cen- 
 tury, although a bachelor, — a state not especially con- 
 ducive to longevity, — reached the ripe age of seventy- 
 nine. Lord Brougham died in harness at above the age 
 of ninety. Our own beloved Irving, though not a 
 physicist, yet distinguished in letters, died in 1 859, at the 
 advanced age of seventy-six, retaining his intellect un- 
 impaired. The immortal Franklin lived and labored 
 until the age of eighty-four ; " his faculties and affec- 
 tions were unimpaired to the last." Hahnemann, the 
 founder of the system of therapeutics known as homoe- 
 opathy, although a physician, was even more a philoso- 
 pher, had a child born to him at the ripe age of eighty, 
 and did not attain to the full zenith of professional pros- 
 perity until after that age. He died at eighty-eight, 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. 
 
 I07 
 
 in the vigor of his faculties, having experimented upon 
 himself in testing the pathogenetic properties of drugs 
 to a greater extent than any previous physicist. Sir 
 Isaac Newton, than whom no man was a closer or a 
 more conscientious student, published a new edition of 
 his greatest work, the " Principia," in his eighty-fourth 
 year. He died soon after, 1727, — his faculties un- 
 dimmed to the last. Dr. Johnson, the celebrated 
 savant and litterateur, died at seventy-five. " The 
 illustrious Lord Mansfield died at the advanced 
 age of eighty-nine, in full and unclouded vigor of 
 intellect."* 
 
 In this category, and as an American parallel of 
 Lord Mansfield, may be included the Hon. Horace 
 Binney, of Philadelphia, who for more than half a cen- 
 tury was very generally regarded as standing at the head 
 of the American bar. The amount of professional labor 
 which Mr. Binney performed during that long period 
 must have been well-nigh herculean ; of him the 
 late Chief Justice Marshall declared, that " no man ex- 
 celled him in knowledge of the great science of juris- 
 prudence ;" an opinion strengthened and confirmed by 
 Daniel Webster, who added that " not only was he 
 unexcelled, but unequalled in all the qualities that 
 constitute a great lawyer and model man." This ven- 
 erable citizen is still living, at the age of ninety-five, 
 with an intellect unclouded and unimpaired, and fur- 
 nishes an illustrious example of the endurance the 
 mind is capable of when well-balanced and sustained 
 by good health and generous impulses, 
 
 French savants are not behind the English in ex- 
 
 * Winslow's Obscure Diseases of the Brain and Mind, p. 552. 
 
IQ 8 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 amples of remarkable longevity. Cardinal de Fleury 
 was prime minister of France from the age of seventy 
 to ninety. The beautiful and accomplished Madame 
 Recamier retained many of her charms at an advanced 
 age, — dying at seventy-two. Fontenelle was secretary 
 of the French Academy of Science for many years, re- 
 signing on account of ill health at the age of eighty- 
 three. He died in 1757. in his one hundredth year. 
 Voltaire, the greatest litterateur of a brilliant literary 
 age, the eighteenth century, after passing through va- 
 rious vicissitudes of social fortune, died at Paris in his 
 eighty-fifth year, with an intellect unclouded till the 
 last. " I die," said he, " worshiping God, loving my 
 friends, not hating my enemies, but detesting supersti- 
 tion."* Richelieu reached the age of ninety-three, 
 and died "full of mental vigor." M. Leroy at the age 
 of one hundred " composed a remarkably beautiful 
 and spirited poem." While all philosophers and 
 statesmen do not reach the age of eighty years, it is 
 undeniably true that a majority of such as have greatly 
 distinguished themselves in science and literature 
 have reached advanced age, proving that the very 
 highest mental discipline is not inimical to good health 
 and long life. 
 
 Among men distinguished for special gifts, as music, 
 sculpture, painting, poetry, etc., the record of longevity 
 points unmistakably to the same conclusion. It is a 
 common error to suppose that the poetic temperament 
 is unfavorable to mental soundness and old age. The 
 instances, unhappily too numerous, on which this error 
 is based, have been among the class who began life 
 
 ■:;:■ New American Encyclopaedia, art. Voltaire. 
 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. IO n 
 
 with unsound conditions, and who wrote, for the most 
 part, under the inspiration of a fitful and disordered 
 imagination. Byron's hereditary infirmities are well 
 known ; and if he died young it was surely through 
 faults not wholly his own, for his father died of dissipa- 
 tion, and his mother, a woman of ungovernable temper, 
 was early destroyed by a fit of anger. Burns died at the 
 age of thirty-eight, of intemperance ; and Cowley was 
 swept off the stage of life in a drunken fit, at forty-nine. 
 Poets, less brilliant perhaps, but with equally strong 
 imaginations, when not stricken with disease, have 
 ripened into old age. The venerable Bryant still in- 
 dulges his muse, and prosecutes, also, editorial labors, 
 at the extraordinary age of seventy-eight. The cele- 
 brated author of*' Faust" retained remarkable powers of 
 intellect at eighty, — and died at eighty-three. Chau- 
 cer reached the age of seventy-two. Gosse is said to 
 have composed a Te Deum at the age of seventy-eight. 
 Cherubini was brilliant at eighty ; and Corneille exhib- 
 ited no decay of intellectual powers at seventy. The 
 American portrait painters, Charles, and his son Rem- 
 brandt, Peale, died at advanced ages, — the father at 
 eighty-six, the son at eighty-two. And Thomas Sully, 
 a celebrity of the same profession, only recently de- 
 ceased, at the remarkable age of eighty-nine, prose- 
 cuted his calling until almost the very last day of his 
 life, and would doubtless have continued to do so 
 several years longer except for the misfortune of an 
 accident, whereby his labors were abruptly terminated. 
 Titian, " the greatest painter of the Venetian school," 
 continued his labors until the age of ninety and up- 
 wards, and finally died of the plague at ninety-nine. 
 Benjamin West painted his last important picture, 
 
IIO THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 "Death on the Pale Horse," when he was seventy- 
 nine. He died in London in 1820, with a mind un- 
 clouded, at the advanced age of eighty-two. Handel, 
 the celebrated musical composer, died at seventy-five. 
 Those great German geniuses and musical composers, 
 Mendelssohn and Beethoven, inherited infirm constitu- 
 tions and died of disease at middle age. Haydn, one 
 of the greatest musical composers of the last century, 
 retained his genius till the age of seventy-seven. 
 Mozart, his predecessor, succumbed to disease at 
 sixty-seven. Our own venerable musical composer 
 and writer, the late Dr. Lowell Mason, reached his 
 eightieth year. 
 
 Distinguished sculptors are equally remarkable for 
 their years. The American Powers, of "Greek Slave'' 
 celebrity, recently deceased, was chiseling away at the 
 age of sixty-seven. Thorwaldsen, the eminent and be- 
 loved Danish sculptor, died suddenly of heart-disease at 
 the age of seventy-four ; leaving much unfinished work 
 in his studio, among the rest a statue of Luther. His 
 no less distinguished and admired Italian contemporary, 
 Canova, also succumbed to disease at the age of sixty- 
 seven. He evidently hoped to live many years 
 longer, judging by the amount of unfinished work 
 he left behind. These examples of longevity among 
 students of art, philosophy, and literature tend strongly 
 to sustain the position assumed. 
 
 According to statistics lately published in this coun- 
 try, the average duration of the lives of philosophers 
 and physicians is sixty-eight years. The clergy rank 
 next in longevity ; lawyers next ; while the class of 
 people whose occupation is usually regarded in the 
 highest degree health-promoting, the farmer, barely 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. Iri 
 
 reaches an average of fifty years !* Causes of an ob- 
 viously depressing nature, as improper diet and over- 
 work in extremes of heat and cold, undoubtedly con- 
 tribute to this result. But the general neglect of 
 intellectual and moral culture, and the consequent 
 disproportionate development of the muscular system 
 among that class, are the chief exciting causes of their 
 premature decline. "A partial cultivation of the mental 
 faculties," says Dr. Ray, " is incompatible, not only with 
 the highest order of thought, but with the highest de- 
 gree of health and efficiency. The results of profes- 
 sional experience fairly warrant the statement, that in 
 persons of a high grade of intellectual endowment and 
 cultivation, other things being equal, the force of moral 
 shocks is more easily broken, tedious and harassing 
 exercises of particular powers more safely borne, than 
 in those of an opposite description; and disease, when 
 it comes, is more readily controlled and cured. "f The 
 general health of the poor and unlettered is certainly 
 below that of the average of the more cultivated and 
 affluent classes; and if old age is attained by them, 
 they are more likely to lose their faculties by brain- 
 softening, and end their days in imbecility. 
 
 "It is a fallacy," says WinslowJ "to suppose that 
 the duration of life is shortened by literary pursuits. 
 The great philosophers of antiquity — men whose minds 
 were ardently engaged in the acquirement of knowl- 
 edge and the pursuit of truth — were long-lived. . . . 
 Blumenbach, the distinguished physician and natural- 
 ist, states that for the long period (exceeding half a 
 
 * I write from memory, but these figures are believed to be correct, 
 f Mental Hygiene, p. 149. \ Body and Mind, pp. 61-2. 
 
H2 THE RECIPROCAL INELUENCES OE 
 
 century) he was associated with the most celebrated 
 European universities, he did not witness a solitary 
 example of any youth falling a victim to his ardor in 
 the pursuit of intellectual distinction ; and Eichhorn, 
 one of the most voluminous writers of the day, the 
 eminent philologist and historian, is said boldly to 
 affirm that no one ever died of hard study. The idea 
 is preposterous. ' A man may fret himself to death 
 over his books, or anywhere else ; but literary applica- 
 tion would tend to diffuse cheerfulness, and rather pro- 
 long than shorten the life of an infirm man.' " This 
 is, certainly, putting the case strongly, and must be re- 
 garded as an extreme statement of a sound principle. 
 Dr. Caldwell, an American physician of some re- 
 pute in the beginning of the present century, and 
 author of an able treatise on " Physical Education," 
 observes,* that " the influence of strong and well- 
 cultivated moral and intellectual organs on the gen- 
 eral health of the system is soothing and salutary ; 
 and feeds and strengthens it, instead of ruffling and 
 wearing it out. Compared to the influence of the 
 organs of passion, it is as mild and wholesome nour- 
 ishment contrasted with alcohol ; or like the genial 
 warmth of the spring and autumn with the burning 
 heat of summer. Life and health and comfort may 
 last long under the former, while all is parched and 
 withered by the latter. Finally, a well-cultivated and 
 well-balanced brain do much to produce a sound 
 mind and a sound body." And Dr. Madden, in his " In- 
 firmities of Genius," makes the following statement : 
 "That the vigor of a great intellect is favorable to 
 
 * Winslow's, Body and Mind, p. 61. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. 
 
 "3 
 
 longevity in every literary pursuit, where the imagi- 
 nation is seldom called upon." 
 
 Buckle, in vol. ii., art. 773, of his Posthumous 
 Works, gives the ages of many historical characters 
 in support of the wholesome influence of literary 
 pursuits upon longevity. Kant and Stow, both hard 
 workers and thinkers, lived to be eighty. Strype 
 died at ninety-four. Hobbes reached the age of 
 ninety-one. "Lardner, the learned author of the 
 ' Credibility/ etc., was eighty-four. Lanfranc, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, died in 1089, aged eighty-three. 
 Berenger died in 1088, almost ninety. The learned 
 Allatius died in 1669, aged eighty-three. Montfaucon 
 died in 1741, aged eighty-seven. The celebrated 
 Jacques Sismond, Tun des plus savants hommes dont 
 s'honore la France,' died in 165 1, aged ninety-two. 
 . . . The celebrated traveler, Carstens Niebuhr, died 
 in 18 1 5, aged eighty-two. . . . Cumberland, the 
 learned bishop of Peterborough, lived to be eighty- 
 six. . . . Reid, the metaphysician, was eighty- 
 six. . . . Simson, the celebrated restorer of the 
 Greek geometry, was turned eighty. Watt died in 
 1 8 19, aged eighty-three. Lord Karnes died in 1792, 
 aged eighty-six. Blair was eighty-two." 
 
 And Huet, one of the most distinguished scholars 
 of the seventeenth century, regarded the belief in the 
 unhealthy tendency of study, when accompanied by 
 an orderly, abstinent, and chaste life, as a great error. 
 His words are so wise and appropriate to the subject 
 that I give them as uttered by him : " C'est une 
 grande erreur de croire que l'etude soit contraire a la 
 
 * See references quoted in Buckle. 
 
U4 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 sante. On voit autant vieillir de gens de lettres 
 que de toute autre profession. L'histoire en fournit 
 une infinite d'exemples. En effet, cette vie reglee, 
 uniforme, paisible, n'entretient-elle pas la bonne con- 
 stitution et n'eloigne-t-elle pas toutes les causes qui 
 la peuvent alterer? pourvu que la chaleur naturelle 
 soit d'ailleurs excitee par un exercice modere et ne soit 
 pas etouffee sous une quantite d'aliments dispropor- 
 tionee aux besoins de la vie sedentaire."* Huet, himself 
 a most indefatigable worker, proved the soundness of 
 his views on this subject in his own career, living to 
 the ripe age of ninety-one. 
 
 The following table, giving the average age of a 
 stated number of men distinguished in the various 
 professions, is from Dr. Madden's work before quoted : 
 
 
 
 w 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 Professions. 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 Professions. 
 
 a 
 
 < 
 
 
 
 < 
 
 75 
 70 
 69 
 
 
 S 
 
 H 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 66 
 64 
 
 62* 
 
 Natural philosophers . 
 Moral philosophers . 
 Sculptors and painters 
 Authors on law and 
 
 1494 
 1417 
 1412 
 
 Philologists .... 
 Musical composers 
 Novelists and miscel- 
 laneous authors . . 
 
 1323 
 I284 
 
 1257 
 
 jurisprudence . . 
 Medical authors . . 
 
 1399 
 1^68 
 
 68 
 68 
 
 Dramatists .... 
 Authors on natural 
 
 I244 
 
 62 
 
 Authors on revealed 
 
 
 
 religion .... 
 
 1245 
 
 62 
 
 religion .... 
 
 i35o 
 
 67 
 
 Poets 
 
 I444 
 
 57 
 
 The lives of women distinguished in literature tend 
 also to corroborate the wholesome influence of men- 
 
 tal exercise. 
 
 The following table, 
 
 o-ivinsr the aees of 
 
 many eminent literary women, is taken from Wins- 
 low's " Body and Mind" : 
 
 Huetiana, No. 3, Amsterdam, 1723. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. 
 
 115 
 
 Names. 
 
 Lady Russell . . . 
 
 Mrs. Rowe . . . 
 Lady M. W. Montagu 
 
 Mrs. Centlivre . . 
 
 Lady Hervey . . . 
 Lady Suffolk . 
 Mrs. Sheridan 
 
 " Cowley . . . 
 
 " Macauley . . 
 
 " Montague . . 
 
 Ages. 
 
 37 
 63 
 73 
 44 
 70 
 
 79 
 
 47 
 66 
 
 53 
 81 
 
 Names. 
 
 Mrs Chapone 
 
 " Lennox . 
 
 " Trimmer 
 
 " Hamilton 
 
 " Radcliffe 
 
 " Barbauld 
 
 " Delany . 
 
 " Inchbald 
 
 " Piozzi 
 Miss Hannah More 
 
 Ages. 
 
 The following table is condensed from that given 
 in M. Lombard's work, " De lTnfluence des Profes- 
 sions sur la Duree de la Vie," and presents the mean 
 age, at death, of a stated number of men, distributed 
 through the professions and trades named, respectively : 
 
 tn 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 X 
 
 % 
 w 
 P 
 
 
 a 
 
 < 
 
 X 
 
 w 
 
 p 
 
 h 
 
 O 
 
 6 
 S5 
 
 
 M 
 O 
 < 
 
 Professions. 
 
 
 < 
 
 Professions. 
 
 < 
 
 6 
 
 
 « 
 w 
 > 
 
 < 
 
 
 > 
 < 
 
 7i 
 
 Magistrates .... 
 
 69.1 
 
 176 
 
 Carpenters .... 
 
 27S 
 
 Persons with a fixed 
 
 
 179 
 
 Engravers .... 
 
 S4-7 
 
 
 income 
 
 6s.8 
 
 63 
 
 Blacksmiths .... 
 
 S4-S 
 
 52 
 
 Protestant clergymen. 
 
 63.8 
 
 4i 
 
 Printers 
 
 54-3 
 
 80 
 
 Retired officers . . . 
 
 63.6 
 
 376 
 
 Shoemakers .... 
 
 54-2 
 
 476 
 
 Merchants .... 
 
 62.0 
 
 41 
 
 Surgeons, apothecaries 
 
 54-° 
 
 6 7 
 
 Clerks in public offices 
 
 61.9 
 
 77 
 
 Butchers 
 
 53-° 
 
 152 
 
 Goldsmiths .... 
 
 61.6 
 
 171 
 
 Day-laborers . . . 
 
 52.4 
 
 47 
 
 Founders 
 
 SQ-4 
 
 6S 
 
 Painters and varnishers 
 
 44-3 
 
 1073 
 
 Watchmakers . . . 
 
 55-3 
 
 62 
 
 Locksmiths .... 
 
 47.2 
 
 124 
 
 Masons 
 
 SS-2 
 
 J 43 
 
 Joiners and cabinet- 
 
 
 43 
 
 Tanners 
 
 55-2 
 
 
 makers 
 
 49-7 
 
 The above table of M. Lombard's, who was physi- 
 cian of the Civil and Military Hospital at Geneva, was 
 compiled probably from data furnished by that coun- 
 try. All these tables and facts of longevity are of 
 
n6 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 exceeding interest, and would be heightened if the 
 mental habits of those distinguished men and women 
 could accompany the record of their age. Their biog- 
 raphies, however, are within easy reach of all. 
 
 The following table exhibits in striking contrast 
 the superior advantages possessed by the educated 
 and affluent classes over the uneducated and laboring 
 poor in the struggle for existence, in the borough of 
 Preston, England. I find it in the able report of the 
 Rev. J. Clay to the Board of Commissioners having 
 in hand the investigation into the public health of 
 Great Britain, 1843. Due allowance should, of course, 
 be made with this, as with the other tables, for the in- 
 ferior sanitary conditions of the poorer classes.* It is 
 full of instruction to those who take an interest in 
 human life and welfare. 
 
 Table Showing the Progressive Decrease in the Sum of Vitality 
 of Three Classes of Inhabitants, Preston, England. 
 
 
 1. Gentry. 
 
 2. Trades- 
 
 3. Opera- 
 
 
 
 men. 
 
 tives. 
 
 Born 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 100 
 
 Remaining at the end of ist year 
 
 90.8 
 
 79.6 
 
 68.2 
 
 " ' " 2d " 
 
 87.6 
 
 73-5 
 
 57-5 
 
 5 th " 
 
 82.4 
 
 61.8 
 
 44.6 
 
 10th " 
 
 81. 1 
 
 56.6 
 
 38.8 
 
 " " 20th " 
 
 76-3 
 
 51-6 
 
 31-5 
 
 30th " 
 
 72.3 
 
 45-9 
 
 25.2 
 
 " " 40th " 
 
 63.4 
 
 37-5 
 
 20.4 
 
 50th " 
 
 56. 
 
 28.1 
 
 15-6 
 
 60th " 
 
 45-i 
 
 20.5 
 
 11. 2 
 
 " " 70th " 
 
 25-4 
 
 13-3 
 
 6.1 
 
 " " 80th " 
 
 8. 
 
 4-5 
 
 2.1 
 
 " " 90th " 
 
 i-3 
 
 .8 
 
 .2 
 
 " " 100th " 
 
 
 
 •03 
 
 
 Terminates 
 
 Terminates 
 
 Terminates 
 
 
 in the 92d 
 
 in the 96th 
 
 in the 103d 
 
 
 year. 
 
 year. 
 
 year. 
 
 * Health of Towns, First Annual Report, 18.J4, vol. i. p. I74» 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. 
 
 117 
 
 While, therefore, mental culture is indispensable to 
 good health and long life, and the very highest culti- 
 vation of the mind not incompatible with great lon- 
 gevity, let it not be concluded that intense application 
 to mental pursuits has no limits beyond which it is 
 dangerous to go. Different constitutions possess dif- 
 ferent degrees of mental endurance ; and the execution 
 of tasks which would be pastime to one would .break 
 the mind of another. Rousseau observes that excessive 
 mental application " makes men tender, weakens their 
 constitutions, and, when once the body has lost its 
 powers, those of the soul are not easily preserved."* 
 The effect of an undue and too close application to 
 intellectual pursuits is not unfrequently attended with 
 the gravest consequences ; and I am indisposed, there- 
 fore, to give a cordial indorsement to Prof. Eich- 
 horn's extreme views of the entire absence of hazard 
 of intense mental exercise, as applicable, at least, to 
 Americans. They do not accord with good reason, 
 and are inconsistent with the laws of organic life. 
 When it is remembered that the intellectual faculties 
 are not the only ones in the mental economy which 
 demand attention ; that there is a moral and an affec- 
 tional group, which cannot be neglected with im- 
 punity ; and that, after these, there is a lower animal 
 organization upon which the mind is dependent for 
 its healthy activity, and without the due exercise and 
 training of which disease and infirmity must needs 
 result, the danger of exclusive intellectual and moral 
 culture, to certain temperaments especially, will be 
 apparent to all. " If the human being were made up 
 
 Winslow's Body and Mind, p. 155. 
 II 
 
U8 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 of nothing but a brain and nervous system," says Dr. 
 Combe,* " it would be very well to content ourselves 
 with sedentary pursuits, and to confine ourselves en- 
 tirely to the mind." The Germans, French, and Eng- 
 glish have, undoubtedly, hardier constitutions than 
 their descendants in our excitable climate ; but exam- 
 ples are not wanting there nor here, when the mind 
 has given way under inordinate strain. Sir Humphry 
 Davy's useful career was prematurely ended from this 
 cause ; so also were Canning's, Castlereagh's, and 
 others. Sir Walter Scott's case is as notable in this 
 respect as it is painful ; and the distinguished Newton 
 became sleepless, and so far lost his memory at one 
 time that he could not remember the contents of the 
 " Principia," his most famous work. Rest, however, 
 seemed to restore him, but Scott's mind "went down 
 in darkness." The celebrated Hunter temporarily 
 lost his memory from the same cause. The careers 
 of a great many statesmen and scholars have been 
 suddenly cut short by intense application to mental 
 labor. Chief Justice Chase's mind gave way from 
 the effect of prolonged and arduous labor ; and Mr. 
 Colfax swooned in the Senate chamber from the 
 same cause, and was compelled to retire for awhile 
 from active public life. One of our rarest scholars, 
 Theodore Parker, suffered the gravest symptoms from 
 immoderate mental application, — that of frequent and 
 uncontrollable sadness; consumption ultimately devel- 
 oped, and swept him to an early grave, but for which 
 even worse consequences. were likely to have befallen 
 him. Men like Humboldt, Brougham, Mansfield, 
 
 * The Principles of Physiology, p. 235. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. lY g 
 
 Binney, Blumenbach, Greeley, Franklin, and Seward ; 
 and women like Hannah More, Martineau, Lennox, and 
 Stowe, are unusual productions of any country. They 
 seem to be independent of the ordinary laws of men- 
 tality ; and it is manifestly unsafe to adopt their men- 
 tal habits as rules for smaller and more feebly endowed 
 men and women to follow. 
 
 The scholarly man is usually associated with sallow 
 complexions, spectacles, moroseness, pointed noses, 
 thin legs, and wasted frames, and unsocial, diffident, 
 and awkward manners. In this picture of the student 
 Burton must have had in his mind the studious monk 
 and ascetic of the Middle Ages : " Hard students are 
 commonly troubled with gouts, catarrhs, rheums, 
 cachexias, bradyspepsia, bad eyes, stone, and collick, 
 crudities, oppilations, vertigo, winds, consumptions, 
 and all such diseases as come by over-much sitting : 
 they are most part lean, dry, ill-colored . . . and all 
 through immoderate pains and extraordinary studies. 
 If you will not believe the truth of this, look upon 
 great Tostatus and Thomas Aquinas's works ; and 
 tell me whether those men took pains."* 
 
 The propriety of this association, however just as 
 regards the physical characteristics of religious ascetics 
 and theological promulgators of ancient times, is not 
 sustained by the lives and characters of modern 
 students and thinkers. Diversity of studies, generous 
 nutrition, and society obviate in the modern the 
 physical disabilities which formed so large a part of the 
 experience of the earlier student, so forcibly described 
 by Burton. The tendency of modern physiological in- 
 
 * Anatomy of Melancholy, part i. sec. 2. 
 
120 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 quiry is to cast grave doubt upon the value of ideas 
 and doctrines bred under circumstances thus morbid 
 and ill-conditioned. The characteristics of children 
 are mostly the offspring of their parents : disordered 
 ideas and judgments, the legitimate products of dis- 
 eased bodies and brains. 
 
 In this country nothing is more common than for 
 young graduates from college, some of whom at- 
 tain high honors, and others who have no business 
 to be in college, to be infirm in health, broken in spirit, 
 and totally unfit to assume the burdens and responsi- 
 bilities of life. Many of them develop madness and 
 die by their own hands, or are sent to insane asylums 
 for safe-keeping. Others go on with life's work for a 
 season, but are finally compelled to retire from the 
 pulpit, bar, or other posts of labor, on account of 
 bodily disease, vertigo, failure of memory, melan- 
 choly, or other symptoms of cerebral disorder. In- 
 firmity of some form or other early shows itself, as 
 the consequence, it is said, of undue mental applica- 
 tion! This is quite true in some cases ; but in justice 
 to the reputation of intellectual pursuits, it must be 
 admitted that the difficulties have generally arisen in 
 flagrant disregard of the most obvious laws of mental 
 and physical hygiene. This is quite evident to any one 
 who is at all familiar with the habits of an average 
 college student through an ordinary college course. 
 The effects of insufficient exercise, improper food, 
 over- or under-feeding, too little sleep, undue expo- 
 sure to cold and damp, and a score or more of impure 
 and improper habits, which are as inimical to good 
 health and long life as they are to common sense and 
 sound morality, are most apparent. The instances, 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. 
 
 121 
 
 however, of broken constitutions, in consequence of 
 intense and prolonged application of the mind, are 
 not wholly unknown. The effects are so serious, the 
 consequences so lasting and far-reaching, that they 
 merit just recognition and a careful guarding against. 
 The most prominent indications of an over-burdened 
 brain may be briefly stated. The incipient signs of 
 undue exercise of the mind are, mental disquiet ; im- 
 perfect or unrefreshing sleep, or complete insomnia; 
 vertigo; nervous hyperaesthesia ; sad, disconsolate 
 humor; disinclination for society. The subject often 
 experiences a sense of physical exhaustion, unap- 
 peased by repose or food, but which, at first, may be 
 overcome with copious libations of tea or coffee, and 
 later requires the stronger stimulus of opium or alco- 
 hol. The relief from this source, however, is only 
 temporary : the needed remedy is rest and relaxation, 
 — absolute and unconditional. 
 
 If the cause be persisted in, the signs soon become 
 more pronounced. Vertigo is more constant and 
 severe, now and then accompanied by slight symp- 
 toms of syncope. If such obvious warnings be duly 
 heeded, and remissions of mental toil acquiesced in, 
 the subject may yet avert a serious calamity, for 
 the brain is the most hardy of all the bodily organs, 
 and will bear the most abuse ; if otherwise, absolute 
 failure of the physical and mental powers — loss of 
 memory, delusions, morbid impulses, errors of judg- 
 ment, palsy; or actual suicide, apoplexia, paralysis, 
 destructive mania, or imbecility — supervenes, from 
 which complete — in most instances not even partial — 
 recovery is to be expected. In physiology, the con- 
 sequence of seriously overtasking the mental faculties 
 
I2 2 1IIE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 is analogous to the sin against the Holy Ghost, and 
 is quite as unpardonable. 
 
 The remedy for these evils has been already indi- 
 cated. It will be found less in medicines, prayers, and 
 penances, physical genuflexions, etc., than in attention 
 to the laws of the whole economy. By a just atten- 
 tion and respect to these, the student, statesman, or 
 writer, the devotee of science, or the cultivator of art, 
 will accomplish all he now does, and more, in most 
 instances, without seriously compromising the in- 
 tegrity of his mind. Just rules to govern the amount of 
 brain-labor, applicable to the various conditions and 
 temperaments of people, are impossible. Immunity 
 from danger from this source can be approximated 
 only in a more uniform exercise and development of 
 the mental faculties. There must be less concentra- 
 tion on one faculty or group of faculties,— more diffu- 
 sion of the blood and nervous energy to parts or 
 powers in disuse, and too often permitted to run to 
 waste. So far as the exercise of the mind is in- 
 volved, this law, if duly complied with, would tend, 
 obviously, to prevent most of the evils attributed 
 to brain-exhaustion, and to secure harmony and hap- 
 piness where now is vexation and disappointment. 
 This indication however cannot be fulfilled without 
 greater diversity of mental employment, — mental ex- 
 ercise. In respect to more definite suggestions for 
 mental labor, the views of Dr. Ray, so far as they go, 
 seem to me eminently wise and judicious : 
 
 " How much a man may use his brain without 
 endangering its health is a question that admits of no 
 definite answer, because it depends very much on the 
 original stamina of the individual, and the intensity 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. 12 \ 
 
 of his application. While it is easy, oftentimes, to see 
 that this or that person is overtasking his powers, it 
 is impossible to lay down any general rule on the 
 subject that would not require too much of some and 
 too little of others. In youth and early manhood, 
 especially if the constitution is deficient in vigor, 
 there would be danger from a degree of application 
 that might be safe enough at a later period, when 
 the brain has become hardened by age and regular 
 labor. So, too, habits of active physical exercise will 
 enable a man to accomplish an amount of intellectual 
 labor that would utterly break down one of sedentary 
 habits. After making all due allowance for these dif- 
 ferences, I think we may say that few can exceed six 
 hours a day of close mental application without seri- 
 ously endangering the health of the brain ; while, for 
 most persons, a not unreasonable degree of prudence 
 would prescribe a much shorter period."* 
 
 The brain, however, is frequently the most enduring 
 organ in the economy, and can sustain an activity the 
 most concentrated and prolonged. The following are 
 a few notable examples : 
 
 " Many literary masterpieces were written at a sit- 
 ting. The first draft of ' The Castle of Otranto ' was 
 nearly finished thus, the author only desisting because 
 he was physically unable to hold his pen. ' Vathek ' 
 was completed in three days and two nights of inces- 
 sant' effort. Dryden finished ' Alexander's Feast ' in a 
 day and a night, and it is said that Mrs. Browning 
 wrote ' Lady Geraldine's Courtship ' in twelve hours. 
 Shelley, Byron, and Theodore Hook wrote with amaz- 
 
 * Mental Hygiene, pp. iio-ii. 
 
124 
 
 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 ing rapidity ; so did Scott, who seldom or never cor- 
 rected. Dryden tells us that his thoughts came press- 
 ing in so fast that he had scarcely time for selection. 
 He composed the * Parallel between Poetry and Paint- 
 ing' in twelve mornings, and the 'Medal' in a fev^ 
 days. It was the same with Dr. Samuel Johnson, 
 who wrote his admirable ' Life of Savage ' in a little 
 more than thirty-six hours, and his oriental romance 
 of ' Rasselas ' for the purpose of obtaining funds to 
 defray the expense of his mother's funeral."* 
 
 Great men are usually — great geniuses always — 
 distinguished by the power of their minds and the 
 tenacity of their memory. Theodore Parker, Sir 
 Walter Scott, and Charles Sumner are conspicuous 
 examples of men with remarkable memory. 
 
 " Dr. Johnson, it is said, never forgot anything he 
 had seen, heard, or read. Burke, Clarendon, Gibbon, 
 Locke, Tillotson, were all distinguished for strength 
 of memory. When alluding to this subject, Sir Wil- 
 liam Hamilton observes : ' For intellectual power of 
 the highest order, none were distinguished above 
 Grotius and Pascal, and Grotius and Pascal forgot 
 nothing they had ever read or thought. Leibnitz and 
 Euler were not less celebrated for their intelligence 
 than for their memory, and both could repeat the 
 whole of the " ^Eneid." Donellus knew the " Corpus 
 Juris " by heart, and yet he was one of the profound- 
 est and most original speculators in jurisprudence. 
 Ben Jonson tells us that he could repeat all he had 
 ever written and whole books that he had read. 
 Themistocles could call by their names the twenty 
 
 * The Golden Age, May io, 1873. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCLSE. 
 
 125 
 
 thousand citizens of Athens. Cyrus is reported to 
 have known the name of every soldier in his army. 
 Hortensius (after Cicero the greatest orator of Rome), 
 after sitting a day at a public sale, correctly enumerated 
 from memory all the things sold, their prices, and the 
 names of their purchasers. Niebuhr, the historian, 
 was no less distinguished for his memory than for his 
 acuteness. In his youth he was employed in one of 
 the public offices of Denmark ; part of a book of 
 accounts having been destroyed, he restored it by an 
 effort of memory.' "* 
 
 Disregard of the hygienic relations of the physical 
 economy is, also, an element of embarrassment to 
 mental application. There are physical conditions 
 which make right thinking difficult or absolutely im- 
 possible ; and if the mind be forced to its work under 
 the tyranny of such restraint, a minimum of exertion 
 proves too often an excess. If the stomach be weak, 
 as is more commonly the case in this country, an in- 
 digestible dinner furnishes a most effective check on 
 the operations of the intellect. Neglect of the ordi- 
 nary aids to digestion and assimilation ; proper oxy- 
 genation of the blood ; wholesome discipline of the 
 passions; the society of our fellows; and the higher 
 stimulus of living with the hourly approval of con- 
 science, are all important factors in estimating the 
 powers and capabilities of the mind. Want of atten- 
 tion to these fundamental conditions renders minds 
 fitful in application that would otherwise be always 
 ready for any task however difficult. Most autHors 
 are compelled to wait for the writing mood, in order 
 
 ibid. 
 
l 2 6 THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF 
 
 to compose to their satisfaction. This was notoriously 
 the case with Hawthorne; and even the genial Thack- 
 eray complained of the same difficulty. The cause is 
 to be found in just this disregard of conditions, the 
 observance of which is indispensable to the free and 
 unrestrained activity of the mind. A mind prepared for 
 its work will accomplish in an hour what it otherwise 
 would require three or four hours to do, or be incapa- 
 ble of doing at all ; and what is only a mental pastime 
 under propitious circumstances becomes positively 
 irksome and injurious under others. If the proper 
 mental conditions be supplied, and the diet be such 
 as to afford the requisite nourishment, in suitable form, 
 to the brain, mental work could probably be safely 
 prolonged to as many hours a day as muscular work, 
 under equally favoring muscular conditions. On this 
 subject Dr. John Todd observes : " No fixed time 
 can be marked out for all. This must vary with the 
 constitution of each individual. A mind that moves 
 slowly requires and will bear more time for study. 
 In Germany, the students spend many more hours 
 than we can in this country. I have tried to account 
 for the fact that, with their preposterous habits of 
 eating and indolence, they can study so many hours 
 a day, and that to extreme old age. Doubtless na- 
 tional habits do something; individual habits do some-' 
 thing; but these will not account for it. Many of 
 them will study sixteen hours a day; few of them less 
 than thirteen. We should all die under it. The dif- 
 ference may be attributed to two causes, for the cor- 
 rectness of which I cannot vouch, viz., their mental 
 operations are slower than ours, and their climate is 
 less variable and better adapted to a student's life. 
 
CORPOREAL AND MENTAL EXERCISE. 
 
 127 
 
 Few, in our country, ever studied half so much as 
 
 they have, if hours are to be the criterion 
 
 Be this as it may, it is certain that we must do what 
 we do, by way of daily study, in fewer hours ; and, in 
 my view, it is vastly better to chain the attention down 
 closely and study hard a few hours, than to try to 
 keep it moderately fixed and engaged for a greater 
 length of time. Our most successful students seldom 
 study over six hours in a day. In this I include 
 nothing of recitations, of desultory, half-formed im- 
 pulses of the mind; but I mean real, hard, devoted 
 study. He who would study six hours a day with all 
 the attention of which the soul is capable need not fear 
 but he will yet stand high in his calling. But mark 
 me — it must be study as hard as the soul will bear! 
 The attention must all be absorbed ; the thoughts 
 must all be brought in, and turned upon the object of 
 study, as you would turn the collected rays of the sun 
 into the focus of the glass when you would get fire 
 from those rays. Do not call miscellaneous reading 
 or anything which you do by way of relief or amuse- 
 ment, study : it is not study. Be sure to get as much 
 of your study in the morning as possible. The mind 
 is then in good order. Aurora musis arnica, necnon 
 vespera."* 
 
 * Student's Manual, pp. 108-9. Rev. John Todd, D.D. 
 
f 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 " To say that a man's character and conduct are determined, in a great 
 degree, by the original constitution of his brain and nervous system, is to 
 utter a truth that can hardly be called new. Few, however, are disposed 
 to make any proper account of those central qualities which imply a devi- 
 ation, of some kind or other, from the line of healthy action. It is not in 
 accordance with the philosophy of our times to see in them an explanation 
 of those strange and curious traits which are utterly inexplicable on the 
 principles that govern the conduct of ordinary men. How, then, could 
 they expect the popular approbation, who find in them a clew to some of 
 the mysteries of human delinquency? But the teachings of science, the 
 stern facts of observation, cannot be disregarded. Whether we ignore 
 them or not, sooner or later their full significance will be triumphantly ac- 
 knowledged." — Rays Contributions to Mental Pathology, pp. 46-7. 
 
 "We live in a transition period, when the old faiths which comforted 
 nations, and not only so but made nations, seem to have spent their force. 
 I do not find the religions of men at this moment very creditable to them, 
 but either childish and insignificant, or unmanly and effeminating. The 
 fatal trait is the divorce between religion and morality. Here are know- 
 nothing religions, or churches that proscribe intellect; scortatory religions; 
 slave-holding and slave-trading religions ; and in the decent populations, 
 idolatries wherein the whiteness of the ritual covers scarlet indulgence." — 
 Emerson's Conduct of Life, p. 181. 
 
 The development of the religious principles is in- 
 dispensable to the health of both body and mind. 
 Hitherto morality and religion have been not only di- 
 vorced from each other, but removed from the associ- 
 ation of things physical to a plane above the common 
 level of human nature. In the popular conception, 
 religion is something devised for man's wearing ; a 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 12 g 
 
 garment fitted for him by superhuman hands, which 
 he can put on or off as occasion requires ; and which 
 may afford him much inconvenience in this world of 
 practicalities, but which it would be exceedingly unsafe 
 to be without in the world to come : — a mask for Sun- 
 days, holy days, the confessional, superannuated sti- 
 pendiaries, and death-beds ! Long ago, in our youthful 
 days, we " experienced religion," and urged its bene- 
 fits upon our young playfellows and sisters. The 
 reply invariably was : " I don't want religion now ; it 
 would interfere with my fun. Wait until I am sick, or 
 old, and likely to die ; it will then be time enough to 
 get it." Such child-like ideas of religion were in strict 
 accord with the literal teachings of the pious then ; 
 nor do they differ materially from that dealt out to 
 needy people in the catechisms and pulpits of to-day ! 
 True religion is not in the market, and cannot be 
 bought and sold, bartered for, nor begged with a 
 prayer. It is distilled in the human heart, by slow 
 and silent processes, and is, in truth, as truly an evo- 
 lution in humanity as passion or reason; and, not 
 unlike those elements of the human mind, subject to 
 laws, which, while they are divine and spiritual, are 
 not the less material and physical. It springs legiti- 
 mately from man's moral nature ; from those innate 
 sentiments of justice, mercy, faith, and hope; the 
 love of purity, goodness, and truth ; and the inner con- 
 sciousness of a Supreme Being, which is, after all, the 
 only demonstrable proof of his existence afforded by 
 nature. Mr. Emerson says of people of superior moral 
 quality, that they " are nearer to the secret of God than 
 others ; are bathed by sweeter waters ; they hear no- 
 tices, they see visions, where others are vacant. We 
 
30 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 believe that holiness confers a certain insight, because 
 not by our private, but by our public force, can we 
 share and know the nature of things."* 
 
 These divine elements of human nature exhibit the 
 highest expression of creative wisdom ; they comprise 
 the moral sense, the possession of which distinguishes 
 man from the lower animals. If they be not the pro- 
 duct of man's moral brain, it is demonstrable that they 
 are dependent upon it for exercise and manifestation ; 
 and that they are variously modified by causes which 
 affect the brain and nervous system. Indeed, the 
 highest manifestation of the moral sense is always 
 associated with a corresponding development of the 
 brain and nervous system. In nature the one is never 
 observed dissociated from the other. 
 
 The purpose of our inquiry, however, is not affected 
 by questions respecting the abstract nature and origin 
 of the moral powers. The investigation of those 
 belongs to the provinces of physiology and psychology. 
 It matters not, in a practical sense, whether they be 
 the cause or sequence of the physical faculties. Their 
 intimate connection and sympathy with physical agents 
 and influences have been demonstrated, and sufficient 
 warrant is afforded thereby for their surrender to the 
 associate care of the physician and moral teacher. 
 
 In a fully developed, well-balanced mind, the moral 
 faculties comprise about one-fourth of the cerebrum. 
 The finer feelings, emotions, and sentiments, which 
 dignify and ennoble the character, are associated with 
 this part of the sensorium. Religion has its rise and 
 authority in the activity of these superior faculties, — 
 
 * Essay on Worship. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. ^ 
 
 not the forms, symbols, oblations, ordinances, and 
 theological doctrines with which religion has been 
 invested, but the tendency to love and worship the 
 grand and beautiful in nature ; the desire for inward 
 purity and goodness, " to do justly, and to love mercy, 
 and to walk humbly "* before Heaven. The posses- 
 sion of these powers constitutes man a religious being, 
 let the manner of their exercise be what it may. The 
 fire-worshiping Parsee, or the humble believer in 
 Buddha and the authority of the Institutes of Menu, 
 or the devout follower of Fohi and Confucius, with all 
 his grotesque forms, gesticulations, and ordinances, is 
 no less religious than the praying Christian, with his 
 cross and eucharist, of a more rational civilization. 
 
 The neglect of moral culture and religious discipline 
 is, obviously, incompatible with good health, useful- 
 ness, and the highest degree of happiness. " If your 
 eye is on the eternal," says Mr. Emerson, in the 
 essay already quoted, " your intellect will grow, and 
 your opinions and actions will have a beauty which 
 no learning or combined advantages of other men 
 can rival. The moment of your loss of faith, and 
 acceptance of the lucrative standard, will be marked 
 in the pause or solstice of genius, the sequent retro-' 
 gression, and the inevitable loss of attraction to other 
 minds. "f " I think it may be assumed," says Dr. 
 Austin Flint, " that the exercise of pure and lofty sen- 
 timents is conducive to the health and vigor of body 
 as well as mind. "J The active cultivation of these 
 powers is demanded by the highest considerations of 
 
 * Micah vi. 8. f Essay on Worship, p. 190, 
 
 \ Practitioner, January, 1872. 
 
132 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 physiology, morality, and the spiritual welfare and 
 prosperity of the race. What has already been ob- 
 served respecting the necessity of maintaining func- 
 tional balance between the corporeal and mental func- 
 tions applies with more than ordinary force to the 
 development of the moral faculties and intellect. 
 Atony in the latter not only disposes to physical dis- 
 ease, but is the direct source of more wretchedness 
 to the individual and to society than it is possible to 
 detail or even estimate. The perception of the prin- 
 ciples of the Creator's moral government rests en- 
 tirely on the integrity of these powers. Intellect 
 there may be, reason, and the highest analytical and 
 logical powers, but if the moral sense be wanting the 
 individual is stripped of responsibility and becomes a 
 moral idiot ! The consequence of their defective in- 
 fluence upon the character finds painful expression in 
 the manners and social habits of mankind. The annals 
 of crime illustrate this fact in a marked degree, as 
 all know ; but it is not pertinent to refer to them for 
 examples of my meaning : they are too obvious and 
 flagrant for question. The moral customs of the more 
 law-abiding — the well-to-do and respectable classes — 
 come more particularly within the scope of my criti- 
 cism. The business and social habits of such exhibit 
 a lamentable deficiency in moral principle, differing, not 
 in kind but only in degree, from that which animates 
 and impels the most flagitious violator of public mor- 
 ality. The almost universal absence of fair dealing 
 among men; the corruption of public officers, politi- 
 cians, and the American Congress ; the lack of honor 
 in minor business relations when inconsistent with 
 personal interest ; the fashionable hypocrisy so widely 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. j^ 
 
 cultivated in social circles, which incites nominal 
 friends to profess feelings and emotions toward each 
 other which neither feel, and to practice numberless 
 acts intended to deceive ; the custom of making a prin- 
 ciple of expediency, and of compelling the tongue to 
 impeach the heart in the interest of a lie, a project, a 
 position, a point, or a purse ; the vain willingness, so 
 prevalent among nominal Christians, to pass for moie 
 than their true personal value, — to seem better than 
 they really are ; the canting hypocrite in places of 
 trust and responsibility ; the tendency to exalt the 
 reputation at the expense of innate character ; to live 
 the life of a devil in secret and that of a saint in public ; 
 these customs and practices in modern society illus- 
 trate the moral deficiency to which I refer.* While 
 there is no lack of popular religion, indeed that element 
 appears in excess everywhere, immorality of this 
 type has completely honeycombed the fabric of modern 
 society, and made respectability and hypocrisy nearly 
 synonymous terms ! Look at the moral conduct of 
 professional men, — physicians, who, to pursue their 
 practice in a becoming manner, ought to be worthv 
 of a commission from the Most High ! How many 
 of them allow an opportunity to appropriate the hard- 
 earned success of a colleague to pass unimproved ? 
 How common is the habit of evil speaking of each 
 other among them; or, if wanting in moral courage 
 to speak, " damn with faint praise ;" or, still worse, 
 fatally wound the reputation of a colleague by a look, 
 a contemptuous lift of the eyebrow, or other super- 
 cilious pantomime, incompatible with even a moderate 
 
 See note at the end of the chapter. 
 12* 
 
134 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 sense of honor and justice! Instances have been 
 known — or at least heard of — in the noble profession 
 of medicine, of stealing a colleague's client by arts 
 and tricks which, although not illegal, if done openly, 
 would expel the moral culprit from the society of all 
 right-minded men and women !* 
 
 How common are breaches of fidelity and courtesy 
 in social intercourse; insolent, or overbearing conduct 
 toward fancied inferiors ; the indulgence of envy, 
 malice, morbid suspicion, jealousy; contempt for pov- 
 erty and the poor ; obsequiousness toward wealth and 
 the rich ; habits of evil speaking and unwarrantable 
 detraction ; ungenerous and uncharitable judgments ; 
 rejoicings over the misfortunes of a rival, — I will not 
 say an enemy, for it is quite unhuman to take pleasure 
 in the prosperity of such a rival ; praying in public ; 
 putting on the garb of religion, or frequenting places 
 of worship, for business ends ; libeling an opponent, or 
 retailing gossip to his prejudice; taking undue or un- 
 fair advantage in trade ; false representations ; habits 
 of exaggeration ; practicing numberless devices — not 
 
 * The writer, on a particular occasion, sent for a colleague to assist him 
 in the conduct of a difficult case. The counsel was a dignitary in one of 
 the Christian churches, and had sustained the usual reputation among his 
 class, of being a man of probity and honor. He responded to the call in 
 due time, and courteously rendered all necessary aid. The following day, 
 to the writer's surprise, he sent the patient his professional circular and 
 card, and left a verbal request, that she would consult him respecting some 
 chronic malady, which he had been happy enough to discover in the 
 lady, — or, at least, to fancy he had, — as soon as she was recovered from her 
 present illness! The moral turpitude of his course, bad at the best, is 
 aggravated by the relation which he professed to sustain to his colleague, — 
 that of cordial personal and professional friendship. Acts, so manifestly 
 dishonorable as this, are, unhappily, not very uncommon in the profession* 
 of medicine ! 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 135 
 
 strictly unlawful — by which profits may be enhanced : 
 as underweight; watering milk, whisky, and molas- 
 ses ; selling some articles below cost, and others above, 
 in order to attract custom by appealing to undersell a 
 neighbor; adulterations of food and drink and various 
 articles of manufacture ; sales of shoddy, or damaged 
 goods and merchandise, etc. ! It is impossible to mis- 
 take the animus of these things, nor to doubt that they 
 are committed by people who would do worse acts if 
 they dared. Fraud and dishonor are so common in 
 Christendom, in all the trades, customs, usages, deal- 
 ings, and professions, as to suggest universal plethora 
 of the passions and propensities, and a corresponding 
 anaemia of the moral brain and sense. Everybody 
 suspects the honesty of his neighbor, and the neigh- 
 bor, in turn, suspects the trustworthiness of everybody; 
 and in the moral chaos of the times the skeptics find 
 new and just reasons to doubt the practical value of 
 the gospel, and the pagans to make caustic reproaches ~> s 
 against the religion of Christ! 
 
 It is needless to remark that the prevalence of such 
 vices indicates moral aberration, an unsound, ill-bal- 
 anced mental constitution, inimical to the health of 
 either body or mind. They have an origin in the 
 undue and unrestrained activity of the selfish propen- 
 sities ; powers good in themselves, not necessarily 
 vicious nor vitiating, nor incompatible with the noblest 
 moral and intellectual endowment, whose function it 
 is to look after the interests of self. They are legiti- 
 mately self-seeking, and very properly concerned in 
 the supply and gratification of the animal wants. It 
 does not accord with their nature to be choice in the 
 means or method employed to this end. Who ever 
 
I36 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 saw an animal mindful of the rights and feelings in its 
 fellows ? Foxes rob hen-roosts, dogs steal their din- 
 ners, and animals, in general, prey upon one another 
 for the same reason and in the exercise of the same 
 impulse that impels men, when unrestrained by the 
 moral sense, to prey upon the rights and interests of 
 their fellow-men. Nothing better is expected of the 
 animal, for reasons well understood; but a high moral 
 sentiment would effectually oppose such flagrant dis- 
 regard of the rights of others by man ; and he is, in 
 general, afraid or ashamed, when actuated by no higher 
 motive, to commit such deeds openly and above board, 
 and accordingly seeks the shadows of the night, and 
 the ingenuity of low cunning or adroit trickery, to 
 achieve the end he desires, without incurring the legal 
 penalty attached ! 
 
 The natural safeguard against the existence and ex- 
 ercise of such perversity in man is found in strength- 
 ening the moral sentiments with which the Creator 
 has endowed every human creature. These are the 
 natural antagonists of the propensities. While the 
 latter are self-seeking, the former are concerned with 
 the interests of others. A high sense of honor is 
 shocked at the thought of committing deception or 
 telling an untruth; a fine sense of justice is out- 
 raged at the idea of double dealing, or in " playing 
 sharp," as so many glory in doing; the sentiment of 
 benevolence is wounded at the sight of distress and 
 poverty, and finds the sweetest consolation in binding 
 up broken hearts and relieving the wretchedness of 
 the world, without regard to race or moral condition. 
 The beautiful story of the good Samaritan is a fine 
 illustration of the influence of this sentiment upon the 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. i^y 
 
 character. It seeks not its own but others' good. In 
 a world of so much want and misery, arising, in good 
 part, from privation of the physical comforts of life, 
 the hoarding of great riches would seem to be in- 
 compatible with the possession of a large degree of 
 goodness ; and from this point of view the advice- of 
 Christ to the rich man seeking salvation, to sell all he 
 had " and give to the poor," receives additional force 
 and meaning. 
 
 The aspiration for inward goodness and purity is 
 also peculiar to man, and its cultivation holds him 
 absolutely above the practice of everything mean and 
 groveling. It is illustrated in the prayer of the He- 
 brew poet : " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
 renew a right spirit within me."* It was also exem- 
 plified in the character of that eminent rationalist, 
 Gibbon, who, through fear of being thought better 
 than he really was, persistently endeavored to appear 
 to disadvantage, — to put the worse side out. A good 
 man is truly upright in all his ways, and delights in 
 the love of the good and the beautiful, and in dispens- 
 ing joy and happiness to all around. " A good man," 
 said Christ, " out of the good treasure of his heart 
 bringeth forth that which is good ; and an evil man 
 out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth 
 that which is evil."f 
 
 Then, again, the exercise of deference and respect 
 to our fellows and to the Supreme in nature is another 
 important element of moral gymnastics. The true 
 man worships the divine in all things, and is drawn 
 away from the selfish and ignoble toward the Supreme 
 
 * Psalm li. 10. | Luke vi. 45. 
 
I38 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 Good. There is no stronger element in the moral 
 brain than this ; and its proper cultivation would do 
 much to withdraw the mind from the purely sensuous 
 and selfish to the supremely virtuous and exalting. 
 Under the influence of superstition this tendency in 
 man is liable to abuse or perversion. It then leads 
 to idolatry, or the worship of ignoble things, animate 
 and inanimate objects, saints, relics, symbols, emblems, 
 sacred writings, objects of nature, the stellar universe, 
 etc. " We worship the promotion of all good," says 
 the Zend Avesta ; " all that is very beautiful, shining, 
 immortal, bright, everything that is good." The 
 heathens, however, are not the only idolators. If 
 idolaters are those who confine not their worship 
 to the Infinite Spirit, the number is exceedingly 
 large, and limited to no race nor condition of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Again, there is another principle in man's stellar 
 crown which, perhaps, has no parallel in nature, 
 namely, the love of right. Surely, nothing can equal 
 the grandeur which this element imparts to the char- 
 acter. It suggests the thought of duty, and compels 
 the individual to respond to duty's call, whatever may 
 be the consequences to himself. " Let justice be 
 done, though the heavens fall!" is its stern decree. It 
 does not calculate the consequences ; they must take 
 care of themselves. It does not ask, " Is this course 
 expedient ?" but rather, " Is it right ? Ought I to 
 do this thing?" If he ought to do it, it is done, and 
 the consequences are left with God. 
 
 Conduct inspired by a high sense of duty is char- 
 acteristic of great minds ; and the fearless courage 
 which such minds exhibit, when occasion requires, 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 I 39 
 
 is characteristic of this sense. Goethe says,* that 
 " Napoleon visited those sick of the plague, in order 
 to prove that the man who could vanquish fear could 
 vanquish the plague also ; and he was right. 'Tis 
 incredible what force the will has in such cases : it 
 penetrates the body, and puts it in a state of activity, 
 which repels all hurtful influences ; while fear invites 
 them." "Be just and fear not!" is its inspiring 
 motto. Henry Clay expressed the natural language 
 of the principle when he uttered those memorable 
 words : " I would rather be right than to be President." 
 There is something peculiarly noble and ennobling in 
 a character which subordinates all considerations to 
 that of conscience and a sense of duty. Such char- 
 acters furnish the stuff that martyrs are made of. 
 They glory in obloquy, persecution, and proscription 
 for the sake of their convictions ; fearing nothing so 
 much as the fear of wronging their neighbors. And 
 death itself, for truth's sake, instead of bringing pain 
 and wretchedness in its contemplation, increases the 
 joy and glory of an existence of which meaner mor- 
 tals can have no adequate conception or appreciation. 
 " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and per- 
 secute you, and shall say all manner of evil against 
 you falsely, for my sake."f Christ admonishes such 
 to rejoice and be exceeding glad, and says their 
 reward will be correspondingly great in heaven. In 
 physiology every act has its recompense. Providence 
 pays as he goes, asking no man to trust him ; and that 
 such acts of moral heroism and personal abnegation 
 should be also rewarded hereafter, seems not an irra- 
 
 * Quoted from Emerson's " Conduct of Life," p. 203. f Matthew v. 11. 
 
140 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 tional probability. But the possession and exercise 
 of so high a principle or quality of human nature, to 
 the extent spoken of in the text, would surely be of 
 itself an all-sufficient reward. " In vain," says Horace 
 Mann, " do they talk of happiness who never subdued 
 an impulse in obedience to a principle. He who 
 never sacrificed a present for a future good, or a per- 
 sonal to a general one, can speak of happiness only 
 as the blind do of colors." The exercise of duty and 
 the suppression of impulses which do not accord 
 therewith have obviously their own delights and com- 
 pensations, which, in this instance, must be supreme, 
 since it is performing the grandest act and fulfilling the 
 highest law of human nature. 
 
 The personal influences of the moral sentiments in 
 general, when in the ascendency, may be more easily 
 observed than defined. A high-toned man is known 
 wherever he goes, and needs no other indorsement 
 nor introduction to give him ready access to the best 
 circles. " Fear God," says Emerson, " and where you 
 go men shall think they walk in hallowed cathedrals 
 A high aim reacts on the means, on the 
 days, on the organs of the body." The face ; the cut 
 and expression of the features ; the texture and quality 
 of the hair and tissues ; the manner and habits ; the 
 ease and grace of the physical movements ; the quiet 
 dignity and general make-up ; the moral presence, 
 speech and address of such a man, stamp him at once 
 as a superior being, and the noblest work of God. The 
 harmony of the physical and mental powers ; the 
 simplicity of his habits; the quiet, ease, and orderly 
 tenor of all his ways, largely exempt him from dis- 
 ease and suffering. Good health is the frequent wages 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. Y ^ 
 
 of morality. The fortitude and courage in trials and 
 misfortune; the firmer self-reliance, and calmer faith 
 and trust, under affliction ; while they secure greater 
 exemption from the operation of morbific causes in 
 general, render him far less likely to succumb to them 
 when ill than men less happily endowed. This fact 
 has been observed by many writers* on hygiene and 
 therapeutics, and affords additional inducement to the 
 lovers of an old age, particularly, for the active cultiva- 
 tion of the moral powers. Mr. George Combe felt 
 impelled by considerations, physical as well as moral, 
 to affirm that a certain portion of each day should be 
 set apart for moral and religious culture. His observa- 
 tions on this point are so eminently wise and judicious 
 that I cannot forbear to give a brief space to them : 
 
 " So many hours a day ought to be devoted to the 
 cultivation and gratification of our moral and religious 
 sentiments ; that is to say, in exercising these in har- 
 mony with intellect, and especially in acquiring the 
 habit of admiring, loving, and yielding obedience to 
 the Creator and his institutions. This last object is 
 of vast importance. Intellect is barren of practical 
 fruit, however rich it may be in knowledge, until it is 
 fired and prompted to act by moral sentiment. In my 
 view, knowledge by itself is comparatively worthless 
 and impotent, compared with what it becomes when 
 vivified by lofty emotions. It is not enough that in- 
 tellect is informed; the moral faculties must co-operate 
 in yielding obedience to the precepts which the intel- 
 lect recognizes to be true. As creation is one great 
 
 * " In so far, then, as bodily health and vigor afford protection against 
 disease, the exercise of these sentiments is prophylactic." — Dr. Austin Flint. 
 
 13 
 
!42 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 system, of which God is the author and preserver, we 
 may fairly presume that there must be harmony among 
 all its parts, and between it and its Creator. The hu- 
 man mind is a portion of creation, and its constitution 
 must be included in this harmonious scheme. The 
 grand object of the moral and intellectual faculties of 
 man, therefore, ought to be the study of God and his 
 works. . . . Philosophy, while separated from the 
 /moral feelings, is felt by the people at large to be cold 
 and barren. It may be calculated to interest individ- 
 uals possessing high intellectual endowments; but as, 
 in general, the moral and religious sentiments greatly 
 predominate in energy over the intellectual powers, it 
 fails to interest the mass of mankind. On the other 
 hand, before natural religion can appear in all its 
 might and glory, it must become philosophical. Its 
 foundations must be laid in the system of creation; its 
 authority must be deduced from the principles of that 
 system; and its applications must be enforced by a 
 demonstration of the power of Providence operating 
 in enforcing the execution of its dictates. While rea- 
 son and religion are at variance, both are obstructed 
 in producing their full beneficial effects. God has 
 placed harmony between them, and it is only human 
 imperfection and ignorance that introduce discord."* 
 
 While mankind differ widely respecting the utility 
 of the various modes and forms of religious exercises, 
 all rationally minded people can cordially unite upon 
 the end which they are designed to promote. Which- 
 ever outward form or ceremony is most conducive to 
 the growth of inward purity and virtue, and most 
 
 * Constitution of Man, pp. 103-4. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 143 
 
 effective in strengthening the moral faculties and lifting 
 the soul above purely selfish and ignoble ends and 
 aims, and in inspiring higher and nobler purposes, is 
 best. Practically, the question is thus one of expe- 
 rience. That system of religious training most fruitful 
 of practical results — these to be measured, not by the 
 number of converts or subscribers to the church-roll, 
 but rather by the number who exhibit in their lives 
 the fruit of the Spirit, which Paul says is " love, joy, 
 peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meek- 
 ness, temperance"* — must ultimately receive the pref- 
 erence of every heart, as it already has of untrammeled 
 reason. 
 
 Mankind should be taught the superior advantages 
 derived from the practice of honesty and virtue in the 
 private thought and life. He who harbors an unhal- 
 lowed thought is generating a poison within him that 
 will sooner or later infect his whole being. The stand- 
 ard of moral valuations should be changed. Instead of 
 its being wealth, or position, it should be character and 
 moral force. Nothing is easier to show than that the 
 former is temporal, deceitful, and fallacious; while the 
 latter is spiritual, elevating, and eternal. Emerson says 
 there is no greater proof of skepticism than " the base 
 rate at which the highest mental and moral gifts are 
 held." Herein lies the main cause of the evil tendency 
 of the times. " Let a man attain the highest and 
 broadest culture that any American has possessed, 
 then let him die by sea-storm, railroad collision, or 
 other accident, and all America will acquiesce that the 
 best thing has happened to him." Such is the low 
 
 * Galatians v. 22, 23. 
 
144 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 estimate which our Christian — say rather unchristian 
 — civilization places on the diviner excellencies of 
 human nature ! 
 
 The following chapter elucidates some of the chief 
 elements and agents of moral hygiene. It only remains 
 in this place to consider the influences of some of the 
 opposing and depressing emotions and impulses : 
 
 I. The discipline of the emotions of the mind is a 
 matter which clearly comes within the scope of mental 
 hygiene, since by the abuse of them the bodily health 
 and the integrity of the mental structure may be seri- 
 ously compromised, and even death itself produced. 
 He enjoys the best health and lives the longest life, 
 who, other things being equal, maintains the greatest 
 degree of mental poise and equanimity, and is the freest 
 from violent emotions either of pleasure or pain. An 
 excess in either direction produces exhaustion of the 
 nervous system and debility of the physical powers. 
 We have known several instances of catalepsy induced 
 by immoderate joy, and the shock of sudden and un- 
 expected news, of a pleasurable or a disagreeable na- 
 ture.* In hysterical, epileptic, or apoplectic people, 
 the indulgence of powerful emotions has been known to 
 produce dangerous symptoms. Violent anger some- 
 times develops jaundice, or gives rise to melancholy, 
 and not unfrequently to a paroxysm of fever. In sen- 
 sitive persons anger disorders all the functions of or- 
 ganic life. It frequently poisons the blood as effect- 
 ively, and with far greater dispatch, than colocynth or 
 conium. The secretions are also liable to become 
 
 * " Extravagant joy produced madness in many of the successful adven- 
 turers in the South Sea speculation, in England, in the year 1720." — Rush 
 on the Mind. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 145 
 
 vitiated from this cause ; and the milk of mothers is 
 sometimes rendered unwholesome thereby, to such a 
 degree as to seriously affect the health of their babes. 
 Madness is not an infrequent effect of violent rage ;* 
 and examples of sudden death from that cause are 
 quite numerous. 
 
 2. The influence of fear is no less potent for mental 
 mischief than anger. Many instances of sudden 
 death from that emotion are on record, and its effect 
 upon the color of the hair is notorious ; the blackest 
 hair having been known to turn quite white from that 
 cause in a few hours. Animals, likewise, suffer from 
 the same emotion. We have known canaries to be 
 instantly killed by a cat leaping toward the cage in 
 which the birds were confined ; and Mr. Young, in 
 the " Edinburgh Geographical Journal," relates the 
 case of a blackbird prostrated by being frightened by 
 a cat. Its feathers subsequently fell off, " and were 
 renewed, but the new ones were perfectly white," 
 thus producing the rare paradox of a " white black- 
 bird." Convulsions and imbecility have been caused 
 by fright, as also have paralysis and apoplexy ; and 
 insanity is a more frequent effect than either, f Young 
 children are . extremely susceptible to this emotion; 
 and their tender minds should be carefully guarded 
 from its depressing, ruinous effects. 
 
 3. Many temperaments suffer from the influence of 
 excess of joy. The door-keeper of Congress is said 
 to have died from joy on receiving the news of the 
 
 * " Charles VI., of France, was deranged from a paroxysm of anger." 
 — Rush on the Mind, p. 39. 
 
 f" Fear often produces madness, Dr. Brambilla tells us, in new recruits in 
 the Austrian army." — Ibid., p. 39. 
 
 13* 
 
!^6 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 surrender of Lord Cornwallis's army. " The famous 
 Fouquet," says Winslow,* " died on being told that 
 Louis XIV. had restored him to liberty." Zimmer- 
 man^ in his experience in physic, relates the case of a 
 worthy lady, who, becoming reduced to extreme pov- 
 erty, died in consequence of being presented with a 
 rare and valuable jewel. And quite recently a man 
 in New York City, in indigent circumstances, went 
 mad and blew his brains out, upon learning that he 
 had become heir to a fortune. 
 
 4. The emotion of grief is a powerful depressor of 
 the nervous functions. Joy may shock and paralyze 
 the infirm, but a real heart-grief withers and breaks 
 the stoutest constitutions. Grief dries up the fountain 
 of interest and sympathy which was designed to flow 
 out toward all mankind, and contracts the universe 
 into a shell, of which its victim is the centre and chief 
 personage. Numerous remedies have been recom- 
 mended for the effects of this emotion. The most 
 efficacious remedy, however, is diversion. The mind 
 must be taken off the object of its sorrow and diverted 
 to new scenes and objects. Awakening new interests, 
 on which the mind can exercise its powers freely and 
 fully, is the most effective antidote to a grief that 
 would otherwise be incurable. Some of the lower 
 animals are subject to this emotion; and not unfre- 
 quently they have been known to pine away and 
 actually die of it. 
 
 5. The effect of anxiety upon the mental functions 
 is analogous to grief. Nothing is more wearing than 
 the fear of an impending evil. I have known parents 
 
 * Body and Mind, p. 154. f Ibid. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 1 47 
 
 to grow gray, and live years in a month, watching 
 over the fate of a favorite child ; and if death, forsooth, 
 were averted, to sink into exhaustion and slow fever. 
 The fear and apprehension of misfortune is far more 
 weakening to the vitality, if prolonged, than the sud- 
 den onset of the gravest calamities. An individual 
 may receive, and react from, the latter, but the former 
 checks life's warm current and dries the very bones. 
 Some idea of the strength of this emotion maybe had 
 from observing its influence upon grief and its con- 
 comitants. An instance of almost helpless hysterical 
 debility in a mother came under our observation, which 
 was stimulated into convalescence by the awakening 
 of anxiety for the safety of one of her children. Hysteria 
 is often cured, as it is also caused, by fright. Madness, 
 also, has sometimes yielded to the influence of that 
 emotion. Indeed, diseases in general are strongly in- 
 fluenced by all the emotions ; even rheumatism has been 
 known to subside, instantly, under the operation of 
 intense anxiety. An instance of articular rheumatism 
 was reported to the writer recently, which, after resist- 
 ing more rational remedies for days, was finally instan- 
 taneously cured by the report that a child of the patient 
 had been run over in the street by a passing vehicle. 
 The report proved false as to his own child, but the 
 cure was nevertheless complete ! 
 
 6. Remorse is a prominent cause of mental depres- 
 sion and disease. "A conscience burdened with guilt," 
 says Dr. Rush, " whether real or imaginary, is a fre- 
 quent cause of madness." Remorse is frequently an 
 indication of mental disease, in which the guilt is 
 purely imaginary. Several cases of the latter have 
 come under my observation, — one, a newly-married 
 
I4 8 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 woman, who, during courtship, had attended a religi- 
 ous revival, and had been exhorted to give up all for 
 Christ as the only condition of her future salvation. 
 She could not give up all. She felt there was one 
 whom she could not renounce, even for Christ and 
 the reward of eternal glory. After marriage, she fell 
 into quiet melancholy, and continued for months to 
 imagine that she had grieved the Holy Spirit, and was 
 irredeemably lost. The process of gestation and the 
 ultimate birth of a child, aided probably by medicines, 
 finally dispelled the delusion. 
 
 Remorse from natural causes is no less distressing 
 nor less difficult of cure. The sense of real guilt 
 harasses the mind, destroys sleep and digestion, and 
 speedily undermines the general health. A fatal case 
 of that nature came under my observation a few years 
 since. It was that of a middle-aged lady, of good 
 family and personal antecedents, who had violated the 
 seventh commandment. The sin preyed upon her 
 mind to such a degree that her health soon succumbed 
 to it. Mild melancholy followed, and finally death 
 itself put an end to her mental misery. 
 
 7. Then there are the depressing influences of dis- 
 appointment, — disappointment in love, ambition, for- 
 tune, business, etc., either one of which tends to 
 destroy mental equilibrium, and to produce in nerv- 
 ous, susceptible temperaments, most distressing dis- 
 eases and derangements. Suicidal mania is the most 
 common effect of disappointment, let the cause be 
 what it may. Disappointment in business, or ambi- 
 tion, is as likely to kindle this morbid impulse as dis- 
 appointment in love. History records many examples 
 of suicides among generals and statesmen caused by 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. j^g 
 
 defeated ambition, or by incurring the displeasure of 
 their sovereign ; and Dr. Rush records the case of a 
 theatrical player in Philadelphia, in 1803, who, having 
 been hissed off the stage, was so mortified that he 
 soon after destroyed himself. The sense of shame, 
 ridicule, loss of reputation, calumny, etc., are all, like- 
 wise, morbific causes, and justly merit the careful con- 
 sideration of the moral therapeutist. 
 
 8. The indulgence of those malevolent impulses of 
 jealousy and revenge is incompatible with a sound 
 mental hygiene or a high moral character. Jealousy 
 and revenge go hand in hand ; they are twin- 
 brothers, — conceived in sin and born in iniquity. 
 Either of them is a frenzy of the mind, disturbing its 
 peace and repose ; a plague, eating out its heart ; a 
 canker, consuming the very life and soul. " Of all 
 the diseases of the mind," says Lord Karnes, "jeal- 
 ousy is that which most things serve for aliment, and 
 fewest for remedy."* "Jealousy," continues this 
 shrewd observer, " is the most vain, idle, foolish, and 
 turbulent disease that ever assaulted and oppressed 
 the minds of mankind. . . . When it happens to 
 affect men, it robs them of the comforts of life ; makes 
 them distrustful, timorous, . . . testy, pettish, peevish, 
 etc. If one speaks in jest, they take it in earnest. If 
 two talk in whisper, the third thinks they talk of him. 
 . . . But if his jealousy relates to womankind and 
 centres in a wife, it is a domestic plague that eats and 
 drinks and lodges with him; a fury that haunts him 
 and disturbs all his affairs abroad, making his torment 
 the greater by fancying his suspicion proceeds from 
 
 * Sketches of the History of Man, vol. ii. p. 63. 
 
ISO 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 love."* His lordship is quite as severe on jealous 
 women : " When jealousy seizes on wives, those poor, 
 weak, resistless souls, they are objects of compassion, 
 to see how miserably it torments and tyrannizes over 
 them; . . . after it has once possessed them thoroughly, 
 the same causes that serve for a foundation of good- 
 will serve them for a foundation of mutual hatred. 
 . . . The virtue, health, merit, and reputation of 
 the husband are the incendiaries of their fury and ill- 
 will . . . for there is no action of a jealous woman, 
 let her be never so chaste and good a housewife, but 
 it relishes of anger and rudeness. "f 
 
 9. Superstition possesses an influence over the 
 human mind in comparison to which all other agents 
 and influences fade into insignificance. The word has 
 been brought into ill repute in modern times ; but its 
 origin does credit to man, for it originally meant 
 " super-starry" — looking above. We are not prepared 
 to affirm that an element of such amazing proportions 
 in human nature is entirely out of place. Such an 
 affirmation would impeach the wisdom of the divine 
 Architect, and the beneficence of the divine govern- 
 ment. So far from this being our intention, we believe 
 that the existence of that blind faith and unreasoning 
 credulity which superstition has come to mean is 
 quite legitimate in its day and generation. And what 
 is legitimate is of divine appointment. Ignorance and 
 credulity are never dissociated. Belief is strongest 
 when reason is weakest. Faith is not especially de- 
 sirable when the essence of things needful is no longer 
 an object of hope, but of present, living realization. 
 
 * Sketches of the History of Man, vol. ii. p. 62. | Ibid -' vo1 - "• P- 6 3- 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 151 
 
 The diffusion of knowledge dispels superstition, with 
 its horrid brood of dark mysticisms, as effectually as 
 the day-god dissipates the murky mists of early 
 morning, and with wisdom of equal beneficence. 
 
 That superstition of some sort is natural to the 
 tender mind there can be no doubt. The mind of the 
 savage is thoroughly imbued with it. Having no 
 comprehension of the laws of sequence, he naturally 
 refers every extraordinary exhibition of force and 
 power in nature to supernatural agencies. Thunder is 
 the voice of deity. Lightning and the storm-clouds 
 are exhibitions of his fierce wrath. Warmth and 
 sunshine are evidence of his pleasure and benignity. 
 The wild and destructive tornado, the ravages of dis- 
 ease, famine, and pestilence ; the strange and unusual 
 phenomena which the heavens sometimes present, are 
 exhibitions of deity's revenge, or the reckless pranks 
 of an infernal spirit. Dusky-minded people, devoid 
 of a rational philosophy of mental processes, and 
 who practice all sorts of demoniacal iniquity upon 
 one another, imagine the existence of evil genii, 
 tempting them to evil and sin, and who are ever 
 devising plans to involve the race in inextricable diffi- 
 culties or hopeless ruin. " In any nation," says Mr. 
 Lecky,* " it has been believed, at an early period, that 
 pestilences, famines, comets, rainbows, eclipses, and 
 other rare and startling phenomena, were effected, not 
 by the ordinary sequence of natural laws, but by the 
 direct intervention of spirits." The fearful famine 
 that afflicted France in the eighth century was repre- 
 sented by the priests, who were to be profited by such 
 
 * History of Rationalism in Europe, vol. i. p. 63. 
 
152 
 
 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 representation, as a consequence of the repugnance of 
 the people to the payment of tithes. " In the ninth 
 century, a total eclipse of the sun struck terror through 
 Europe, and is said to have been one of the causes of the 
 death of a French king. In the tenth century, a simi- 
 lar phenomenon put to flight an entire army. More 
 than once, the apparition of a comet filled Europe 
 with an almost maddening terror; and whenever a 
 noted person was struck down by sudden illness, the 
 death was attributed to sorcery."* " Conscience 
 makes cowards of us all," says the great bard. There 
 is no end to the evil imaginings of a wicked heart, 
 nor to the terror which a belief in the power of om- 
 nipotent justice inspires in the mind of the evil-doer. 
 
 While, therefore, fear, ignorance, and credulity are 
 the foundation of superstition, in its modern accepta- 
 tion, superstition and theology are the foundation of 
 religion — of all the religions that have, in turn, blessed 
 and cursed mankind, — blessed, in restraining the igno- 
 rant and vicious from careers of vice and crime ; cursed, 
 by making use of the symbols, rites, devices, doctrines, 
 and other religious enginery to blind the eyes of those 
 who have eyes to see, and to enslave the mind of 
 those who are capable of comprehending the truths of 
 God and nature, and who need no other inducement 
 to live uprightly and to walk humbly than the reward 
 which naturally accompanies a pure and virtuous life. 
 In making error a crime, punishable by the most hid- 
 eous penalty that a morbid imagination can conceive 
 of; in compelling outward assent to certain creeds and 
 doctrines on penalty of unending torture ; in ranking 
 
 * History of Rationalism in Europe, vol. i. p. 6.}. Sec references there. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 153 
 
 certain penances and sprinklings of superior impor- 
 tance to a godly life, the church has abused the faith 
 which mankind has reposed in it ; has run itself 
 aground, and is, in truth, going to pieces on the very- 
 beach of civilization. Faith is still the magical power 
 which it advocates as the panacea for all the ills that 
 the soul is heir to. Faith in truth and virtue ? Nay. 
 Faith in the cross, faith in the eucharist, faith in water, 
 faith in fast-days, the pope, the sabbath, the creed, and 
 in sundry other outward observances. The faith that 
 was and is so potent on the life and habits of the 
 unlettered savage and barbarian, the church is still 
 blindly holding out to a civilization that has long 
 since turned its back upon her; and which, instead of 
 leading as she used to do, and ought always to do, is 
 dragging heavily in the rear!* 
 
 The church has never, in any age, over-estimated the 
 power of superstition among the ignorant and credu- 
 lous, f The spiritual Head of the church assured his 
 
 * " The science of modern times, however, has taken a more special direc- 
 tion. Fixing its attention exclusively on the order of nature, it has sepa- 
 rated itself wholly from theology, whose function it is to seek after its cause. 
 In this science is fully justified, alike by the entire independence of its ob- 
 jects, and by the historical fact that it has been continually hampered and 
 impeded in its search after truth as it is in nature, by the restraints which 
 theologians have attempted to impose upon its inquiries." — Inaugural Lec- 
 ture of Wm. B. Carpenter, M.D., F.R.S., before the Brit. Assoc, for the 
 Advancement of Science, England, Aug. 14, 1872. 
 
 I "The destruction of the belief in witchcraft and of religious persecu- 
 tion, the decay of those ghastly notions concerning future punishments 
 which for centuries diseased the imaginations and embittered the character 
 of mankind, the emancipation of suffering nationalities, the abolition of 
 the belief in the guilt of error which paralyzed the intellectual, and of the 
 asceticism which paralyzed the material, progress of mankind, may be 
 justly regarded as among the greatest triumphs of civilization." — History of 
 Rationalism in Europe, vol. ii. p. 357. 
 
 H 
 
!$4 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 followers, time after time, that the secret of so-called 
 miracle-working; was credulity: "And Jesus said unto 
 them, Believe ye that I am able to do this ? They said 
 unto him, Yea, Lord. Then touched he their eyes, 
 saying, According to your faith be it unto you." And 
 to the woman who had been ill for twelve years, and 
 who was finally cured by a single touch of his gar- 
 ment, he said: " Daughter, be of good comfort; thy 
 faith hath made thee whole."* " All things are possi- 
 ble to him that believeth!' " He that believeth shall be 
 saved; he that believetli not shall be damned, "f etc. 
 The apostle James recommended praying for the sick. 
 "Is any among you afflicted ? let him pray." "And 
 the prayer of faith shall save the sick," etc. The 
 apostle Paul was an ardent believer in the efficacy of 
 faith. " For we walk by faith, not by sight," said he, 
 in his second epistle to the Corinthians. And again, 
 in his epistle to the Galatians : " But the Scripture 
 hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith 
 of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. 
 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, 
 shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be re- 
 vealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to 
 bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by 
 faith ,"! etc. 
 
 Such is the foundation of the absurd pretensions 
 of all the great religions of the world; witchcraft; 
 fortune-telling; magnetism; medical charlatanry; and, 
 also, of other curious psychological phenomena, of 
 which the world is so full to-day. The extravagant 
 
 * Matt. ix. 28, 29, co. f Mark ix. 23; xvi. 16. 
 
 X lames v. 13, 15 ; 2 Cor. v. 7; Gal. iii. 22, 23, 24. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 155 
 
 belief in the offices and power of the pope gave 
 him, at one time, absolute control, not only of the 
 private conscience, but also of science, literature, and 
 the social and political affairs of Christendom. The 
 terror of excommunication brought princes and phi- 
 losophers, peasants and politicians, down on their 
 knees ; and a papal bull could convulse a continent, 
 and send consternation to the hearts and homes of 
 millions of people. So long as the people believed in 
 him, put \\xi^X\z\t faith in his pretensions and doctrines, 
 the church had a fulcrum by which it could move the 
 world. 
 
 The history of all people is full of abuses of this 
 fine element of human nature. Lesanky's "Voyage 
 Around the World," gives an "account of a religious 
 sect in the Sandwich Islands, who arrogate to them- 
 selves the power of praying people to death. Who- 
 ever incurs their displeasure receives notice that the 
 homicide litany is about to begin ; and such are the 
 effects on the imagination, that the very notice is fre- 
 quently sufficient with these people to produce the 
 effect.*" The Fijian savages, in the South Pacific 
 have a woman sorcerer to attend them when sick. 
 She proceeds to cure her patient by applying her 
 mouth to his body and pretending to suck a quan- 
 tity of pebble-stones from him. She assures the 
 sufferer that the disease is thus taken away from him ; 
 and such is the power of faith that he speedily recovers. 
 When a chief dies, several of his servants are buried 
 alive with him. To this custom they cheerfully sub- 
 mit, that they may attend their chief in the other 
 
 * Winslow's Body and Mind, p. 156. 
 
^6 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 world. Wives are frequently buried with their de- 
 ceased husbands, mothers with their sons, that they 
 may be companions, still, in hades ! Such is the 
 power of unlettered faith. " To murder a wife," says 
 the relator, " that she may be the companion of her 
 deceased husband in hades, or a mother, that her son 
 may not be buried alone, would be repugnant to every 
 Christian heart; but not so to the Fijian."* Undoubt- 
 edly; but then, burning alive the unhappy sorceress 
 and possessed witches and spiritual mediums; putting 
 to death, by slow torture, the heretic and pronounced 
 infidel ; and decapitating those whose only guilt 
 consists in refusing to yield obedience to established 
 customs, rites and opinions, and many other religious 
 a7iomalies, of similar nature, which has been so largely 
 practiced in Christian countries, would probably be 
 repugnant to every Fijian heart. Would we might 
 say it were equally so to every Christian ! 
 
 In England there exists a religious sect called the 
 " Peculiar People," who still insist on practically main- 
 taining the doctrine taught by St. James in the fifth 
 chapter of his epistle, namely, to treat the sick with 
 anointings and prayers. One of their number failed 
 to recover, recently, under this treatment, whereupon 
 the civil authorities placed the relatives of the de- 
 ceased under arrest for failing to call in the aid of 
 science in treating the deceased. The offenders were 
 promptly released by their Christian prosecutors when 
 the scriptural line of defense was made known ! The 
 "Peculiar People" are regarded by their Christian 
 neighbors as superstitious, and are placed by them 
 
 * Williams's Fiji and the Fijians, vol. ii. p. 105. 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. i^y 
 
 under the ban of ridicule, totally oblivious, seem- 
 ingly, of the fact that Christian prelates, popes, and 
 kings practiced the same custom for centuries with 
 scarcely provoking a smile. 
 
 The world recently witnessed the curious spectacle 
 of a whole nation in prayer for the life of a Christian 
 prince, and the heir apparent to the English crown. 
 The prince recovered, happily; but whether he did so 
 through the direct answer to prayer can never be 
 determined, since the friends of the patient were un- 
 willing to trust him to the influence of prayer alone, 
 but, with strange inconsistency, called in the aid of 
 the medical art ! Just as if God needed the help of 
 medicine to work his will ! We will only remark 
 that the want of faith in the efficacy of human suppli- 
 cation, evinced in refusing to commit the cure of dis- 
 ease to the old power of superstition in this instance, 
 is a most cheering sign of Christian progress. It 
 indicates the triumph of common sense over the idola- 
 trous teachings of religious advocates and creeds, of 
 reason over credulity, of an intelligent faith over a 
 degrading superstition, of the spirit of Christ over 
 the doctrines of Paul and Constantine. The parallel 
 of praying people into health when sick is that of 
 praying them to death when well. The practice of 
 one is quite as consistent as that of the other. The 
 success of either may be possible under certain con- 
 ditions of the human mind, — a mental condition which 
 has been supposed to be incompatible with civiliza- 
 tion and which is chiefly prevalent among the primi- 
 tive tribes on its borders. It were manifestly inconsist- 
 ent with reason and sound judgment to ridicule the one 
 and to respect the other. The power which is here pre- 
 
 r 4 * 
 
^8 MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 sumed to give health, dissipate pestilence and famine ; 
 promote the growth of crops, business enterprises, 
 diplomacy; and which sends rain, or sunshine, in 
 answer to prayer, could surely, by the exercise of a 
 prerogative of far less scope, as easily encompass the 
 life or death of a few unfortunate individuals, through 
 the like influence, especially if the appeal be sufficiently 
 eloquent and accompanied with the requisite degree 
 of faith ! To this absurdity doth the premise lead. 
 
 Note. 
 
 The moral precepts and religious character of Christ 
 have probably no equal in beauty and excellence in 
 human history. The moral inconsistency of his pro- 
 fessed followers is also without a parallel. There are 
 to my mind no phenomena in all nature so strange 
 and erratic as that presented by the average Christian ! 
 He prays to be like his Divine Master, who declaimed 
 against riches and took " no thought for the morrow," 
 and straightway engrosses every thought in plans for 
 acquiring wealth ! He prays to be delivered from all 
 manner of wickedness and deceit, and engages directly 
 in both with all the ardor and bent of his mind ! The 
 symbol of self-sacrifice — the cross — he mounts upon 
 conspicuous church-spires, pictures it upon prayer- 
 books, and carves it in wood, stone, and the precious 
 metals, for household ornaments, charms, personal orna- 
 mentation, etc., and prosecutes, meantime, the most in- 
 tricate schemes of selfish profit, in which he knows suc- 
 cess must be attained at his neighbor's cost ! Nor is this 
 the worst. He engages in stock-gambling, robbing 
 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. l tg 
 
 the national treasury, the embezzlement of trust-funds, 
 and indulges heartily in Credit-mobilier and " Back- 
 pay" ! These operations may almost be said to have 
 become respectable from their magnitude, and the high 
 Christian character of the men who engage in them. 
 Some of the smaller and less reputable forms of 
 thieving and deceit by professed Christians have been 
 mentioned in the foregoing pages ; but I cannot for- 
 bear to add the following testimony on the subject 
 from the distinguished orator and clergyman, Henry 
 Ward Beecher : 
 
 " Have we a conscience that loves the simplicity of 
 truth for its own sake? The customary lie, the 
 profitable lie, — are they not common in religion, in 
 business, and in politics? You do not need to go 
 back to the old ancient notion of honor — inflexible 
 truthfulness. Can there be anything that our boys 
 and girls are more likely to be benefited by than to be 
 ashamed of lying in every form ? Take the matter 
 of honesty. We are not a dishonest nation. Is a 
 man striving to make a competency? I would make 
 it by honesty; but the question is, suppose he cannot, 
 what then ? 
 
 " A young man, my neighbor, dries paint. He said 
 to me the other day, 'This matter has got to such a 
 state that the paint-men cannot be honest. My wife 
 says to -me, Why don't you go to communion? I 
 say I cannot when I know I have got to cheat the 
 next day. I have to do so, and my customers know 
 it, — and they want me to.' The adulteration is ninety 
 per cent. He tells me it is one-third lead, then zinc, 
 and then varieties ground together. ' That is what 
 they demand,' he says. 
 
!6o MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. 
 
 " ' I sell more that has not any lead in it than that 
 which has.' I ask him, 'Where does that go?' He 
 tells me, ' West and Northwest. Men that buy from 
 me are not very particular sometimes about having 
 lead in it. There is a man who buys a great many 
 times from me during the year, and he is not particu- 
 lar if the lead is not in it. He is a good man, worth 
 four hundred thousand dollars ; is a member of the 
 church, for I know he teaches a Bible-class. He 
 comes down to me, and says, "My friend, can't you 
 put a little lead into the paint you sell me ?" 
 
 "'So I thought I would oblige him, and when I 
 was melting a ton of lead I took a spoonful, and I put 
 it into his paint, so that then he would be able to say 
 to his customers, " Yes, there is lead in it." ' Although 
 this may seem exaggeration, it is all the better for it, 
 for exaggeration magnifies the object so that you can 
 see better. It is not exaggeration to say that society 
 has carried dishonesty into the organic structure of 
 much of its business. 
 
 " In coffee there is always adulteration. Sometimes 
 it is better for the adulteration ;[?] but it was thought 
 the adulteration of chicory was not bad enough, and 
 roast peas or beans were added, and they took old 
 ship-bread that had made a couple of voyages, and 
 put it in. 
 
 " How is it with wine ? I am not so familiar in that 
 direction. But I hear rumors about it. How is it 
 about all the products that come into the apothecary- 
 shop ? I hear men say that lives are lost because of 
 adulterations in drugs, and that patients break down 
 because the chloroform was not what it professed to 
 be, when used by the physician. Is cloth always what 
 
MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INFLUENCES. I 6 I 
 
 it professes to be ? Is there no cheating in linen, in 
 iron, in stone, or plaster, in painting, or in building ? 
 
 " Mechanics have become debauched, and manufac- 
 turers have become debauched. There is a principle 
 of dishonesty, which is among themselves recognized, 
 but they do not like to talk about it to others. It 
 belongs, part and parcel, to the whole deterioration of 
 the community when they want more than they 
 render an equivalent for." — Lecture on Compulsory 
 Education, by the Rev. H. W. Beeclier, New York, 
 January 9, 1873. 
 
 These curious phases of moral phenomena indicate 
 errors of mental culture, rather than total depravity or 
 original sin. They must necessarily follow the dispro- 
 portionate exercise and development of the mental 
 powers. The true remedy obviously consists in diver- 
 sity of mental occupation, and in especially avoiding 
 prolonged mental concentration on single objects and 
 pursuits. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 The active cultivation of the moral powers is thus 
 seen to be demanded by the highest considerations of 
 a sound hygiene. Its importance has by no means 
 been over-estimated by the advocates of revealed 
 religion. Mistaken they may have been respecting 
 the means and methods, objects and ends, rewards 
 and compensations: but, if there be no sulphureous 
 fires to guard against ; no angry Deity to propitiate ; 
 no longer or shorter catechism to subscribe to ; or pen- 
 ances to practice, oblations, genuflexions, or outward 
 sacrifices to perform, as precedent to admission to a 
 golden paradise, there is nevertheless a mind to culti- 
 vate and strengthen, a soul to redeem from imperfec- 
 tions, and a life to be harmonized in accordance with 
 the eternal principles of goodness, purity, and truth. 
 To this end, no less the considerations of physiology, it 
 is necessary to cultivate the moral powers, and make 
 use of certain moral agencies and methods. 
 
 FAITH. 
 
 I. Faith* is the most prominent of these powers. 
 
 * Franklin was a great believer in faith. " I do not desire faith dimin- 
 ished, nor would I desire to lessen it in any man. But I wish it were more 
 162 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. Y ^ 
 
 The exercise of faith, faith in one's self, faith in God, 
 the laws and principles of nature, the Divine govern- 
 ment, the unseen and unknowable, is essential to 
 genuine human progress. Saint Paul defines faith to 
 be " the substance of things hoped for ; the evidence 
 of things not seen."* Jesus acknowledged, as has been 
 observed, that it was through the power of faith that he 
 wrought his wonderful works among the people ; and 
 he told his disciples that if they had sufficient faith 
 nothing would be impossible unto them.f "According 
 to your faith be it unto you," said he to the blind, the 
 sick, the hungry, and the impoverished. By the power 
 of faith the dead were raised, epileptics cured, water 
 turned into wine, and a multitude of hungry people 
 amply fed from five loaves of bread and two small 
 fishes. And when he failed to perform these marvelous 
 deeds, which sometimes was the case, the cause of 
 the failure was justly ascribed to a want of faith: 
 "And he did not many mighty works there [in his 
 own country] because of their unbelief/'J 
 
 It is a common error among rationalists to suppose 
 that faith as an element of human nature is confined 
 to the infancy of the race, and that with the general 
 diffusion of knowledge there is an inevitable decline 
 in the use and efficacy of that power. This is 
 
 productive of good works than I have generally seen it ; I mean real good 
 works, works of kindness, charity, mercy, and public spirit; not holy-day 
 keeping, sermon-reading or hearing; performing church-ceremonies,- or 
 making long prayers filled with flattering compliments, despised even by 
 wise men, and much less pleasing to God. . . . But nowadays we 
 have scarce a little parson that does not think it the duty of every man 
 within his reach to sit under his petty ministrations, and that whoever omits 
 them offends God." — Franklin's Memoirs and Private Correspondence, vol. iii. 
 * Heb. xi. i. f Matt. xvii. 20. % Matt. xiii. 58. 
 
164 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 true only in so far as credulity is allied to the higher 
 and diviner element of faith. "A man," says Emerson, 
 " bears beliefs as a tree bears apples." In the higher 
 and nobler sense, the power and influence of faith 
 actually increase with knowledge. The scientific mind 
 has a deeper sense of the miraculous than has that of 
 the savage, for to the former all nature is one vast 
 miracle. No phenomenon in nature is grander than 
 the simple trust of the husbandman in sowing his 
 seed, or of the manufacturer in anticipating and fore- 
 stalling the material wants of the people ; or of the 
 philosopher, in his confidence in the instruments and 
 methods of science, by which a planet is weighed, a 
 solar ray analyzed, or the chemical composition of 
 the stellar universe determined upon.* The blind, 
 unreasoning credulity of ignorance, which " sees God 
 in the clouds and hears him in the wind," is surely 
 a lower manifestation of faith than that which es- 
 tablishes the " Signal Service," and determines before- 
 hand the rise and course of rain and wind. Faith 
 in " scapegoats," and the voice from Sinai, may 
 be very beautiful in its way, but the faith in truth, 
 and "the still, small voice" within, is a much finer ex- 
 hibition of that element. The faith of Elijah, by 
 which he was enabled to bring fire from heaven 
 to consume wood and stone, and even to lick up 
 
 * " 'Tis a short sight to limit our faith in laws to those of gravity, of 
 chemistry, of botany, and so forth. Those laws do not stop when our 
 eyes lose them, but push the same geometry and chemistry up into the 
 invisible plane of social and rational life, so that, look where you will, in a 
 boy's game, or in the strife of races, a perfect reaction, a perpetual judg- 
 ment, keeps watch and ward. And this appears in a class of facts which 
 concerns all men within and above their creeds." — Emerson' s Conduct of 
 Life, p. 191. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 I6 5 
 
 the dust and water, is less brilliant than that which 
 enthused .Mr. Field to prosecute the Atlantic-cable 
 project, or Franklin to seize upon the electric fire in 
 the storm-cloud, and demonstrate its identity with 
 electricity. Faith not only gives efficacy to prayer, 
 and power to the cross, and converts beads and bap- 
 tism, fasts and feasts, symbols and sacrifices, into 
 spiritual agencies, f but it is the power behind civiliza- 
 tion, the force which impels the cultivation of the arts 
 and sciences, and inspires man to trust the unseen for 
 blessings which he cannot foreknow, but for which 
 he patiently labors and waits. Faith is the foundation 
 of industry, and is illustrated no less in the coral, which 
 patiently builds its reefs, or in the bee, which industri- 
 ously secretes its wax and collects its honey, than in 
 him who harvests the wisdom of the world and builds 
 up its grand industries, religions, and philosophies. 
 
 The power and influence of faith in religious epi- 
 demics cannot have escaped the observation of any 
 one. Among the ignorant or unscrupulous, it is a 
 power, as we have observed in the previous chapter, 
 as potent for mischief as typhus or " yellow jack." 
 Its influence in medicine is well known to the profes- 
 sion ; and it affords the quack or pretender a fruitful 
 field in which to ply his art. In curing the sick it 
 surely is often more potent than the best selected 
 remedy ; and he is sometimes the most skillful who 
 deigns not to take advantage of its kindly aid. The 
 story of the blindfolded criminal, who was bled to 
 death by feigned venesection, is a good illustration of 
 the power of faith over the vital processes. And 
 Paris, in his "Life of Sir Humphry Davy," relates a 
 remarkable illustration of the curative power of faith, 
 
1 66 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 that came under the observation of Davy. A palsied 
 man had been selected on whom it was proposed to 
 try the effect of nitrous oxide. Previous to the trial 
 of the gas, Sir Humphry placed a small thermometer 
 in the mouth of the patient to ascertain the bodily 
 temperature. The paralytic, wholly ignorant of the 
 process to which he was about to be subjected, but 
 having been deeply impressed " with the certainty of 
 its success, no sooner felt the thermometer between 
 his teeth than he concluded the talisman was in opera- 
 tion, and, in a burst of enthusiasm, declared that he 
 already experienced the effects of its benign influence 
 throughout his whole body." The administration of 
 the gas was accordingly deferred, and, in its stead, 
 daily repetition of the experiment with the thermom- 
 eter resorted to with the most gratifying results. 
 "At the end of two weeks he was dismissed cured, — no 
 remedy of any kind, except the thermometer, having 
 ever been used."* 
 
 Another remarkable instance of this power is 
 quoted by Dr. Combe from Dr. Johnson, who in turn 
 quotes it from F. V. Mye's " De Morbis et Sympto- 
 matibus." At the siege of Buda in 1625, "when the 
 garrison was on the point of surrendering from the 
 ravages of scurvy, a few vials of sham-medicine, in- 
 troduced by the Prince of Orange's orders, as a most 
 valuable and infallible specific, and given in drops as 
 such, produced astonishing effects : ' Such as had not 
 moved their limbs for months before, were seen walk- 
 ing in the streets, sound, straight, and whole ; and 
 many, who declared they had been rendered worse by 
 
 Paris's Life of Davy, p. 51. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 6 7 
 
 all former remedies, recovered in a few days, to their 
 inexpressible joy.' "* 
 
 There can be no doubt but that much of the influ- 
 ence of a popular physician is effected through the 
 medium of this faculty ; as it is a notorious fact that 
 the least learned practitioner is frequently the most 
 successful physician. Baglivi has well said : " For a 
 physician, powerful in speech and skilled in address- 
 ing the feelings of a patient, adds so much to the 
 power of his remedies, and excites so much confidence 
 in his treatment, as frequently to overcome dangerous 
 diseases with very feeble remedies, which more learned 
 doctors, languid and indifferent in speech, could not 
 have cured with the best remedies that man could 
 produce."f 
 
 CHEERFULNESS. 
 
 2. "A laugh," says Lamb, "is worth a hundred 
 groans in any market." The exercise of a hopeful, 
 cheerful mood is another moral tonic of indispensable 
 efficacy. It also influences the corporeal functions 
 in a marked manner. Cheerfulness promotes the 
 circulation, warms the hands and feet, and relieves 
 congested lungs and livers. Laughter is its nat- 
 ural language; and he who is incapable of a good 
 hearty laugh is in danger of melancholia and a lunatic 
 asylum. " Ten hearty laughs," says a popular writer, 
 — "real shouts, — will do more to enhance the general 
 health and vitality than an hour spent in the best 
 gymnastic attitudes and motions, if done in a sober, 
 
 * The Principles of Physiology, p. 273. j Ibid., p. 273. 
 
!63 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 solemn spirit." " Laugh and grow fat," is an old-time 
 maxim, full of sound physiological sense. And 
 Solomon was cognizant of its truth when he wrote : 
 " A merry heart doeth good like a medicine : but a 
 broken spirit drieth the bones ;" and again : " He 
 that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast."* 
 The opposite state of mind depresses the pulse, de- 
 stroys appetite and digestion, poisons the secretions, 
 and beclouds all the mental functions. " By sorrow 
 of the heart the spirit is broken."f 
 
 The cultivation of a hopeful state of mind is essential 
 to good cheer; for no human being can otherwise be 
 joyful under the dark clouds of despondency. A lively 
 sentiment of hope leads one to look forward, and beyond 
 present adversity, trials, and difficulties. Present de- 
 feats and discomforts are but the necessary preludes, 
 concomitants, to an ultimate success. Adversity is after 
 all far more beneficent than prosperity; for without 
 its shadows hope would cloy and inspiration die out 
 from disuse. When clouds obscure the mental hori- 
 zon, shutting out the glory of the perfect day, 'tis but 
 temporary to the hopeful mind; and even then they 
 have a silver lining; the soul is not enshrouded in 
 utter darkness, nor left without some augury of hope 
 and promise. Besides, the hopeful know that above 
 the densest cloud the sun is always shining with un- 
 diminished splendor; and he who is actuated by a 
 proper degree of hope finds enough of light and sun- 
 shine somewhere in the universe to enliven and vivify 
 the darkest and most joyless day of earth. Campbell 
 has well sung of hope: 
 
 * Proverbs xvii. 22, xv. 15. f Proverbs xv. 13. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. I 6o / 
 
 " Eternal hope ! when yonder spheres sublime 
 Pealed their first notes to sound the march of time, 
 Thy joyous youth began — but not to fade — 
 When all the sister planets have decayed : 
 When wrapt in fire the realms of ether glow, 
 And heaven's last thunder shakes the world below ; 
 Thou, undismayed, shall o'er the ruins smile, 
 And light thy torch at nature's funeral pile."* 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 3. Temperance, as a law of the economy, is as ap- 
 plicable to psychical as to corporeal indulgences. 
 Every function has its natural limit, beyond which its 
 exercise is productive of harm. " Be ye temperate in 
 all things," said St. Paul. And that sage apostle of 
 Christianity reckoned temperance among the " fruits 
 of the Spirit." In this, its true sense, temperance is 
 allied to prudence; and it should stand guard over 
 every act, word, impulse, thought of our life. Tem- 
 perance should be our mentor, ever at our side, 
 prompting, checking, and guiding the tempestuous 
 impulses and appetites of the heart and mind. Under 
 its guidance, excesses in eating and drinking will be 
 avoided ; the passions trained and kept within their 
 proper sphere and limit of activity; unchastity re- 
 pressed; the emotions of the heart carefully guarded 
 against abuse and undue influence in the character; 
 the various exercises and labors of the intellect con- 
 fined within equitable limits ; and the indulgence of 
 religious rites and ceremonies, fastings, prayers, 
 penances, oblations, reflections, with the accompany- 
 ing depressing emotions, carefully guarded against 
 unhappy and disastrous excesses. 
 
 * The Pleasures of Hope. 
 15* 
 
i;o 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 Excess of piety has its evils, no less riotous living 
 or immoral conduct. I knew a man who spent most 
 of his time in prayer. He thought he was serving 
 God. If he were, God surely did not requite the ser- 
 vice, for he was soon taken to a lunatic asylum and his 
 family sent to the county-house. Serving the devil 
 could not have been more disastrous to either his family 
 or himself. Excess of prayer, then, as excess of any 
 other special function of the mind, is positively sinful 
 and demoralizing, since it not only leads to mental 
 perversion, if not absolute lunacy, but robs the other 
 mental gifts of their saving qualities. The wise man 
 said there was "a time for everything." Temperance 
 says, Let everything have its own time. Thus shall 
 the divine in man be unfolded, and human nature 
 fulfil its bounteous, glorious destiny ! 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 4. The influence of music on the mind and vital 
 functions is scarcely second to that of cheerfulness. 
 The emotions it excites in the mind are among the 
 most pleasing and salutary. This, indeed, would be 
 inferred from the general good health and long life 
 which usually obtains among the lovers of the art, 
 and especially among the masters in the musical pro- 
 fession. Music is a medicinal agent of very great 
 efficacy in certain diseases. Dr. Rush advises it in 
 many forms of madness.* It elevates, calms, and 
 soothes the emotions, and promotes vigor and har- 
 mony of the corporeal functions. A high order of 
 musical culture is incompatible with any considerable 
 
 * The Diseases of the Mind. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 171 
 
 degree of immorality ; and its cultivation must be 
 regarded as prophylactic to the lawless and groveling 
 tendency in human nature. Shakspeare has de- 
 nounced those who are insensible to the charms of 
 music as only "fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils." 
 " Vocal music," says Mr. Graham, " ought to be 
 as universal a branch of education as reading and 
 writing, and instrumental music should be almost as 
 extensively cultivated." He regards the practice of 
 music and dancing, and the social enjoyment founded 
 on them, as " more favorable to good health, sound 
 morality, and true religion, than perhaps any other 
 known in society." And he very sensibly adds :* 
 "If music, marching, and dancing constituted a part 
 of the regular exercises of all our colleges, theological 
 seminaries, and other literary and scientific institu- 
 tions, immense benefits would result not only to those 
 institutions but to society at large. Thousands who 
 now pass from the place of learning to years of 
 misery and an untimely grave could be preserved in 
 health, and live to be blessed and to bless mankind by 
 their usefulness." 
 
 ART. 
 
 5. The study of the fine arts in general is particularly 
 elevating in its tendency. Aside from music, there 
 are drawing, painting, engraving, sculpture, etc., the 
 cultivation of which draws the mind away from self 
 and selfish gratification to the study and contempla- 
 tion of the wonderful works and processes of nature. 
 In vain is urged the excuse of a want of time and 
 
 * The Science of Human Life, sees. 1626-7. 
 
172 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 opportunity. It is the will, alone that is wanting. 
 The time which men devote to the vulgar gossip of 
 the lager beer saloon, or idle away over the fragrant 
 Havana, and which women waste over their morning 
 and evening toilette, or spend in answering the de- 
 mands of a formal and frivolous etiquette, is quite 
 sufficient in either sex to acquire proficiency in any of 
 those beautiful and soul-inspiring accomplishments. 
 The enjoyment afforded by their cultivation, and the 
 ennobling impetus they give to the mental energies, 
 are ample rewards for the time devoted to them. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND CONVERSATION. 
 
 6. The study of language and conversation occupies 
 no inferior place in mental culture. " Language," says 
 Coleridge, " is the armory of the human mind, and at 
 once contains the trophies of its past and the weapon 
 of its future conquests." Language deserves a high 
 place among the fine arts. It comprehends both 
 science and art, — science in the arrangement of words 
 and sentences ; art in the skill of speech and expres- 
 sion. Conversation, however, while comprehending 
 both, is something different from either. To converse 
 in an entertaining manner requires a thoroughly dis- 
 ciplined mind. There must be a high order of intel- 
 lect; an accurate, well-stored memory; imagination; 
 wit; the moral graces, — politeness, affability, good 
 humor, etc. ; a combination of mental qualities by no 
 means common. The art of communicating, in articu- 
 late speech, the thoughts and feelings with precision, 
 fluency, and elegance, is an accomplishment worthy 
 man's best efforts to acquire. Its possession advances 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 173 
 
 one to the first rank in civilized society. Madame 
 Recamier has left to the world an enduring renown 
 by her wonderful powers of conversation alone. The 
 art is one of the noblest of which human nature is 
 susceptible ; its cultivation a duty which cannot be too 
 forcibly enjoined upon the young. If our institutions 
 of learning would teach language less and conversa- 
 tion more, they would supply more fully the wants of 
 society and of civilization. " Many persons," says Bron- 
 son, " take great pains with their dress, to appear well 
 and attract attention ; but if they would cultivate their 
 language, and the proper way of using it, so as not to 
 deform themselves in reading and conversation, they 
 might accomplish the object at which they aim." 
 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 7. The study of literature affords one of the most 
 effective means of engaging mental energies that 
 might otherwise run to waste, or spend themselves in 
 an unwholesome or demoralizing direction. It is a 
 better antidote for sorrow or disappointment than 
 alcohol or opium. The field it opens up to the mind 
 is ample for the exercise of the largest capacity and 
 of the rarest gifts ; and some of our most distinguished 
 writers have cultivated it as an effective solace for an 
 incurable grief. If it be impracticable to avail one's self 
 of the mental discipline which methodical composi- 
 tion affords, a salutary diversion of the mind may be 
 found in the study of the writings of the masters. 
 These are 'works of nature, be it remembered, in the 
 purest and highest forms ; and in their study and con- 
 templation the noblest aspirations of the mind find 
 
174 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 gratification and delight. Intimate converse with 
 these, the best thoughts of poets, philosophers, essay- 
 ists, and novelists, brings the soul into as close a com- 
 munion with the divine mind as it is possible for a 
 mortal being to be brought on earth. 
 
 The mental character is largely influenced by asso- 
 ciation. Consciously or unconsciously the ideas, 
 opinions, and feelings of favorite authors are assimi- 
 lated and become a part of us. So true is this, in 
 general, that the quality of the literature given the 
 child largely determines the character of the man. 
 To him who reads much, the influence of books is 
 more potent than that of companions. If one is 
 known by the company he keeps, surely the books he 
 reads furnish a far more reliable key to his character. 
 This fact was early recognized by the fathers in the 
 Christian church ; and so long as the authority of the 
 church was supreme over the conscience of the people, 
 it continued to exercise a most vigilant surveillance 
 upon literature, and to suppress with a strong, relentless 
 hand whatever, in its judgment, was prejudicial to the 
 church and the highest interests of mankind. If this 
 ungenerous restriction upon literature had not been 
 removed, the dark ages would have continued in- 
 definitely, and mankind divided into patron saints and 
 contemned heretics. 
 
 The church did not over-estimate the influence of 
 literature. It did over-estimate its own privileges, 
 sagacity, wisdom, and failed, signally, in the interpreta- 
 tion and rightful use of them. It is desirable of course 
 that the young should be carefully guarded against the 
 influence of impure and unchaste publications. Books 
 and periodicals inculcating a healthy sentiment, cheer- 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 75 
 
 fulness, good humor, and a wholesome morality, 
 should be selected for children, of a style, in other 
 respects, in keeping with their years and peculi- 
 arities of taste. Further than this it is unwise to go. 
 The young mind should be permitted to develop ab- 
 solutely untrammeled in respect to opinions concerning 
 politics, religion, philosophy, etc. Maturity would 
 find such a person comparatively free from bias or 
 prejudice, with a judgment more impartial respecting 
 the merits and demerits of the conflicting and opposing 
 systems of religion and philosophy, and a higher 
 love, respect, and perception of truth -and right. The 
 grand desideratum in training the young mind is to 
 teach it how to think, rather than what to think ; to 
 develop ideas, rather than opinions. Fools have a 
 plethora of opinions ; the wise, of ideas and judgment. 
 If I were to express an opinion in regard to the 
 comparative usefulness of the various kinds of light 
 literature, it would be in favor of biography. " It is 
 the life of a man," says Bulwer, " that it does good to 
 manhood itself to contemplate."* Example is stronger 
 than precept; and no one, be his age and circum- 
 stances what they may, can read the record of a noble 
 life and not be inspired by it to nobler effort in his own 
 behalf. Such lives are full of lessons of useful ex- 
 perience; patient industry; moral courage in defeat, 
 privation, and misfortune ; honor, virtue, magnanimity, 
 etc., with the accompanying rewards and compensa- 
 tions. Nothing in story awakens in the youthful mind 
 a livelier enthusiasm to be, to do, and to dare in like 
 manner. This is the true office and purpose of all 
 
 * The Caxtons. 
 
!^6 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 biography worthy a place in literature ; and, surely, 
 none other deserves a place in our regard and memory. 
 The scientific interest of biography, psychologically 
 considered, can hardly be overrated. "As the business 
 of a man in the world is action of some kind," says 
 Maudsley, " and as his action undoubtedly results 
 from the relations between him and his surroundings, 
 it is plain that biography, which estimates both 
 the individual and his circumstances, and displays 
 their reactions, can alone give adequate account 
 of the man. What was the mortal's force of charac- 
 ter, what was the force of circumstances, how he 
 struggled with them, and how he was affected by 
 them, — what was the life -product under the par- 
 ticular conditions of its evolution ? these are the 
 questions which a good biography aspires to answer. 
 It regards man as a concrete being ; acknowledges 
 the difference between men in characters and capabili- 
 ties, recognizes the helpful or baneful influence of 
 surroundings, and patiently unfolds the texture of 
 life as the inevitable result of the elements out of 
 which, and the conditions under which, it has been 
 worked. It is, in fact, the application of positive 
 science to human life, and the necessary consequence 
 of the progress of the inductive philosophy [method]. 
 No marvel then that biography forms so large a part 
 of the literature of the day; and that novels, its more 
 or less faithful mirrors, are in so great request. The 
 instincts of mankind are here, as heretofore, in advance 
 of systematic knowledge or method."* 
 
 * Physiology and Pathology of the Mind, pp. 8-9. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 LOVE. 
 
 177 
 
 8. " Nothing," says Home, " more excites to every- 
 thing noble and generous than virtuous love." Love, 
 in its highest and noblest form, is a genuine inspi- 
 ration to all that is noble and ennobling in human 
 life. It enlivens all the emotions, and warms and 
 cheers and strengthens the heart, when all the other 
 sentiments are powerless or inoperative. " Love," 
 said Petrarch, " is the crowning of grace and humanity ; 
 the holiest right of the soul ; the golden link which 
 binds us to duty and truth ; the redeeming principle 
 that chiefly reconciles the heart to life, and is prophetic 
 of eternal good." Love is the essence of religion. Its 
 fullness and perfection escape the ken of groveling 
 mortals, and are only revealed to the noble and self- 
 sacrificing. "Take away love, and not physical nature 
 only, but the heart of the moral world, would be pal- 
 sied," says Southey. And Terence has observed, that 
 " it is possible that a man can be so changed by love 
 that one cannot recognize him to be the same person." 
 The elevating and transforming influence of sincere 
 affection for all that is good and beautiful in woman 
 may be observed on every hand, and amply justifies 
 its classification among the agents of moral hygiene; 
 for its existence is as essential to the beauty and 
 comeliness of body and mind as it is to the perfection 
 of the heart and soul. 
 
 In sentiment, a pure love is allied to worship. 
 Cowley has given noble utterance to this phase of 
 love in these lines to his love: 
 
 " Thou robb'st my days of business and delights ; 
 Of sleep thou robb'st my nights. 
 16 
 
iyg MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 Ah, lovely thief, what wilt thou do ? 
 What! rob me of my heaven, too? 
 Thou even my prayers dost steal from me, 
 And I, with wild idolatry, 
 Begin to God and end them all to thee." 
 
 No one capable of sustaining an affection of this 
 order can be wholly bad. Indeed, there is no room 
 for unworthy emotions and desires in a heart thor- 
 oughly imbued with an exalted love for a superior 
 being. Every consideration of interest, duty, honor, 
 fidelity, etc., conspire to lift such a one above the low 
 plane of mean and groveling temptation, to an atmos- 
 phere of purity, goodness, and truthfulness. Love 
 is, truly, " the fulfilling of the law," and one of the 
 finest inspirations and needs of every noble heart. No 
 considerable degree of health, happiness, or mental 
 balance is possible without its active cultivation. 
 Neglect to cultivate the sentiment is parent of many 
 of the bodily and mental evils, and swells the tide of 
 human wretchedness which afflicts mankind. As the 
 moral influence of this passion is considered at some 
 length in the following chapter, I forbear to give it 
 here more than this passing reference. 
 
 FRIENDSHIP. 
 
 9. The cultivation of friendship adds largely to the 
 sum of regenerating influences. The affection which 
 sometimes springs up between individuals of congenial 
 tastes and temperaments, and denominated friendship, 
 is but another form of love. Its influence upon the 
 character, when pure and unselfish, is elevating and 
 ennobling, imparting joys and quickening emotions 
 peculiarly its own. " Beautiful and noble characters." 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 179 
 
 says Mr. Alger,* " can find nothing so enchanting as 
 a beautiful and noble character." In the relation of 
 two or more persons, between whom the strong tie of 
 an unselfish friendship exists, may be found in active 
 operation the diviner elements of human nature. Each 
 forgets himself in promoting the welfare of the others. 
 They live for each other's good; and in doing so they 
 all reap the benefits which accrue as the lasting reward 
 of the exercise of disinterested purposes. Surely no 
 pleasure is equal to that we receive in giving plea- 
 sure to others. f To many persons, friendship is a 
 moral necessity ; life would be unbearable without its 
 genial, vivifying influence. " I cannot be happy," 
 says De Tocqueville, " or even calm, unless I meet 
 with the sympathy and encouragement of some of my 
 fellow-creatures." Society is indeed made for man; 
 and he who seeks seclusion, draws away from his fel- 
 low-creatures, and refuses to seek in others what he 
 can never, unaided, find in himself, curtails his joys, 
 and dries up some of the most prolific fountains 
 of life and energy. Friendship is among the most 
 prominent of these living fountains; "since the very 
 ground and gist of a noble friendship is the cultivation 
 in common of the personal inner lives of those who 
 partake in it, their mutual reflection of souls and just 
 sharing of experience inciting them to a constant 
 betterment of their being and their happiness."J All 
 the loves of the heart are, in truth, when exercised on 
 worthy objects, as companions, friends, children, good- 
 
 * The Friendships of Women. 
 
 f " It should never be forgotten that the most delicate and endurim 
 pleasures we enjoy are those we give." — W. R. Alger. 
 X The Friendships of Women, p. 10. 
 
I So MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 ness, beauty, etc., in an active degree health-promoting 
 and spiritually elevating in their tendency. 
 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 10. Society affords the individual another resource 
 of health, corporeal and mental. " It is not good for 
 man to be alone," says the allegory of creation ; and 
 it is as true to-day as it was in the beginning. The 
 hermit, or recluse, in withdrawing himself from the 
 society of his fellow-creatures, is deprived of many of 
 the finer stimuli which are necessary to the full and 
 complete unfolding of the moral character. It is im- 
 possible for a human soul, with its varied and complex 
 powers and susceptibilities, to thrive in a condition of 
 isolation. Man is as truly dependent on his fellows 
 for approval and sympathy as are the flowers on the 
 dews and sunbeams for life and beauty. Active par- 
 ticipation in the various interests and business of life 
 gives zest and healthful activity to powers which 
 would otherwise run to waste, or worse than waste — 
 to disease. Moreover, it is indispensable to the cure 
 of the numerous ills and misfortunes which arise, 
 in good part, from having nothing to do, — of those 
 diseases whose very existence — we may say essence 
 — is perversion of the imagination, and which is 
 manifested in the indulgence of fancied wrongs and 
 grievances, brooding in solitude over griefs and disap- 
 pointments, the embers of which are kept alive by the 
 morbid murmurings of the patient's own isolated 
 heart. No wrongs are so hard to redress as fancied 
 wrongs; no diseases so difficult to cure as those of 
 the imagination. Doctors and priests, with physic and 
 litany, swarm around these patients and grow fat with 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUE 
 
 the pickings, giving never so much as a wbrd, oi 
 or intimation to indicate the comprehension of the 
 causes, or a rational method for their removal ! The 
 true specific for such woes is society, and an active sym- 
 pathy and co-operation in society's work and recfes^ 
 tion. Society is nature's great moral laboratory, 
 moral workshop, where every soul may find congenial 
 work and an ample opportunity to exercise and de- 
 velop every gift with which it has been wisely endowed. 
 " To complain that life has no joys," says Fitzosborne, 
 "while there is a single creature whom we can relieve 
 by our bounty, assist by our counsels, or enliven by our 
 presence, is to lament the loss of that which we pos- 
 sess; and is just as irrational as to die of thirst with 
 the cup in our hands." 
 
 INDUSTRY. 
 
 1 1. Industry is by no means least among the agents 
 of mental hygiene. " An idle brain is the devil's work- 
 shop," some one has pertinently said. He who has 
 nothing to do, nothing to enlist the energy of arm or 
 brain, is a prey to more devils than Christian theology 
 has the credit of inventing. "A busy man is troubled 
 with but one devil, but the idle man with a thousand," 
 says an old proverb. And another still more trite 
 says : " Men are usually tempted by the devil, but an 
 idle man positively tempts the devil." Dr. Todd, 
 writing for students, observes : " There is no state so 
 bad for the student as idleness, and no habit so per- 
 nicious. And yet none is more easily acquired or so 
 difficult to be thrown off. The idle man soon grows 
 torpid, and becomes the Indian in his feelings, insensi- 
 bly adopting their maxim : ' It is better to walk than 
 
 1 6* 
 
!82 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 to run, and better to stand still than to walk, and 
 better to sit than to stand, and better to lie down than 
 to sit' Probably the man who deserves the most of 
 pity is he who is the most idle ; for, as ' there are said 
 to be pleasures to madness known only to madmen, 
 there are certainly miseries in idleness which only the 
 idle can conceive.' "* 
 
 " Every man's task is his life preserver," says 
 Emerson. Industry is a greater educator and disci- 
 plinarian of one's faculties than the common school 
 or Christian pulpit. Its influence upon the character 
 is twofold. First : It is the means of vitalizing the 
 blood and of exciting nutrition, growth, and energy 
 in the economy, without which great excellence in 
 any direction is unattainable. Second : It gives em- 
 ployment, wholesome and elevating, to energies which 
 are liable to be diverted into vitiating channels. In- 
 dustry, in effect, puts morbid impulses into harness, 
 and compels them to work in the interest of God and 
 humanity. Industry is but another name for virtue, 
 probity, honor. The percentage of crime is very small 
 among the working population ; not that they are 
 any better by nature than the rest of mankind, but 
 because their wayward and mischievous impulses are 
 consumed in their work, are correlated into virtuous 
 toil — into industry. 
 
 w 
 POVERTY. 
 
 12. Poverty is the usual incentive to industry; and 
 it would be more philosophical perhaps to speak of 
 it as a condition rather than an agent. I have already 
 
 * Student's Manual, p. 54. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 I8 3 
 
 referred to the incompatibility of superior morality and 
 great affluence. Every man born in poverty has great 
 reason for thankfulness ; for poverty means both incen- 
 tive and opportunity. " In the sweat of thy face shalt 
 thou eat bread," says the fable ; and what was meant 
 as a curse man has turned into a blessing in every de- 
 partment, and in every field of human endeavor. " It 
 is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle," 
 said Christ, "than for a rich man to enter into the 
 kingdom of God." " Necessity is the mother of in- 
 vention :" man is so constituted that but for the stimu- 
 lus of poverty to impel him to exertion, he would, in 
 most cases, sink into physical and moral apathy. 
 " Steep and craggy is the path of the gods," said 
 Porphyry. "Take it for granted," says Wirt, "that 
 there is no excellence without great labor;" and the 
 excellence which attends great labor would never be 
 forthcoming were it not for the wise disposition of 
 nature and circumstance, which compels every man 
 worthy the name of man to help himself. 
 
 Moreover, affluence is morally certain to breed in- 
 dolence; to encourage the growth of selfishness; to 
 remove one from the moral school of suffering and 
 privation ; and to render one oblivious of duty and 
 obligation. He who has never known poverty and 
 privation is rarely capable of fully sympathizing with 
 the vast majority of God's creatures ; and that is a 
 misfortune, compared with which the mere absence of 
 material wealth is insignificant indeed. " I have known 
 many rich people in my time," writes Miss Mitford,* 
 " and the result has convinced me that with great wealth 
 
 * Field's Yesterdays with Authors. 
 
184 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 some deep black shadow is as sure to walk as it is 
 to follow the bright sunshine. So I never pray for 
 more than the blessed enough for those whom I love 
 best." Surely, the evils of riches and the blessings 
 of poverty are too manifest to require in this place 
 more than this passing reference. Wealth would be 
 shorn of much of its baleful influence if it came as 
 the reward of personal industry; indeed it is, when 
 otherwise obtained, more often a positive injury and 
 misfortune.* 
 
 PRAYER. 
 
 13. Prayer is one of the chief elements of religious 
 exercises,! and a valuable specific in mental hygiene. 
 I am aware that it is unusual to class the exercise of 
 prayer among the hygienic agents ; but that indicates 
 an incomprehensive philosophy of health and life 
 rather than a disbelief in the moral and hygienic 
 efficacy of that exercise. 
 
 The desire to pray; to supplicate the Supreme 
 Being; to lift the soul, with all its cares and wants to 
 him, is alone peculiar to man. It is an instinctive 
 recognition of our dependent condition and complete 
 subjection to powers unseen and superior to our own. 
 In prosperity, freedom from disease and pestilence, 
 with a sufficiency of this world's goods to supply his 
 wants and those of his household, man is too often 
 indifferent to this spiritual need. In adversity, how- 
 
 * " He who aims high must dread an easy home and popular manners. 
 Heaven sometimes hedges a rare character about with ungainliness and 
 odium, as the bur that protects the fruit. If there is any great and good 
 thing in store for you, it will not come at the first or the second call, nor in 
 the shape of fashion, ease, and city drawing-rooms." — Emerson on Culture. 
 
 f " Prayer and religion are one and inseparable." — Hod^e. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 I8 5 
 
 ever, the most irreverent and unreflecting are not un- 
 frequently the first to find a ready resource in prayer. 
 It is usually the first exhibition of cowardice in ca- 
 lamity, for which perverse people are distinguished. 
 
 The faculty in which the sense of prayer and obli- 
 gation originates is in the cerebrum, and is the highest 
 development of the moral brain. It gives strength of 
 moral character ; elevation of mind ; a reverent and 
 respectful demeanor; calm submission to the inevita- 
 ble, as if it were the clear will of Deity ; a patient, 
 trustful disposition ; an adoring, worshipful state of 
 mind ; the desire, so strong in all very good people and 
 some very bad ones, to hold silent and peaceful con- 
 verse and communion with the spirit ; and that ad- 
 mirable quality of mind which distinguishes the 
 noblest specimens of human nature, viz., moral cour- 
 age. Through this faculty man is made acquainted 
 with the existence of his Maker and the spiritual rela- 
 tion which he sustains to him. An individual in 
 whom the faculty predominates feels the reality of 
 that relation without the aid of reason, and in spite of 
 all the adverse deductions of reason. It is the inspira- 
 tion of an innate sense, a consciousness which needs 
 no demonstration ; which, in fact, is above outward 
 demonstration, just as any self-evident fact in nature, 
 our existence for example, is above demonstration, 
 and must be received on the evidence of the senses 
 alone. 
 
 Prayer is the natural language of this noble and 
 elevating faculty, the legitimate exercise of a beauti- 
 ful and sublime gift. Pope has given grand utterance 
 to the spirit of prayer in his " Universal Prayer" : 
 
1 86 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 " Thou Great First Cause, least understood, 
 Who all my sense confined 
 To know but this, that thou art good, 
 And that myself am blind; 
 
 " What conscience dictates to be done, 
 Or warns me not to do, 
 This, teach me more than hell to shun, 
 
 That, more than heaven pursue. 
 ****** 
 
 " Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 To hide the fault I see : 
 That mercy I to others show, 
 That mercy show to me." 
 
 Prayer may not always find expression in words, — 
 these are sometimes too feeble to express the soul's 
 inner longing for goodness and purity, for God. The 
 most eloquent supplications may be voiceless, and in- 
 dicated in the soul's absolute trust and confidence in 
 the Supreme, as if to say, "Thy will be done." 
 
 The influence of this element upon the functions of 
 organic life can hardly be over-estimated. It is a 
 power in recovering from disease. It is also a poten- 
 tial prophylactic against the inception and cause of 
 disease. The calm faith and trust and fortitude it in- 
 spires in the mind of its possessor are often more 
 potent in serious maladies than the most discreet 
 medication. It guards one against unhappy and de- 
 structive emotions ; it restrains the exercise of the pas- 
 sions ; soothes the selfish propensities ; and balances, 
 harmonizes, and invigorates the nervous functions in 
 general. The power of fervent supplication is so 
 obvious in this respect, and frequently so immediately 
 manifest as to give rise to the belief of a direct inter- 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 I8 7 
 
 position of Deity in answer to prayer, — a belief most 
 difficult to eradicate from the mind of a pious but 
 illogical individual, since reason in such people is 
 always inferior to inspiration. Let the modus operandi 
 of its influence on man, however, be what it may, its 
 exercise and cultivation are demanded by the highest 
 considerations of physiology and mental hygiene. The 
 perfection of mental health and manhood is obviously 
 otherwise impossible.* 
 
 The philosophy of prayer, as viewed from the 
 physiological stand-point, is so thoroughly consistent 
 with sound sense that it commends itself to the mind 
 of every rational or unprejudiced individual, be he 
 believer or skeptic. "Ask, and it shall be given unto 
 you," said Christ. Sincere, earnest prayer brings up 
 from the depths within spiritual comfort and consola- 
 tion, and many other spiritual blessings which the 
 Father knows the soul has most need of. "Ask, and 
 ye shall receive," is the requisite condition, and by 
 complying with it the heart receives the needed 
 good, in strict conformity to the laws of the organic 
 processes. 
 
 * "Whoever believes in the existence of God should consider religion 
 as the most important object of his reflections ; and being personally con- 
 cerned in this respect, his union with God should be left free from human 
 authority, particularly from the spirit of those who have seized upon it as 
 their particular property." — Spurzheim s Phrenology, vol. ii. p. 101. 
 
 " The man who cultivates his intellect and habitually obeys the precepts 
 of Christianity will enjoy within himself a fountain of moral and intellectual 
 happiness, which is the appropriate reward of that obedience. By these 
 means he will be rendered more capable of studying, comprehending, and 
 obeying the physical and organic laws, of placing himself in harmony with 
 the whole order of creation, and of attaining the highest degree of perfec- 
 tion, and reaping the highest degree of happiness, of which human nature 
 in this world is susceptible." — Combe s Constitution of Man, p. 23. 
 
188 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 We do not pretend that this brief explanation of the 
 modus operandi of prayer is consistent with the Bible 
 view of human supplication. Indeed, the Bible dis- 
 tinctly teaches, what all believers in the literal inter- 
 pretation of Scripture claim, and what the Christian 
 churches universally adopt, that "all things what- 
 soever ye ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." 
 And again said Christ, even more emphatic: "if two 
 of you shall agree on earth as touching anything 
 they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my 
 Father which is in heaven." The prayer of Christ is 
 said to have raised the dead, to have restored sight to 
 the blind, health to the diseased, and, in several re- 
 markable instances, to have arrested the laws of or- 
 ganic nature. And he promised his disciples that they 
 should by similar means do even more marvelous 
 works than these. The prediction seems to have been 
 verified. In several instances the apostles are said to 
 have healed the sick and raised the dead ; and when 
 Peter was in prison the prayers of the church unbarred 
 his doors, etc. In the Old Testament the efficacy of 
 prayer is attested in the arrest of the heavenly bodies, 
 the production and dissipation of plagues and pesti- 
 lence ; in bringing down fire from heaven, suspending 
 the ordinary course and procession of meteorological 
 events, wresting victories in war, abating famine, etc. 
 The Christian of to-day is exceedingly jealous of his 
 influence with Deity in shaping the destiny of nature 
 and human life. In drought, he prays for showers 
 and the harvests; if disease and disaster threaten, he 
 implores heaven to stay them ; he invokes divine aid* 
 
 * See note at end of chapter. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. jgg 
 
 in his x profession; when engaged in war, he prays for 
 victory — for the side he espouses, of course. And 
 in our late civil war it was not uncommon to see 
 both parties to the strife kneeling at the shrine of 
 prayer, imploring divine favor for victory over the 
 other. Nor is the Christian content to confine the 
 exercise of his influence with the Deity to extraor- 
 dinary occasions only. His voice is raised for kings, 
 queens, presidents, "and all others in authority" ; for 
 the sick and the afflicted, the poor and the rich ; in 
 brief, "for all sorts and conditions of men," — thus 
 maintaining in form the extravagant pretensions of the 
 early Christians and the heathens in general respect- 
 ing the power and efficacy of prayer, and the absolute 
 subjection of the material to the spiritual. 
 
 It is needless to observe that these extravagant 
 claims respecting the influence of certain praying men 
 over the divine mind are exceedingly impious. It 
 exhibits among us the last stage of a decaying super- 
 stition. Being at variance with rational philosophy, 
 the belief has been chiefly instrumental in unfortu- 
 nately arraying science against religion, and has also 
 been one of the principal causes of divisions and dis- 
 sensions in the church itself. In Scotland, for example, 
 in 1744, Rev. William Leechman, D.D., Principal and 
 Professor of Divinity in the college of Glasgow, was 
 prosecuted by the presbytery of that city for alleged 
 heresy, in preaching doctrines concerning prayer at 
 variance with those entertained by the church. He 
 was condemned by the presbytery; but on appeal to 
 the synod, that body strangely " found no reason to 
 charge the said professor with any unsoundness in 
 the faith," etc. " Since this decision," says Mr. George 
 
 17 
 
190 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 Combe, " the views delivered by Professor Leechman 
 have been unhesitatingly taught by Scotch divines."* 
 It is interesting to observe that the views referred to 
 comprehend the philosophy of prayer herein briefly 
 expressed. " God is not subject," said the learned 
 doctor in the sermon complained of, "to those sudden 
 passions and emotions of mind which we feel ; nor 
 to any change of his measures and conduct by their 
 influence ; he is not wrought upon and changed by 
 our prayers ; for with him there is no variableness nor 
 shadozv of turning. Prayer only works its effect upon 
 tis, as it contributes to change the temper of our 
 minds, to beget or improve right dispositions in 
 them, to lay them open to the impressions of spiritual 
 objects, and thus qualify us for receiving the favor 
 and approbation of our Maker, and all those assist- 
 ances which he has promised to those who call upon 
 him in sincerity and in truth. The efficacy of prayer 
 does not lie in the mere asking, but in its being the 
 means of producing that frame of mind which qualifies 
 us to receive."f 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Blair, of Scotland, another distin- 
 guished clergyman and author also, and a con- 
 temporary of Dr. Leechman, in a sermon " On the 
 Unchangeableness of the Divine Nature," announced, 
 substantially, the same doctrine. " To what purpose, it 
 may be urged, is homage addressed to a Being whose 
 purpose is unalterably fixed; to whom ourrigliteousncss 
 extendctJi not ; whom by no arguments we can per- 
 
 * The Constitution of Man, p. 375. 
 
 f Dr. Leechman's Sermons, London, 1789. Sermon iii. p. 192. Ibid. 
 P- 374- 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 IGJ 
 
 suade, and by no supplications we can modify? The 
 objection would have weight if our religious addresses 
 were designed to work any alteration on God ; either 
 by giving him information of what he did not know, or 
 by exciting affections which he did not possess; or by 
 inducing him to change measures which he had pre- 
 viously formed. But they are crude and imperfect 
 notions of religion which can suggest such ideas. 
 The change which our religious devotions are intended 
 to make is upon ourselves, not upon the Almighty. 
 Their chief efficacy is derived from the good disposi- 
 tions which they raise and cherish in the human soul. 
 By pouring out pious sentiments and desires before 
 God, by adoring his perfection and confessing our 
 own unworthiness, by expressing our dependence on 
 his aid, our gratitude for his past favors, our submis- 
 sion to his present will, our trust in his future mercy, 
 we cultivate such affections as suit our place and sta- 
 tion in the universe, and are thereby prepared for be- 
 coming objects of the divine grace."* 
 
 Lord Karnes, who, although a philosopher, was by 
 no means a skeptic, advanced views respecting the 
 philosophy of prayer in all respects similar: "The 
 Being that made the world governs it by laws that 
 are inflexible, because they are the best; and to 
 imagine that he can be moved by prayers, oblations, 
 or sacrifices, to vary his plan of government, is an 
 impious thought, degrading the Deity to a level with 
 
 ourselves. "f 
 
 These doctrines concerning the nature and offices 
 
 * Sermons, vol. ii. Ibid., p. 375. 
 
 f Sketches, b. hi., Sketch 3, chapter hi. | 1. Ibid., p. 376. 
 
192 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 of prayer are identical with those held by the philoso- 
 phers and reformed churchmen of to-day. They are 
 thoroughly consistent with the reign of law and order 
 in the universe, as opposed to arbitrary despotism and 
 meddlesome interposition ; the only ones consistent 
 with supreme dignity and wisdom, and the best in- 
 terests of human nature ; for if man could have all 
 things for the asking, the stimulus to exertion, except 
 to pray, — to the answering our own prayers, — would 
 be removed, and the end of industry would conse- 
 quently be near. What the mind is most in need of 
 from the influence of prayer, says Mr. O. B. Frothing- 
 ham, " is balance, poise, serenity ; the sense of rest 
 in infinite powers ; of repose on divine realities. It 
 is the highest office of prayer to console and tranquil- 
 ize the mind so that its waves of passion will subside 
 on the bosom of the eternal deep."* 
 
 These doctrines, it is objected, are unscriptural : 
 undoubtedly. So much the worse is it for Scripture, 
 or scriptural interpretation, or both. The truth of 
 heaven is superior to prejudice, tradition, or Scripture; 
 and when these conflict with it, they must either bend 
 or break. And reason is the supreme umpire, arbiter, 
 before whom the difference is to be adjudged. "Rea- 
 son can, and ought to judge," says the learned Bishop 
 Butler, "not only of the meaning, but also of the 
 morality and evidence of revelation. "f And again : 
 " Let reason be kept to ; and if any part of our 
 scriptural account of the redemption of the world by 
 Christ can be shown to be really contrary to it, let the 
 
 * The Scientific Aspects of Prayer — a Sermon, p. 21. 
 f Analogy, Part ii., chapter iii. p. 229. Bonn's edition. 
 
MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 193 
 
 Scriptures, in the name of God, be given up."* The 
 exercise of such a spirit would put an end forever to 
 the unnatural antagonism which has been so mis- 
 takenly maintained between science and religion, the 
 material and the spiritual.f 
 
 Note.— Page 188. 
 
 The very able and distinguished author of " Study 
 of Medicine," Dr. John Mason Good, left among his 
 private papers the following beautiful prayer written 
 out, which he was in the habit of repeating every 
 morning before proceeding to engage in the exercise 
 of his profession. It is printed in the last edition of 
 his great work, " The Study of Medicine." The 
 prayer and the example are both too noble to be 
 buried in the oblivion of an obsolete work. I accord- 
 ingly reproduce them here : 
 
 " O thou great Bestower of health, strength, and 
 comfort! grant thy blessing upon the professional 
 
 * Analogy, Part ii., chapter iv. p. 256. 
 
 f Many years ago, the writer was once engaged in a public discus- 
 sion of a question involving the scope of reason in human affairs. In the 
 course of the debate, when his turn came to speak, he made bold to quote 
 these and other extracts from Bishop Butler's "Analogy," presuming that 
 an authority so distinguished as that learned divine would be of some im- 
 portance in deciding in his favor the question at issue. When he had 
 concluded, to his surprise and disgust, an orthodox clergyman arose, and 
 with great solemnity and earnestness of manner declared that Butler's 
 " Analogy" was one of his text-books; and that he was very glad to be 
 able to say that no passages such as the gentleman had quoted were in it ! 
 Not having the book within reach, the writer was compelled to rest under 
 the odium of perverting the bishop's language in the interest of his argu- 
 ment ! Nor was it an easy rest. 
 
 17* • 
 
i 9 4 
 
 MORAL AGENTS AND INFLUENCES. 
 
 duties in which I may this day engage. Give me 
 judgment to discern disease, and skill to treat it; and 
 crown with thy favor the means that may be devised 
 for recovery ; for, with thine assistance, the humblest 
 instrument may succeed ; as, without it, the ablest 
 must prove unavailing. 
 
 "Save me from all sordid motives; and endow me 
 with a spirit of pity and liberality towards the poor, 
 and of tenderness and sympathy towards all: that I 
 may enter into the various feelings by which they are 
 respectively tried; may weep with those that weep, 
 and rejoice with those that rejoice. 
 
 " And sanctify thou their souls, as well as heal their 
 bodies. Let faith and patience, and every Christian 
 virtue they are called upon to exercise, have their per- 
 fect work : so that, in the gracious dealings of thy 
 Spirit and of thy providence, they may find in the 
 end, whatever that end may be, that it has been good 
 for them to have been afflicted. 
 
 " Grant this, O heavenly Father, for the love of that 
 adorable Redeemer who, while on earth, went about 
 doing good, and now ever liveth to make intercession 
 for us in heaven. Amen." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 " It is in the need of loving and of being loved that the highest instincts of 
 our nature are first revealed." — Henry Thomas Buckle. 
 
 True marriage is the complete evolution of con- 
 jugal love. Love may subsist without marriage, but 
 no true marriage is possible without love. In thus 
 distinguishing at the outset between true and false mar- 
 riage, I do but conform to the average comprehension 
 of the subject. The terms have crept into its nomen- 
 clature unbidden, and been received by many with 
 unfeigned reluctance, and yet with a persuasion before 
 which all doctrinal myths were as vapor before the 
 rising sun. 
 
 The union contemplated in marriage finds its war- 
 rant and necessity in man's mental constitution. It 
 exists independent of reason or expediency, and com- 
 prehends both in the orderly appointment of the family. 
 No man reaches the fullness of manhood without mar- 
 riage; and no woman attains the glory of womanhood 
 unchastened by its divine influence. Wedded love, in 
 its highest form, is the perfection of the divine ideal 
 in the relationship of the male and female. It con- 
 stitutes that union spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures, 
 in which the twain are one flesh. " What marriage may 
 be," says the late John Stuart Mill, " in the case of 
 
 i95 
 
196 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 two persons of cultivated faculties, identical in opinion 
 and purpose, between whom there exists that best 
 kind of equality, similarity of powers and capacities 
 with reciprocal superiority in them, — so that each can 
 enjoy the luxury of looking up to the other, and can 
 have alternately the pleasure of leading and of being 
 led in the path of development, — I will not attempt to 
 describe. To those who can conceive it, there is no 
 need; to those who cannot, it would appear the dream 
 of an enthusiast. . . . But I maintain," he con- 
 tinues, "with the profoundest conviction, that this, 
 and this only, is the ideal marriage; and that all 
 opinions, customs, and institutions which favor any 
 other notion of it, or turn the conceptions and aspira- 
 tions connected with it into any other direction, by 
 whatever pretenses they may be colored, are relics of 
 primitive barbarism."* " In marriage," says the clever 
 authoress of "John Halifax," "there must be perfect 
 unity; one aim, one faith, one love, or the marriage is 
 incomplete, unholy — a mere civil contract and no 
 more." 
 
 Rev. W. R. Alger, in his fine book, "The Friend- 
 ships of Women," has given an excellent pen-sketch 
 of the conjugal sentiment. He writes :f "Other 
 things being equal, affection, wedded under every 
 legal and moral sanction, reaches the highest climax, 
 and is the most complete and enduring. Every failure 
 implies some defect in the conditions. The readiness, 
 in general, of illicit love to admit a substitute ; its 
 facility of consolation and forgetfulness when any 
 fatal calamity has removed its object, demonstrates 
 
 * The Subjection of Woman, p. 177. 
 f The Friendships of Women, p. 107. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 197 
 
 both its lower origin and its baser nature. In a well- 
 consorted marriage, the soul, the mind, esteem and 
 faith, the pure strain of friendship, enter more largely. 
 The grave is not the boundary of its function. After 
 death the love is cherished in the ideal life of the 
 mind as vividly as ever and with an added sanctity. 
 Widowed memory clings to the disconsolate happiness 
 of sitting by the fountain of oblivion and drawing up 
 the sunken treasure. If, as Statius said, to love the 
 living be a pleasant indulgence, to love the dead is a 
 religious duty: 
 
 " ' Vivam arnare voluptas ; defunctam religio.' " 
 
 Theodore Parker regarded marriage as a " spiritual 
 affair" as well as a corporeal ; and maintained that the 
 spirit of one sex "is incomplete without the other."* 
 
 Such, in brief, is the abstract or psychological con- 
 ception of true marriage. According to the canons 
 of the Roman Catholic church, marriage is a sacra- 
 ment : a union of one man with one woman, effected, 
 in the absence of canonical disabilities, by the priestly 
 sanction and blessing, — the chief requisite being a 
 merely sexual one. In law, marriage is a civil contract 
 between one man and one woman competent to con- 
 tract, founded upon mutual consent, — nothing more. 
 
 But neither the political, canonical, nor the psycho- 
 logical nature and conception of the marital relation 
 concerns, strictly speaking, the purpose of my essay. 
 That purpose comprehends some of the moral and 
 physiological problems of marriage, rather than its 
 essential nature. 
 
 The influence of marriage upon the character of an 
 
 * Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker, vol. i. p. 386. 
 
198 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 individual, and through the individual upon the 
 well-being of society, can hardly be overrated. 
 Marriage is the foundation of the family. The moral 
 status of the latter is derived from that of the former. 
 If the family be legitimately grounded in the laws of 
 conjugal order and mutual fitness, its influence is in- 
 calculably beneficent. If the family, on the other 
 hand, be constituted upon ill-assorted, discordant 
 wedlock, its baleful influence is far-reaching and 
 damning ; diffusing the elements of disease and of 
 moral disorder to its remotest branches. The law of 
 cause and effect is peculiarly operative in the marriage 
 and family relation. As well expect pure water to 
 flow from impure fountains, as domestic peace, pros- 
 perity and a pure progeny from discordant wedlock. 
 While congenial wedlock is a perpetual inspiration to 
 virtuous ends and deeds, and dispenses peace and joy 
 and blessedness to all within the circle of its influence, 
 ill-conditioned wedlock incites to discord and to dis- 
 appointment, with their accompanying vexations and 
 morbid tendency. " It is hardly possible," says Mill, 
 " for one who is in these bonds to attain exalted vir- 
 tue;"* and, I may safely add, to retain it, if once 
 acquired. 
 
 The rationale of the influence of conjugal love in 
 marriage on the individual is not far to seek. True 
 marriage ennobles the instincts, and exalts the finer 
 and nobler elements of one's being. It is the natural 
 antidote of passion and sensuality; for the higher ele- 
 ments of mind, as veneration, ideality, kindness, gen- 
 tleness, generosity, patience, conscientiousness, etc., 
 
 * The Subjection of Woman, p. 166. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 I 99 
 
 are continually exercised toward the object of conjugal 
 affection. All the great centres of animal and spiritual 
 life are called into healthful activity ; precluding un- 
 due vital concentration upon any special function, and 
 preserving that great desideratum and concomitant of 
 culture, mental balance. The married state is the 
 only normal, natural condition, for the rightly con- 
 stituted individual. In that relation, when harmonious, 
 the heart with its desires, longings, and aspirations, is 
 perpetually ministered unto. Life is a continuous 
 blessing in the heart and home, although storms and 
 vexations may possibly prevail without. 
 
 Washington Irving truly says : "And, indeed, I have 
 observed that a married man falling into misfortune is 
 more apt to retain his situation in the world than a 
 single one ; partly because he is more stimulated to 
 exertion by the necessities of the helpless and be- 
 loved beings who depend upon him for subsistence, 
 but chiefly because his spirits are soothed and relieved 
 by domestic endearment, and his self-respect kept alive 
 by finding that though all abroad is darkness and 
 humiliation, yet there is still a little world of love at 
 home of which he is the monarch. Whereas a single 
 man is apt to run to waste and self-neglect ; to fancy 
 himself lonely and abandoned, and his heart to fall to 
 ruin like some deserted mansion, for want of an in- 
 habitant."* 
 
 An old gentleman, who, early in life, had struggled 
 with misfortune and poverty, remarked to the writer 
 that after marriage he was perfectly happy in the hum- 
 ble log-hut which he had rudely constructed for their 
 
 * Sketch Book, ii. p. 35. 
 
200 MARRIAGE. 
 
 dwelling-place. The mutual love and contentment 
 which they enjoyed more than compensated for being 
 deprived of the luxuries which his more affluent 
 neighbors possessed, but with a joyless love. "Better 
 is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox 
 and hatred therewith."* 
 
 Moreover, a well-grounded love rounds off the an- 
 gularities of the character, soothes the irritable-minded, 
 and chastens and adorns the spirit; develops sweet- 
 ness, amiability, gentleness, and promotes self-conse- 
 cration, where before may have existed sourness, irri- 
 tability, and selfishness. It promotes harmony of 
 mental development, adds to the amenities, and modi- 
 fies mental eccentricities; augments urbanity, and 
 breaks down moral crotchets and acerbities. How 
 often are these good effects observed in married peo- 
 ple ! Two pictures in my possession of a late lady 
 friend, one taken before, the other after, the affections 
 were betrothed, exhibit these contrasts in a striking 
 manner. 
 
 It is this influence upon individual character and 
 destiny that gives to true marriage its real charm and 
 peculiar sacredness. Nor does it decay and weaken 
 with the lapse of time. The mystic stream of sym- 
 pathy which perpetually flows between souls thus 
 united cannot be measured by physical tests nor 
 earthly interests. It springs from spiritual sources, 
 deep and subtle as life itself. "The conditions," says 
 Mr. Alger, " that originally inspired the confiding and 
 admiring sympathy, become, with the lapse of time 
 and the progress of acquaintance, more pronounced 
 
 -:•:- Proverbs xv. 17. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 201 
 
 and more adequate, and insure a union ever fonder 
 and more blent."* The influence which they exert 
 over the life of each other is correspondingly in- 
 creased, and grows more noble and more elevating. 
 How rare it is to find moral obliquity in congenial 
 wedlock ! 
 
 Sir James Mackintosh's beautiful tribute to his wife 
 belongs more to the blessed relation which they sus- 
 tained to each other, than to that noble woman per- 
 sonally. He says : " She gently reclaimed me from 
 dissipation ; propped my weak and irresolute nature > 
 urged my indolence to all the exertion that has been 
 useful and creditable to me ; and was perpetually at 
 hand to admonish my heedlessness or improvidence. 
 In her solicitude for my interests, she never for a mo- 
 ment forgot my feelings or character." The great- 
 minded Melanchthon acknowledges his indebtedness 
 to a similar influence on the part of his wife Cather- 
 ine, whom he was induced to marry against his judg- 
 ment and inclination, and whom he finally came to 
 love in spite of his religious training and life-long con- 
 victions. The late J. S. Mill also pays his beloved and 
 accomplished wife a like tribute.f 
 
 " There are natures," says George Eliot, " in which, 
 if they love us, we are conscious of having a sort of 
 baptism and consecration. They bind us over to recti- 
 tude and purity by their pure belief about us ; and our 
 sins become that worst kind of sacrilege which tears 
 down the invisible altar of trust."! Many a young 
 man dates his reclamation from a career of dissolute- 
 
 * The Friendships of Women, p. 88. f Essay on Liberty (Dedication). 
 
 % Middlemarch, v.ol. ii. p. 383. 
 
 18 
 
202 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ness and immorality to one of purity and usefulness, 
 from the time his love was sincerely awakened. Men 
 have been reclaimed from drunkenness, sensuality 
 reckless profligacy, and nameless petty vices and mis- 
 demeanors, by devoutly loving a woman of noble tastes 
 and sympathies, — so closely is love allied to worship 
 and religious sentiment. And two instances have 
 come to my knowledge of two pairs, mutually dis- 
 reputable, marrying, and leading reputable lives there- 
 after. Indeed, love is the turning-point in the lives of 
 some men ; the point of departure into ways of virtue 
 and respectability, or of reckless shame and dissipa- 
 tion. Others are mere boys in mental growth and 
 judgment until married, and in many instances would 
 otherwise remain so if they lived a century ! 
 
 The influence of marriage upon health and lon- 
 gevity has recently received some attention in 
 France; and one of her savants has, by the aid of 
 statistics, placed the subject in a strong, clear light. 
 ''In a paper read by M. Bertillon before the Academy 
 of Medicine of Paris, the author — using as evidence 
 the statistics of France, Holland, and Belgium — 
 strongly maintained the healthful influence of conju- 
 gal association as compared with that of celibacy. 
 The figures show that, between the ages of 20 and 35 
 years, 1000 married men furnish 6 deaths; 1000 
 bachelors, 10 deaths; and 1000 widowers, 22 deaths. 
 From 30 to 35 years of age, the same classes, respect- 
 ively, furnish 7. n and Ijyi deaths. From 35 to 40 
 years of age, the mortality is 7^, 13, and \J]/z per 
 1000 respectively. And so on, in a series of tables for 
 all ages, the married man has greater longevity than 
 the single man. The same advantage of the married 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 203 
 
 state obtains in the case of females, though up to the 
 age of 30 the difference is not so apparent as in the 
 other sex. From 30 to 35 the mortality is 11 per 
 1000 for single women, and only 9 per 1000 for mar- 
 ried women, and this difference increases up to the 
 age of 55. Thus from 50 to 55 years of age, 1000 
 wives furnish only 15 or 16 deaths, while as many 
 single women or widows furnish 26 or 27. This ad- 
 vantage remains very notable beyond that age, dimin- 
 ishing but little. In France, however, under 25, and 
 in Paris, under 20 years of age, marriage is far from 
 favorable, but even injurious, as also in the case of 
 males. The mortality of unmarried girls of from 15 
 to 20 is 7.53 per 1000; the mortality of wives of the 
 same age being 11.86. The mortality of girls from 20 
 to 25 is 8.32 ; of wives of the same age, 9.92."* 
 
 Moral, or more properly psychical, changes through 
 the influence of love are not less pronounced than physi- 
 cal. They are observable in both sexes, although in un- 
 equal proportion, for the probable reason that the aver- 
 age extremes of character in woman are less marked. 
 Her position in society protects her from many of the 
 perturbing influences that act badly upon men. Still, 
 they may be observed. The most consummate flirt I 
 ever knew makes the man she ultimately wedded a 
 most faithful and dutiful spouse. Another woman of 
 similar antecedents married, and, giving over all 
 thought of further conquests, became an excellent 
 wife and a noble woman. A third lived miserably 
 with her first husband, but happily with the second. 
 
 That the twain were designed to be mutually help- 
 
 * N.Y. Daily Tribune, July 4, 1872. 
 
 
204 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ful and a blessing to each other is too evident for 
 serious argument. One is the complement of the 
 other, and neither is complete separable from the 
 other. It must be admitted, I think, that the best 
 qualities of either are seldom developed without the 
 mutual assistance and co-operation of the other. 
 Nowhere in nature can be found such surprising 
 manifestations of divine order and wisdom as is to 
 be observed in the reciprocal relation of the sexes to 
 each other! 
 
 Such is the mutual influence of the conjugal rela- 
 tion, and some of its hallowed consequences upon the 
 individual when cemented and consecrated by love. 
 An association of individuals so full of consecrating 
 influences, under propitious conditions, becomes a union 
 for the engendering and propagation of every species 
 of vice, misery, and degradation, when formed in dis- 
 regard of connubial laws, or perpetuated in defiance of 
 their injunction. "Nowhere else," says Mr. Alger, "has 
 knowledge such free scope, have the inducements for 
 esteem or contempt such unhampered range, as in 
 this relation. The inmost secrets of the parties are 
 always exposed to revelation or to betrayal. Hypocrisy 
 and deception are reduced to the narrowest limits. Ac- 
 cordingly, both the most absolute antagonism and mis- 
 ery, and the most absolute sympathy and happiness, are 
 known in the conjugal union."* The carnally minded 
 when mis-mated become more sensual ; the vicious 
 and morbid impulses of the heart receive fresh provo- 
 cation and impetus ; and all the higher elements of 
 thought and feeling, of trust and love, degenerate into 
 
 * The Friendships of Women, p. 84. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 205 
 
 hatred and lust. The endless clashing of personal and 
 opposing interests, impulses, tastes, and the irritations 
 and mutual recriminations that are continually en- 
 gendered, augment the various elements of discord 
 and dissension that may have been latent before, and 
 breed manifold miseries, necessarily ending sooner or 
 later in the spiritual death of the parties. 
 
 I knew a young man of pious parentage and train- 
 ing, who grew up to manhood with the purest speech 
 and habit, and who never uttered a foul word nor 
 committed a mean act until frenzied by discordant 
 wedlock, and its sequence, intemperance. Another, of 
 equal virtue and promise, married uncongenially, and 
 disheartened, disappointed, and depressed, also sought 
 oblivion from domestic dissension in the intoxicating 
 cup. Many others, of like promise and worth, some 
 of whom I knew intimately in my youth, and others 
 whose acquaintance has been formed in professional 
 life, have, from similar causes, gone the same unhappy 
 way to miserable ends : others again, who, unable to 
 maintain their integrity and self-respect and that of the 
 family in an ill-assorted union, have sought diversion 
 in absence or travel, or have interested themselves in 
 business, or science, or literature, and thus secured im- 
 munity from the evils incident to hopes disappointed. 
 Most fortunate, surely, are those who are able thus to 
 flank grave misfortunes, and resolutely maintain the 
 ascendency of virtue in their daily walk and life. More 
 often the unhappily married cling to each other under 
 the pressure of a misguided public sentiment, and in- 
 dulge in ceaseless wrangles and petty persecutions, 
 mutually enfeebling and demoralizing; ending not 
 unfrequently, as the daily records of events too often 
 
206 MARRIAGE. 
 
 show, in the perpetration of the most wanton and 
 criminal acts against each other, and the order and 
 peace of society. 
 
 The influence of marriage upon the progeny is even 
 more potent for weal or woe than upon the mar- 
 ried themselves. Gail Hamilton most forcibly and 
 truly says : " To give life to a sentient being without 
 being able to make provision to turn life to the best 
 account, — to give life, careless whether it will be bale 
 or boon to its recipient, — is the sin of sins. Every other 
 sin mars what it finds; this makes what it mars."* 
 Children are the offspring of their parents in more than 
 a figurative sense. They are the literal products of their 
 progenitors immediate and remote. The mental and 
 physical conditions of the parents are bred in the 
 bodies and brains of their progeny. Nor is this all: 
 children are endowed and vitally influenced by the pe- 
 culiar circumstances and normal or abnormal activities 
 which are most dominant in their parents at the time 
 of conception. Nothing is more absurdly common in 
 the medical profession than the query whether this or 
 that peculiarity is propagable. It is time such questions 
 ceased to puzzle the brains of medical savants. It is 
 undeniable that every cell and fibre of every organ and 
 tissue, brain and nerve, with every peculiar property, 
 mental and physical, possessed by the creature, was 
 received by him through no prehensile act of his own, 
 but directly from nature through the organizing influ- 
 ences of its parents' organization. There is, then, no 
 peculiarity, whether mental or physical, normal or 
 abnormal, that is not transmissible ; but the most 
 
 * Woman's Wrongs, p. 199. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 207 
 
 strongly characteristic traits of parents are more often 
 the ones more strongly impressed upon the progeny, 
 and for that reason become the more prominent ob- 
 jects of observation and study. Mr. George Combe, 
 for example, mentions a man of superior talents, who 
 indulged in wild and mischievous revelry at the time 
 of his marriage, and who " congratulated himself on 
 his subsequent domestication and moral improvement. 
 His eldest son, born in his riotous days, notwithstand- 
 ing a strictly moral education, turned out a personifi- 
 cation of the father's actual condition at that time."* 
 
 The virtues and vices of parents thus live again in 
 the lives of their offspring. Children not only inherit 
 the wisdom and follies, vices and virtues, diseases and 
 derangements, but also the physical and mental char- 
 acteristics most prominent, as I have said, at the time 
 of conception. The young being, like the sensitive 
 glass in the camera, faithfully transcribes and repro- 
 duces all the impressions it receives from its parents. 
 A German writer, therefore, wisely observes, f that 
 " when a woman is likely to become a mother, she 
 ought to be doubly careful of her temper; and, in 
 particular, to indulge no ideas that are not cheerful, 
 and no sentiments that are not kind. Such is the con- 
 nection between mind and body, that the features of 
 the face are moulded commonly into an expression 
 of the internal disposition ; and is it not natural to 
 think that an infant, before it is born, may be affected 
 by the temper of its mother?" 
 
 Nothing is more fully established in physiology 
 
 * Constitution of Man, p. 184. 
 
 f Ibid., from Margravine's Memoirs, vol. ii. chap. viii. 
 
208 MARRIAGE. 
 
 than the fact of hereditary transmission of the vari- 
 ous qualities and peculiar idiosyncrasies, abnormal 
 or otherwise, of both mother and father, to the off- 
 spring. Works on physiology are replete with such 
 facts ; and physiologists universally agree not only 
 upon the credibility of the facts, but also upon the 
 laws through which they occur. " This view," says 
 the learned Dr. Carpenter,* " must be extended to 
 that remarkable hereditary transmission of psychical 
 character, which presents itself under circumstances 
 that entirely forbid our attributing it to any agency 
 that can operate subsequently to birth, and which it 
 would seem impossible to account for on any other 
 hypothesis than that the formative capacity of the germ 
 determines the subsequent development of the brain, 
 as of other parts ,of the body, and (through this) its 
 mode of activity in accordance with the influences 
 under which that germ was first impregnated." 
 
 The eminent author of " Researches into the Physi- 
 cal History of Mankind," Dr. Pritchard, observes that 
 " the opinion which formerly prevailed, and which 
 has been entertained by some modern writers, among 
 whom is Dr. Darwin, that at the period when organiza- 
 tion commences in the ovum — that is, at, or soon after, 
 the time of conception — the structure of the foetus is 
 capable of undergoing modifications from impressions 
 on the mind or senses of the parent, does not appear 
 altogether so improbable. It is contradicted at least 
 by no fact in physiology. It is an opinion of very 
 ancient prevalence, and may be traced to so remote a 
 period that its rise cannot be attributed to the specu- 
 
 * Carpenter's Human Physiology, p. 574, sec. 630. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 209 
 
 lations of philosophers ; and it is difficult to account 
 for the origin of such a persuasion, unless we ascribe 
 it to the facts which happen to be observed." Surely 
 not. In this connection Mr. Combe relates a corrobo- 
 rative illustration that came under his personal obser- 
 vation, which, however, it is needless to repeat here, 
 as all medical men and most intelligent lay people are 
 fully cognizant of similar phenomena. Besides, there 
 are few who will not recall the artifice practiced by 
 Jacob* on his father-in-law — Laban's — cattle, by 
 which he forestalled the color of the stock, showing 
 that that worthy patriarch was well acquainted with 
 the law of parental influence and of hereditary descent. 
 
 Dr. John Mason Good, the distinguished author 
 and physician, says that " stupidity, like wit, is propa- 
 gable ; and hence we frequently see it run from one 
 generation to another, and not unfrequently it forms 
 a distinctive mark in the mental character of districts 
 or nations, — in many cases, indeed, when they border 
 closely on each other."f Apropos of stupidity being 
 transmissible, the learned Haller, in his "Elements 
 of Physiology," says: "We know a very remark- 
 able instance of two noble females (women) who got 
 husbands on account of their wealth, although they 
 were nearly idiots, and from whom this mental defect 
 has extended for a century into several families, so that 
 some of all their descendants still continue idiots in 
 the fourth and even in the fifth generation. 
 
 Moral perversity is transmitted to the offspring. 
 The proximate causes of deceitfulness, hatred, pre- 
 
 * Genesis xxx. 
 
 f Study of Medicine, vol. ii. p. 217, gen. iv., spec. 1, Moria imiecillis. 
 
2io MARRIAGE. 
 
 variations, jealousy, ill-temper, and all the various 
 forms of nervous irritability and of mental derange- 
 ments, reappear in the character of the innocent pro- 
 geny. A family came under my personal observation, 
 the mother of which was addicted to opium-eating, a 
 habit she had for years carefully and successfully con- 
 cealed from her family and friends. The children born 
 during this time, of which there were several, are 
 nearly all most adroit liars ! The most discreet relig- 
 ious training and education wholly failed to eradicate 
 the unhappy vice. George Combe quotes Esquirol, 
 the celebrated French physician and author, and whom 
 I have already quoted in these pages, who states that 
 " many children whose existence dated from periods 
 when the horrors of the French Revolution were at 
 their height, turned out subsequently to be weak, 
 nervous, and irritable in mind, extremely susceptible 
 of impressions, and liable to be thrown by the least 
 extraordinary excitement into absolute insanity."* 
 
 As a noted example of the transmission of fear 
 from temporary mental impressions, Mr. Combe re- 
 lates the circumstances of the murder of David Rizzio 
 by armed nobles, in the presence of Mary, Queen of 
 Scots, just previous to the birth of her son, after- 
 wards King James the First of England. " The con- 
 stitutional liability of this monarch to emotions of 
 fear," says Combe, " is recorded as characteristic of 
 his mind ; and it is mentioned that he even started 
 involuntarily at the sight of a drawn sword." The 
 well-known courage which distinguished all the other 
 members of the Stuart family makes this exception 
 the more noticeable. 
 
 * Constitution of Man, p. 180. 
 
MARRIAGE. 211 
 
 Courage is likewise transmissible. Napoleon Bona- 
 parte furnishes a noted example. Scott relates that 
 " it was in the middle of civil discord, fights, and 
 skirmishes, that Charles Bonaparte married Laetitia 
 Ramolini, one of the most beautiful young women of 
 the island, and possessed of a great deal of firmness 
 of character. She partook of the dangers of her hus- 
 band during the years of civil war, and is said to have 
 accompanied him on horseback on some military ex- 
 peditions, or perhaps hasty flights, shortly before her 
 being delivered of the future emperor."* 
 
 The propensity to steal is also hereditary. Several 
 instances have come to my knowledge in the course of 
 my professional experience ; in one case a clergyman, 
 whose two sons grew up expert thieves, and were 
 finally convicted of forgery and robbery, and sent to 
 the penitentiary. They inherited the peculiar misfor- 
 tune apparently from the maternal ancestry; although 
 the father also had an immense development of the 
 animal brain, the exercise of which was probably 
 checked by the restraining influence of favorable cir- 
 cumstances. Another unhappy instance of this pro- 
 pensity existed in a young daughter, who received it 
 from the paternal ancestor. In spite of the most exem- 
 plary training and considerate supply of every needed 
 luxury, the vice could neither be eradicated nor re- 
 pressed. 
 
 Mr. Combe says that children frequently inherit 
 the perverse eccentricities of both parents in an 
 aggravated degree ; indeed, are very likely to do so 
 when such parents are discordantly mated.f Numer- 
 
 * Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, vol. iii. p. 6. 
 | See Constitution of Man, p. 196 et seq. 
 
212 MARRIAGE. 
 
 ous instances of the kind have come under my own 
 observation, in which I could discover most clearly in 
 the same child the combative, overbearing spirit of 
 the father, combined with the acquiring, deceptive 
 traits of the mother. That author relates similar 
 observations of his own, in which the family became 
 a theatre of war and threatened bloodshed, or wild 
 debauchery and crime; the unfortunate progeny in- 
 heriting "the large animal development of the one 
 with the defective moral development of the other; 
 and, in this way, was inferior to both." Such marriages 
 people our prisons and penitentiaries, almshouses, 
 asylums, and other charitable and criminal institutions. 
 Now, in order to fulfil all the conditions of proper 
 parentage, something more is required than the moral 
 and intellectual fitness of the parents, as desirable as 
 this is. Mr. Combe's very able writings on the sub- 
 ject rest there; as if to go further would be unwar- 
 rantable speculation. But who does not know that 
 the twain may mutually possess the very highest ex- 
 cellence of moral and intellectual development, and 
 the added charms of physical and mental grace and 
 beauty, and yet lack the essential element of conju- 
 gality? Such people may surely be friends; but to 
 form the higher and holier relation of husband and 
 wife, another element is indispensable, which it is 
 most difficult to define, but which may be character- 
 ized, in the absence of better terms, as mutual fitness, — 
 temperamental adaptation, — love. The ancient Spar- 
 tans, whom we are pleased to style pagans, appear to 
 have been more conversant with this subject than 
 their enlightened descendants. That their progeny 
 might not be generated under inferior conditions and 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 213 
 
 their race suffer degeneration, they used every possi- 
 ble precaution against matrimonial alliances otherwise 
 than on the true basis of conjugal affinity, or consti- 
 tutional fitness on the part of the parents for each 
 other. A living illustration will elucidate my mean- 
 ing : a lady and gentleman of rare culture and intel- 
 lectual acquirements, with the added quality of mutual 
 esteem, formed an acquaintance, and through the per- 
 suasion of friends, who knew it would make such a 
 good match, and against the fine intuitive judgment of 
 the lady herself, finally married. Mutual and irrecon- 
 cilable differences of feeling, opinion, and taste soon de- 
 veloped, which ended in chronic and ineradicable dislike. 
 Children came to them and added fuel to the kindling 
 flame of domestic dissension. Nothing kept the family 
 together but the fancied welfare of the children and the 
 fear of incurring the censure of the public. The lady 
 herself, I am assured, has long preferred death to the 
 degradations of the " hated union." Similar instances 
 may be observed everywhere among civilized people. 
 Now, children may possibly be born in the posses- 
 sion of many good elements and qualities of character, 
 under the mechanical adjustments of intellectual and 
 moral qualities in their parents; but good, never. Con- 
 genial wedlock is the indispensable condition of a 
 pure, high-toned progeny. Grapes are not gathered 
 from thorns, nor figs from thistles. The Constantines, 
 Caligulas, Neros, Alexanders, Georgies, Napoleons, 
 Burrs, Tannys, Byrons, and the like, may be pro- 
 duced in indifferent conjugal relations. But the minds 
 that move the world and bless mankind, the Solons, 
 Platos, Galileos, Gotamas, Jesus's, Newtons, Shaks- 
 peares, Melanchthons, Wesleys, Channings, Scotts, 
 
 19 
 
214 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 Austens, Lincolns, Greeleys, etc., require wedlock of 
 a higher, nobler order. High moral and spiritual 
 brains and minds are bred under no mean conditions 
 — are not chance productions in nature. The superior 
 excellences of human character are not accidental 
 phenomena, — miraculous displays of divine wisdom ; 
 but rest on the substantial basis of organic law, within 
 the comprehension of everybody. If this divinest of 
 all human relations were to be left to chance, and 
 maintained by outward force, or influenced by motives 
 of interest or ambition, I would much prefer, were it 
 possible to choose, to take the chance of fine, moral 
 endowment outside the confines of a merely formal 
 wedlock, than run the risk of having the manifold 
 miseries, so often engendered in unhappy marriage, 
 entailed upon me. It would be a very unhappy alter- 
 native, to be sure ; but personal character of a high 
 order would more than compensate one for the con- 
 ventional odium of bastardy. 
 
 Nothing in nature can be more certain than that 
 high-toned, well-endowed, happily-united families of 
 children are the legimate offsprings of happy mar- 
 riage only, nor that the wretched, ill-natured, im- 
 moral, and discordant children which curse society 
 are the equally legitimate creatures of unhappy mar- 
 riage alone. My observations have been careful and 
 studious, and not at all limited in their sphere, ex- 
 tending over a period of twenty-five years, and I 
 know of no single exception to the statement. Mr. 
 Combe's observation accords entirely with that of my 
 own, so far as it goes. He says : "On the other hand, 
 I am not acquainted with a single instance in which 
 the moral and intellectual organs predominated in both 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 215 
 
 father and mother, and when external circumstances 
 permitted their general activity, in which the whole 
 children did not partake of a moral and intellectual 
 character, differing slightly in degrees of excellence 
 one from another, but all presenting the decided pre- 
 dominance of the human over the animal faculties."* 
 Moreover, while no different result could follow the 
 natural and inevitable operation of cause and effect, 
 still, if such parties lack in their relationship the higher 
 element of true love, their offspring will necessarily 
 suffer in the nobler qualities of human character, — 
 generally the social and spiritual. My own observa- 
 tions afford many confirmatory examples. 
 
 A family of my acquaintance, the father and mother 
 of which are both moral and intellectual people, but 
 who, mutually disliking each other, live in ceaseless 
 contentions and mutual distrust, and have done so ever 
 since the birth of their first child. All the children 
 are most unhappy and discontented among themselves 
 at home, although pleasant and contented among other 
 children away, or alone separately. They are well- 
 developed, fine-looking, quick-witted, and intellectual ; 
 inheriting these qualities largely from both parents. 
 Their moral characters would certainly not disprove 
 the position of Mr, Combe. Nor are they vicious, 
 ungenerous, sour, or mean. Yet they are mentally 
 wanting. The fundamental defect in their mental 
 organization is respect and affection. The mutual good- 
 will, regard, and esteem, so indispensable to the hap- 
 piness, or existence even, of home, seems wanting. 
 The impulse of each is to get away from home and each 
 
 * Constitution of Man, p. 197. 
 
2i6 MARRIAGE. 
 
 other; returning only to eat and sleep; and as rarely 
 for that purpose as consistent with convenience or 
 necessity. Some exception to these statements should 
 be taken in favor of the eldest child, which, generated 
 under conditions more propitious, exhibits far more 
 gentleness and affection, and correspondingly less 
 waywardness and irritability. But the others inherit 
 from their unhappy parents a large share of the com- 
 bative, unsocial, and selfish passions which are so fre- 
 quently exercised in their private intercourse.* 
 
 Several similar cases have come to my knowledge, 
 where the children, — generally a large number, for 
 such unions are usually prolific, the sexual being the 
 chief and only admissible converse between them, — 
 as soon as large enough to care for themselves, leave 
 home and kindred to return seldom as possible, or 
 never. Like chickens, they are driven from the 
 parental roof and care as soon as they become self- 
 dependent and able to "scratch" for themselves. 
 Nor are they averse to going. Such children know 
 little of the sacred associations of kindred and home! 
 The moral advantages of home and social life do not 
 exist for them ! 
 
 Mr. Combe, in his excellent volume on the " Con- 
 stitution of Man," before quoted, relates the follow- 
 ing: "A man aged about fifty, possessed a brain in 
 which the animal, moral, and perceptive organs were 
 all large, but the reflecting small. He was pious, 
 but destitute of education ; he married an unhealthy 
 young woman, deficient in moral development, but of 
 considerable force of character; and several children 
 
 * Referred to by permission. 
 
MARRIAGE. 2 \y 
 
 were born. The father and mother were far from 
 being happy; and when the children attained to 
 eighteen or twenty years of age, they were adepts in 
 every species of immorality and profligacy. They 
 picked their father's pockets, stole his goods, and got 
 them sold back to him, by accomplices, for money, 
 which was spent in betting, cock-fighting, drinking, 
 and low debauchery. The father was heavily grieved; 
 but knowing only two resources, he beat the children 
 severely as long as he was able, and prayed for them. 
 His own words were, that, ■ if after that, it pleased the 
 Lord to make vessels of wrath of them, the Lord's 
 will must just be done !' I make this last observation," 
 continues Mr. Combe, "not in jest, but in great 
 seriousness. It was impossible not to pity the un- 
 happy father; yet, who that sees the institutions of 
 the Creator to be in themselves wise, but in this in- 
 stance to have been directly violated, will not acknowl- 
 edge that the bitter pangs of the poor old man were 
 the consequences of his own ignorance ; and that it 
 was an erroneous view of the divine administration 
 which led him to overlook his own mistakes, and to 
 attribute to the Almighty the purpose of making 
 vessels of wrath of his children, as the only explana- 
 tion which he could give of their wicked dispositions? 
 Who that sees the cause of his misery can fail to 
 lament that his piety was not enlightened by philoso- 
 phy, and directed to obedience, in the first instance, 
 to the organic laws of the Creator, as one of the pre- 
 scribed conditions, without observance of which he 
 had no title to expect a blessing upon his offspring?"* 
 
 * Constitution of Man, pp. 195-6. 
 19* 
 
2i8 MARRIAGE. 
 
 The pernicious consequences on the offspring aris- 
 ing from disregard of connubial laws, in forming the 
 conjugal union, as illustrated in all these instances, 
 the parallel of which may be found in abundance in 
 society everywhere, are not, unhappily, confined to the 
 period of conception, at which time the foundations 
 of the constitution of the child, mental and physical, 
 are laid. Such consequences are particularly opera- 
 tive during gestation, when the mother is abnor- 
 mally sensitive to all impressions of whatever nature. 
 Every morbid impression on her mentality is likely to 
 be faithfully recorded on her child. The passions, 
 at such times, are peculiarly sensitive, and easily 
 aroused, and unless the moral element largely pre- 
 dominate in her character, assume unusual sway over 
 her conduct. Hence the frequent wrangles, jealousies, 
 disputes, animosities, etc., in which the ill-assorted 
 so often indulge at that time, to the lasting injury of 
 the prospective child. It is thus that the innocent 
 becomes a victim, and receives its first baptism in sin 
 and sorrow. Its nature, so wisely plastic, and recep- 
 tive of the moral graces and excellences thus early, 
 becomes the recipient of the elements of nervous irri- 
 tability, vice, and crime. Such is being, literally, 
 " conceived in sin and born in iniquity." 
 
 There are numerous other sources of demoraliza- 
 tion to the progeny of mismated parents, which, from 
 personal observation, I know to be wide-spread and 
 damning. I cannot forbear to allude to one in pass- 
 ing. It not unfrequently happens that such matches 
 are influenced altogether by a physical fancy, — a bodily 
 attraction. Youthful, immature, without judgment, 
 overflowing with vital ardor and strong impulses, 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 219 
 
 wanting in self-possession and moral restraint, men 
 and women fall an easy prey to each other's physical 
 attractions. " Such," says Dr. Johnson, " is the com- 
 mon process of marriage, — a youth and maiden meet- 
 ing by chance, or brought together by artifice, ex- 
 change glances, reciprocate civilities, go home and 
 dream of one another. Having little to divert atten- 
 tion, or diversify thought, they find themselves un- 
 easy when they are apart, and therefore conclude that 
 they shall be happy together. They marry, and dis- 
 cover what nothing but voluntary blindness before had 
 concealed ; they wear out life in altercations, and 
 charge nature with cruelty."* The nobler impulses 
 and sentiments of parties thus wrongfully brought to- 
 gether, and compelled to accept each other's society, 
 having little moral strength at first to sustain them, 
 sooner or later lose even what they had, leaving nothing 
 behind but a purely animal attachment. This usually 
 remains unimpaired, more often increases in force; 
 and the abuses which grow out of it correspondingly 
 augment. Under such circumstances, the sacred func- 
 tion of gestation is rarely respected ; sexual passion 
 intrudes upon the finer instincts and feelings of the 
 wife, and she is forced to submit to conduct" which, 
 under the circumstances, cannot but awaken feelings 
 toward her lord of repugnance or of deep disgust. The 
 extent to which this abuse is carried in civilized 
 society is most lamentable. It is a flagrant outrage 
 upon maternity and the rights of the unborn, and in- 
 flicts grievous wrongs on the health of the mother, 
 and the constitution and mental traits of her child. 
 
 * Rasselas, chap, xxix., quoted by Combe, 
 
220 MARRIAGE. 
 
 How could such excesses, at such times, do otherwise 
 than aggravate the penalties of a relation already im- 
 pure and discordant, when the heightened sensibilities 
 of her who is a mother, or about to become such, is 
 considered ? A due regard for the life and moral well- 
 being of the offspring, should adjure the husband and 
 father to impose no act on the wife likely to awaken 
 or develop in her a thought not just, or a sentiment 
 not pure and kind ; and what is true in respect to the 
 period of gestation applies with almost equal force and 
 pertinency to the period of lactation. It is well known 
 that during the exercise of the latter function, also, the 
 mother is peculiarly sensitive to nervous disturbances, 
 and that violent emotions poison her milk, and en- 
 danger the moral and physical health of the infant. 
 
 Moreover, as a general rule, husbands and wives 
 thus constituted have extreme aversion to children ; 
 and if they are born to them at all, it is against their 
 will and purpose. They did not marry to discharge 
 the sacred offices of parentage; and no effort is spared 
 but the manly one, to circumvent it. No artifice is left 
 untried. Inordinate doses of poisonous emmenagogues 
 are remorselessly swallowed. The art of the surgeon 
 is invoked ; and if the little creature, which has been 
 so thoughtlessly endowed with a living soul, survives 
 these assaults, it is often intensely disliked. It is, in 
 fact, an unwelcome child ! In three instances during 
 my professional life I have attended women in con- 
 finement who were anxious that their babe should 
 not be born alive ! Two of the number actually ex- 
 pressed a desire to " strangle it !" — a most melancholy 
 experience, surely. Such wives have generally to 
 learn to love their offspring. 
 
MARRIAGE. 221 
 
 Now, in view of such facts, is it any wonder that 
 children born out of wedlock are frequently superior 
 to many who are born in it? Not at all. Bastards, 
 while they are conceived in sin, are generally bred 
 and reared in virtue; while their more respectable 
 brothers are too often conceived in sin, with the added 
 disability of being born in iniquity also.* 
 
 These anomalies in domestic life — if such they may 
 be called — are, of course, naturally confined to the 
 lower grades of marriage, — to the civil marriage, — 
 what Milton has very pertinently designated "an out- 
 side matrimony." They are as far removed from the 
 marital phenomena of pure, congenial wedlock, as are 
 the antipodes. Love, in the latter relation, is more a 
 sentiment, an inspiration, than an impulse. The sen- 
 sual element, under its influence, attends upon mater- 
 nity in the strictest chastity. The carnal has lapsed 
 into the spiritual. Both parties to the bond look for- 
 ward to parentage with the liveliest interest and solici- 
 tude; and their parental love, so early awakened, grows 
 stronger as time advances and brings its precious 
 object nearer and nearer the complete realization. 
 The wife, moreover, is never dearer and lovelier in the 
 eye of her husband. With hopeful trust, he guards 
 her from every possible harm and grievance; waits 
 upon her instincts ; cherishes her respect and esteem ; 
 fosters her finer sentiments; and protects her from 
 every influence unfriendly to her and the life and 
 moral well-being of her child. 
 
 The relation of the sexes, therefore, is a subject of 
 
 * In Scotland nearly 10 per cent, of the total number of births are illegiti- 
 mate. See Note at the end of the chapter. 
 
222 MARRIAGE. 
 
 profound importance to the welfare of mankind ; and 
 the facts herewith presented would appear to justify 
 its connection with mental hygiene. In forestalling 
 the quality of the bud, the character of the blossom is 
 controlled. The remedy for the evils incident thereto, 
 and the means of securing so desirable an object, are 
 more difficult of application than of suggestion. 
 
 " The cure of false theology is mother wit," says 
 Emerson.* The remedy for error of whatever class 
 is knowledge ; for man obeys his highest perceptions 
 of truth, \i for no other reason, because it pays to do 
 so. Many well-meaning moralists, in view of the 
 miseries matrimonial, which appear to be on the in- 
 crease in this country, are clamoring at the door of 
 the legislatures, and in the ear of the public, for more 
 stringent laws to protect the sanctity of the marital 
 relation. These people associate the increasing fre- 
 quency of divorce with the domestic violence and 
 crime, which are so alarmingly prevalent, as sustaining 
 the relation of cause and sequence. Such a conclu- 
 sion seems unwarrantable from the evidence, except, 
 indeed, it be in the inverse order to that claimed by 
 them ; for it were easy to show, by local statistics 
 of crime, that crimes and immoralities prevail more 
 largely in communities and commonwealths where 
 divorces are least numerous and most difficult to pro- 
 cure. Be that as it may, I am always suspicious of 
 the logic of him who can conceive of no more effect- 
 ive means of correcting the evils of his day and race, 
 than the passage of legislative enactments. It evinces 
 too little faith in God and the human constitution. 
 
 * Conduct of Life, p. 187. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 223 
 
 The day for the exercise of such logic is past. The 
 attempt to legislate food into a man's stomach would 
 be quite as rational as to legislate morals into his 
 heart; to add to his stature, as to improve his man- 
 ners. Making laws to do this, or to effect that, so 
 far as morals are concerned, has long since been 
 abandoned by the common sense of mankind. Why, 
 there is no dearth of laws ! God, the Father and Au- 
 thor of all, provided an adequate supply of them at the 
 beginning! It is incumbent on man to know and to 
 obey them. To know, rightly to appreciate, them 
 is almost synonymous to their practical obedience, so 
 intimate is the relation of knowledge and obligation. 
 The truth has become almost self-evident, that igno- 
 rance and crime bear to each other the relation of 
 cause and consequence. 
 
 The primary remedy for these evils, then, is knowl- 
 edge — knowledge of ourselves. Legislative edicts are 
 quite secondary. Unless I have read history to no pur- 
 pose, it is full of instruction bearing upon this subject. 
 Take, for example, the Roman republic. There was a 
 time when her domestic manners, if Plutarch and others 
 are to be credited, were the pride of her people and an 
 example to the whole world. For several centuries, but 
 one divorce was known to her courts, and the procurer 
 of that, one Camillus Spurius, was ever after execrated 
 in consequence. Well, Rome became corrupt by the 
 usual causes and consequences, viz., an influx of igno- 
 rant people; worldly prosperity and affluence; avarice, 
 pride and selfishness, and their usual concomitants — 
 vice. Society fell from the dizzy height of unparalleled 
 perfection and splendor to the direst depths of extra- 
 vagance and corruption. The women were profligate 
 
224 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 and licentious ; the men kept mistresses and avoided 
 matrimony. The few who embraced marriage did not 
 respect the institution, and abandoned it at pleasure. 
 Divorces, of course, were common, and for divers 
 causes. During the empire, and even in the time 
 of Julius Caesar, legislative attempts were essayed to 
 change the course of domestic events, and stem the tide 
 of evil influences which had set in and was undermining 
 its very life. The government actually put a premium 
 upon marriage as an inducement to parties to embrace 
 it and keep its obligations. Rewards were offered to 
 women who would bear children, hoping thereby to 
 break up the system of concubinage which prevailed 
 so largely, and promote pure, sincere marriage. Fines, 
 and various other disabilities were imposed on women 
 who had arrived at a certain age without bearing chil- 
 dren. But all was of no avail. Later, under the 
 Christian emperor, Constantine, society had grown so 
 much worse that heavy fines were imposed on the un- 
 married of both sexes. The laws regulating divorce, 
 which previously were very lax, now, under the teach- 
 ings of the New Testament, were nearly as stringent 
 as they are at this day in the Romish church. But 
 neither precepts nor penalties produced the desired 
 effect. Rome sunk into merited ruin and contempt, 
 in spite of the wisest man-made laws that could be 
 devised for her government and regeneration. She 
 passed away, — died out. Centuries'have now slept upon 
 her ruins ; but the long dark ages that followed her 
 decline have left most prominent this lesson of her foil.* 
 
 * See on this subject Moshelm's Ecclesiastical History, and Gibbon's 
 Decline and Fall." 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 225 
 
 
 Now, nature's laws flow direct from God. They 
 are the latest revelation of his will and purpose to him 
 who can read them. They are in the highest degree 
 authoritative, and cannot be set aside or annulled 
 by any statute or canon of church or state. Igno- 
 rance and misapprehension may pervert and prevent 
 the fulfillment of their legitimate purpose ; but they 
 are still operative, as evinced in the manifold penalties 
 (evils) that follow upon their infringement. Another 
 illustration of this truth is furnished in the historical 
 struggles of the church with celibacy. 
 
 The fourth council of Carthage, which convened 
 about a.d. 400, definitively decreed the celibacy of 
 priests, deacons, and bishops in the Christian church. 
 A few years later, Pope Innocent I. gave orders to 
 depose such priests as had been guilty of marriage 
 since their ordination. And the above-named council 
 annulled the marriage of such priests and bishops as 
 had contracted that relation previous to the decree. 
 Nature's laws permitting marriage to all were, indeed, 
 contravened in these decrees. "The hope of acquiring 
 heaven by virginity and mortification," says Keightley, 
 "was not confined to the male sex; woman, with 
 the enthusiasm and the devotional tendency peculiar 
 to her, rushed eagerly toward the crown of glory. 
 Nunneries became numerous, and were thronged with 
 inmates."* Ecclesiastical ordinances seemed for a 
 time to have supplemented the order of nature and 
 the law of God. What could be more natural, after all, 
 under the strong impetus of religious enthusiasm and 
 superstition? If celibacy were an indispensable re- 
 
 * Keightley's Hist. Rom. Emp., chap. vi. 
 . 20 
 
22 6 MARRIAGE. 
 
 quisite of spirituality in the priesthood, it was equally 
 indispensable to that excellence in lay-people. This 
 conclusion was a natural, inevitable corollary. But 
 how was that anomalous condition of life to be main- 
 tained in good faith, unless men and women were 
 removed from the wiles and temptations of each 
 other, and the depraved influences of the world? The 
 consequences of this unnatural decree soon developed 
 themselves in the establishment and peopling of con- 
 vents and monasteries, in which were reproduced the 
 vices of the outside world in their most revolting 
 forms ; vices which make one blush to read ; vices 
 of too shameful a character to transcribe upon paper. 
 Nor was any other result to be rationally expected. 
 "The number," says Mosheim, "of immoral and un- 
 worthy Christians began so to increase, that the ex- 
 amples of real piety and virtue became extremely 
 rare."* And Keightley says that nature " not unfre- 
 quently asserted her rights ; and the complaints and 
 admonitions of the most celebrated fathers assure us 
 that the unnatural state of vowed celibacy was produc- 
 tive of the same evils and scandals in ancient as in 
 modern times. "f And again, Mosheim observes : 
 " When we cast an eye toward the lives and morals of 
 Christians at this time (fourth century), we find, as for- 
 merly, a mixture of good and evil ; some eminent for 
 piety, others infamous for their crimes. The number, 
 however, of immoral Christians began so to increase, 
 that the examples of real piety and virtue became cx- 
 
 * Mosheim's Ecc. Hist., Cent. 4, part ii. chap. iii. p. 116. 
 f Hist. Rom. Empire. See Lccky's I list. European Morals, and also 
 Lea's able Hist. Sacerdotal Celibacy and the Nunneries of the Middle 
 
 A ,-s. 
 
 
MARRIAGE. 227 
 
 tremely rare. When the terrors of persecution were 
 totally dispelled; when the church, secured from the 
 efforts of its enemies, enjoyed the sweets of pros- 
 perity and peace; when the major part of the bishops 
 exhibited to their flock the contagious example of arro- 
 gance, luxury, effeminacy, animosity, and strife, with 
 other vices too numerous to mention ; when the inferior 
 rulers and doctors of the church fell into a slothful and 
 opprobrious negligence of the duties of their respective 
 stations, and employed in vain wrangling and idle dis- 
 putes that zeal and attention which were due to the 
 culture of piety and to the instruction of their people; 
 and when (to complete the enormity of this horrid 
 detail) multitudes were drawn into the profession of 
 Christianity, not by the power of conviction and argu- 
 ment, but by the prospect of gain or the fear of 
 punishment; then it was indeed no wonder that the 
 church was contaminated with shoals of profligate 
 Christians, and that the virtuous few were, in a manner, 
 oppressed and overwhelmed by the superior number 
 of the wicked and licentious."* 
 
 Nothing could be more praiseworthy than the pur- 
 pose and spirit of these celibacic decrees, so unwise 
 and mischievous in practical results. They were, how- 
 ever, acts of supererogation, and presupposed the pos- 
 session by man of wisdom superior to that of Him 
 who disposes of all mundane events. How much 
 more consistent and rational were the laws of the an- 
 cient pagans, such, for example, as those introduced 
 by Lycurgus and Solon, which simply conformed to 
 nature and left the results with God! And how much 
 
 * Mosheim's Eccl. History, p. n6, chap. iii. 
 
228 MARRIAGE. 
 
 more beneficent were those results ! Instance Sparta, 
 where the vice of adultery was unknown. Instance 
 also pagan Rome, where divorce, for a period of five 
 hundred and fourteen years, was unknown. 
 
 If, therefore, wisdom and chastity cannot be legis- 
 lated into a people, are their follies and vices to go 
 unrestrained and uncontrolled ? By no means. The 
 causes of all these wayward appetencies must be re- 
 moved by wholesome discipline, physiological enlight- 
 enment, and appropriate legislation. It is obligatory 
 on society to do this work for the individual. The 
 conditions from which the various forms of abnormal 
 tendencies, desires, and habits flow, demand correc- 
 tion. Precepts should be inculcated and laws enacted 
 to promote human culture in its broad significance ; 
 and to regulate the forms, etc., of the domestic 
 compact, social and other relations, conformable to 
 the circumstances, nature, and requirements of man. 
 Let the light of rational philosophy do this regen- 
 erating work, since all other philosophy has signally 
 failed to do it. 
 I The wise physician exhibits his skill more by an- 
 ticipating the progressive and conservating forces of 
 nature, in combating diseased manifestations, than in 
 blindly attempting to cure that of the nature of which 
 he often knows little or nothing. So, while moralists 
 and formularists are disputing over the nature and 
 origin of evil, and passing impracticable legislative 
 edicts, the true philosopher seeks to diffuse a knowl- 
 edge of the conditions of human life, that the real 
 source and cause of physical and moral abnormali- 
 ties may gradually dissipate, — vanish like the mists of 
 early morning before the god of day. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 229 
 
 Much may be learned on this subject from the laws 
 and regulations of Lycurgus, one of Greece's ancient 
 rulers, to whom I have already referred, and whose 
 wisdom, although a pagan's, established the prosperity 
 of ancient Sparta. There was much in his system, of 
 course, that would be absurd and out of place in the 
 civilization of modern times ; and much also in respect 
 to the institution of marriage, and the proper training 
 therefor, which modern society can ill afford to disre- 
 gard. Under Lycurgus, Sparta grew up from a state 
 of indigence and non-entity to one of unrivaled pros- 
 perity in virtue, industry, wealth, courage, and honor- 
 able fame ; in brief, in most of the elements that 
 ornament and exalt a people. 
 
 Lycurgus seems to have correctly apprehended the 
 laws of the physical economy, as well as those ante- 
 natal influences essential to a healthy progeny. He 
 inculcated simplicity of diet, of habits, and of dress, 
 and strictly abjured the refinements and luxuries which 
 at that time were demoralizing Athens, as tending to 
 induce effeminacy. All sorts of games were intro- 
 duced involving the exhibition of muscular energy and 
 strength. In these exercises the women were espe- 
 cially invited and encouraged to take part; as it was 
 deemed a most important element of their education 
 and fitness, in order to properly fulfill the function of 
 maternity, that they should be robust in bodv and mind.. 
 How unwise, said this lawgiver, for people to take such 
 solicitude about the physical development and breeding 
 of stock, and leave to chance what is of so much greater 
 importance, — the breeding and training of healthy 
 children ! Mothers were in this manner especially 
 trained for maternity ; and the ultimate results on the 
 
 20* 
 
230 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 race were what might have been naturally anticipated. 
 When a woman of another country said to Gorgo, the 
 wife of Leonidas, that " you of Lacedaemon are the 
 only women in the world that rule the men," she an- 
 swered, " We are the only women that bring forth 
 men !"* The sexes were educated together, and mu- 
 tually engaged in all their social customs, games, and 
 pastimes. Early marriages tended to enfeeble offspring, 
 and were therefore discouraged. And for a similar 
 reason marriage between parties of unequal rank and 
 culture, and blood relations especially, was not per- 
 mitted. Matrimony was enjoined upon all the able- 
 bodied as a moral duty; and bachelors who refused to 
 submit themselves to the marital yoke were objects of 
 ridicule, disability, and fine. Nor was anything more 
 than these negative inducements offered to candidates 
 for marriage ; but, on the contrary, all temptations 
 likely to corrupt the institution, as bringing the sexes 
 together through other motives than mental attraction 
 and regard, such as dower, position, rank, etc., were 
 carefully avoided. These measures were pre-eminently 
 adapted, in their view, to promote congenial wedlock, 
 and to secure the highest possible virtue in the family 
 relation and society. Nor were they less wisely cal- 
 culated to guarantee the physical and mental welfare 
 of their progeny. 
 
 These people encouraged the growth of friendships 
 between the sexes, with a view of promoting the moral 
 and social virtues. Young men were cherished by 
 the opposite sex as brothers. " Yet," says Plutarch,f 
 " in Sparta it was a virtuous and modest affection, un- 
 
 * Plutarch's Lives, p. 51. f Ibid., p. 53. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 23I 
 
 tinged with that sensuality which was so scandalous 
 at Athens and other places." Nothing could be more 
 free and simple than Spartan life and manners ; and 
 yet no people of any age have equaled them in 
 modesty and chastity. Plutarch says that adultery 
 was absolutely unknown to them. A stranger, on one 
 occasion, asked Geradas, an ancient Spartan, "what 
 punishment their law appointed for adulterers. He 
 answered, ' My friend, there are no adulterers in our 
 country.' The other replied, ' But what if there 
 should be one?' 'Why, then,' said Geradas, 'he 
 must forfeit a bull so large that he might drink of the 
 Eurotas from the top of Mount Taygetus !' When 
 the stranger expressed his surprise at this, and said, 
 ' How can such a bull be found ?' Geradas answered, 
 with a smile, ' How can an adulterer be found in 
 Sparta?'"* 
 
 It is a matter of no little surprise to find that the 
 laws of reproduction, and the influence of a well-as- 
 sorted marriage on the physical and moral develop- 
 ment of children, were so well understood by the 
 ancient Greeks ! They did not, however, fully appre- 
 ciate the divine relation of the sexes. To them mar- 
 riage was instituted chiefly for the propagation of the 
 species and the welfare of the state. Solon, nearly a 
 century after Lycurgus, distinctly so declared.f The 
 
 * Plutarch's Lives, p. 52. 
 
 f Ibid., pp. 79, 80. Plutarch says that Solon " did not choose that mar- 
 riages should be made with mercenary or venal views ; but would have that 
 union cemented by the endearment of children, and every other instance of 
 love and friendship. Nay, Dionysius himself, when his mother desired to 
 be married to a young Syracusan, told her, He had indeed, by his tyranny, 
 broken through the laws of his country, but he could not break those of nature 
 by countenancing so disproportioned a match. And surely such disorders 
 
232 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 law of uses they clearly apprehended; but of the true, 
 abiding", and beneficent influence of the spiritual mar- 
 riage on the individual, as an institution existing pri- 
 marily for his sake, they seem to have had but a very 
 feeble conception. In that respect, however, it may 
 be remarked that the opinions of this ancient people 
 appear to have been quite as far advanced, unhappily, 
 as those of the majority of mankind of modern times. 
 Surely, with the wisdom of the ages and modern 
 science to guide and instruct our minds, there should 
 be no difficulty in solving the moral and physiological 
 problems of marriage and its allied subjects, and in 
 unfolding the relation which subsists between them 
 and the morals of mankind. Institutions exist for 
 man, not man for institutions ; and in proportion as 
 they conform to his nature and highest interests, do 
 they fulfill the end and purpose of Infinite Wisdom. 
 In proportion, moreover, as this truth is recognized, 
 shall man have less reverence for institutions, and 
 more reverence for the principles at the back of them. 
 Then will he be emancipated from mental thraldom, 
 and the tyranny of arbitrary edicts, political and eccle- 
 siastical, and more clearly apprehend his relations to 
 his fellow, to society, and to the Infinite. 
 
 should not be tolerated in any state, nor such matches, where there is no 
 equality of years, or inducements of love, or probability that the end of 
 marriage will be answered. So that to an old man who marries a young 
 woman, some prudent magistrate or lawyer might express himself in the 
 words addressed to Philoctetes : 
 
 ' Poor soul ! how fit art thou to marry !' " 
 
 » Plutarch's Lives, art. Solon. 
 
MARRIAGE. 
 
 233 
 
 Note on Illegitimacy. 
 
 In Europe illegitimate children are far more numer- 
 ous than in America. In Scotland, although the mar 
 riage ceremony required by law is so simple that one 
 wonders how such an incident as bastardy could occur 
 under its operation, the percentage of illegitimate births 
 amounts to about nine per cent, of the total number. 
 In some of her counties it is as high as fifteen per cent, 
 of the total number of births, as the following table, 
 from the registrar-general's report for the quarter 
 ending June 30, 1869, shows: 
 
 Proportion of Illegitimate in every Hundred Births in the Divi- 
 sions and Counties of Scotland during the Quarter ending 
 June 2,0, 1869.* 
 
 
 B 
 
 
 Divisions. 
 
 Q.2 
 
 
 Scotland . . 
 
 
 Northern . . 
 
 8.0 
 
 
 North-Western 
 
 7-8 
 
 
 North- Eastern 
 
 *3-°\ 
 
 
 East-Midland . 
 
 10.4 
 
 
 West-Midland 
 
 7.0 
 
 
 South-Western 
 
 8.0 
 
 
 South-Eastern 
 
 8.S 
 
 
 Southern . . 
 
 i-39 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 jj 2 
 
 
 Counties. 
 
 
 
 Orkney ' . 
 
 6.1 
 
 
 Shetland . 
 
 3-7 
 
 
 Caithness . 
 
 10.4 
 
 
 Sutherland 
 
 9-7 
 
 
 Ross and ) 
 Cromarty j 
 
 
 
 4-3 
 
 
 Inverness . 
 
 10.9 
 
 
 Nairn . . 
 
 13-5 
 
 
 Elgin . ., 
 
 I3-S 
 
 
 Banff . . 
 
 11. 9 
 
 
 Aberdeen . 
 
 13..2 
 
 
 Kincardine 
 
 12.4 
 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 COUNTIES. 
 
 
 
 Forfar . . 
 
 12.2 
 
 
 Perth . . 
 
 TO 
 
 4 
 
 
 Fife. . . 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 Kinross 
 
 6 
 
 9. 
 
 
 Clack-") 
 mannanj" 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 
 Stirling 
 
 6 
 
 S 
 
 
 Dumbarton 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 
 Argyll . . 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 
 Bute . . 
 
 6 
 
 6 
 
 
 Renfrew . 
 
 7 
 
 1 
 
 
 Ayr . . . 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 
 Lanark 
 Linlithgow- 
 Edinburgh 
 Haddington 
 Berwick . 
 Peebles 
 Selkirk . . 
 Roxburgh 
 Dumfries . 
 Kirkcud 
 
 bright 
 Wigtown . 
 
 7-3 
 8.5 
 8.4 
 7-5 
 10.6 
 10.2 
 9.0 
 10.9 
 14.7 
 
 i5-i 
 r 5-3 
 
 * Jour. Stat. Society, vol. xxxii. London, ii 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adultery, not known at Sparta, 231. 
 
 iEsculapius, his temple at Epidaurus, 10; 
 serpents kept at, in charge of the god- 
 dess Hygeia, ibid. 
 
 Affluence, Miss Mitford's fear of, 183 ; the 
 evil tendency of, 137, 183 ; Christ's 
 caution against, ibid. 
 
 Age of distinguished men and women : 
 of philosophers, 106, 113; of statesmen, 
 107; of men of letters, 108; of poets, 
 109; of musical composers, ibid.; of 
 sculptors, no; of painters, 109. Tables 
 giving the, of persons of rank, profes- 
 sions and trades, 114, 115, 116. 
 
 Ague, fever and, injures the moral per- 
 ceptions, 42. 
 
 Alcohol, influence of, on the mind, 64; 
 impairs the moral powers, 66; promotes 
 crime and disease, 67, 68, 71 ; investi- 
 gation of the Massachusetts State Board 
 of Health into the uses and abuses of, 
 ibid.; Dr. Maudsley on the effects of, 
 69 ; Dr. Carpenter's views, 66, 70, 93; 
 notes on, 92 ; causes profanity, 46. 
 
 Alger, Rev. W. R., his views of love, 
 marriage, friendship, etc., 179, 196, 201. 
 
 American Congress, the corruption of, 
 !3 2 , 159- 
 
 Anger, the effects of, 144 ; poisons the 
 secretions, causes fever, jaundice, and 
 melancholy, ibid.; a cause of death, 145. 
 
 Anxiety, painful effect of prolonged, 146. 
 
 Art, the elevating tendency of the study 
 of, 171 ; the productions of, among the 
 highest exhibitions of nature, 172. 
 
 Atoms, divinity in the, 50; Emerson in 
 support of the hypothesis, ibid. 
 
 Axon on " The Physiological Position of 
 Tobacco," 80; his views relative to the 
 degrading influence of tobacco-using, 
 77; 'tis devoid of aesthetic beauty; an 
 unmanly leaning on a solace to care and 
 labor; neither sought nor needed by 
 woman; a foolish improvidence, ibid. 
 
 Beecher, Rev. H. W., on compulsory- 
 education, 159 ; the testimony of, re- 
 specting the moral degradation of the 
 aged, ibid. 
 
 Beitrage, on the connection of suicide and 
 age, 35. 
 
 Belladonna, destructive mania of, 46. 
 
 Benevolence, a moral element; the prac- 
 tice of, a religious virtue, 136. 
 
 Bertillon's marriage statistics, 202. 
 
 Biography, the importance of the study 
 of, to the young, 175 ; nothing more in- 
 spiring than, ibid.; Bulwer's testimony, 
 ibid.; the scientific importance of, 176; 
 Maudsley's views cited, ibid. 
 
 Blair, Rev. Dr., on the fixedness of the 
 divine purpose, and the folly of attempt- 
 ing to persuade the Deity by supplica- 
 tions, 190-1. 
 
 Blatin's studies of tobacco, 76; cites cases 
 of vertigo, caused by the use of, ibid. 
 
 Body and Mind, Maudsley's, cited, 15, 
 45, 69, 103. 
 
 Body and Mind, Winslow'.s, cited, 21, 50, 
 52, in, 117, 146. 
 
 Books, the influence of, 174 ; the character 
 of, an important desideratum to the 
 young, ibid.; the surveillance of the 
 church over, ibid.; the kind of, mosf 
 useful, 175 ; the desirability of keep- 
 ing the young mind untrammeled of 
 opinions, 175. 
 
 Bowditch, Dr. H. W., on intemperance 
 as affected by climate, 68. 
 
 Brain, the, a congeries of organs and a 
 plurality of mental functions, 95, 96 ; 
 the most enduring organ, 123. 
 
 Buckle's idea of the uses of love, 195 ; on 
 the regularity of moral phenomena, n ; 
 examples of longevity quoted from, 113. 
 
 Burton's characterization of the student, 
 
 Campbell's " Pleasures of Hope" cited, 
 169. 
 
 Caspar's tables showing the relation be- 
 tween seasons and suicide, 34; and of 
 age and suicide, 35. 
 
 Celibacy, the struggle of the church with, 
 225; the demoralizing effect on the 
 morals of the clergy of, 226; Keightley's 
 History of Roman Empire cited on the 
 effects of, 225-6; Mosheim's Ecclesias- 
 tical History cited on the influence of, 
 226-7 .' the nunneries and monasteries 
 peopled by reason of enforcing the de- 
 crees of, 225 ; Christianity demoralized 
 by, 226 et scq. 
 
 Chambers, Dr., views of coffee, 56. 
 
 235 
 
236 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Chamomilla, the mental irritability of, 46 ; 
 a remedy for the same disease, ibid. 
 
 Cheerfulness, the influence of, 167; allied 
 to hope, ibid.; an agent of moral hy- 
 giene, 168 ; the exercise of, a power- 
 ful prophylactic against disease, ibid.; 
 Campbell's " Pleasures of Hope," 169 ; 
 Solomon's views on the influence of, 
 168. 
 
 Children the legitimate products of ante- 
 cedent influences, 214 ; parents live again 
 in their, 207 ; the vices and follies of 
 parents faithfully recorded on their, 
 ibid, et seq.; virtues also inscribed 
 upon the character of their, ibid.; "Gail- 
 Hamilton's" characterization of respon- 
 sible parentage, 206. 
 
 Christ the type of supreme manhood, 158 ; 
 a model for Christian emulation in pro- 
 fession, ibid.; of distrust in conduct, 
 132, 158, et seq. ; of adulation by the 
 lips, but of denial in practice, is&etseq. 
 
 Church, the Roman Catholic, exercised a 
 surveillance over literature, 174; the 
 power of, over the conscience of com- 
 municants, ibid.; blind faith the secret 
 of the wonderful power of, 155 ; the 
 failure of both the Catholic and Protes- 
 tant churches to keep pace with civili- 
 zation, 153 ; the method of salvation of, 
 the same for the civilized as the un- 
 civilized man, ibid.; she is become a 
 stumbling-block to mental culture, ibid.; 
 Dr. Carpenter on the independence of 
 science of, ibid. ; Mr. Lecky on the in- 
 fluence of, on civilization, ibid. 
 
 Climate, influence of, on the mind, 24; 
 the vice of intemperance affected by, 
 24, 25 ; crime affected by, 25, 26 ; studies 
 of MM. Quetelet, Guerry, Caspar, and 
 Esquirol on, as affecting mental dis- 
 ease and crime, 28 et seq. 
 
 Coffee, the effect of, on the mind, 55 ; 
 views of Dr. Chambers on, 56; of Abd- 
 el-Kader on, ibid. ; of Bayard Taylor, 
 
 57- 
 
 Combe, Dr. Andrew, views of the mental 
 effect of imperfectly oxygenated blood, 
 22 ; of the mutual dependence of brain 
 and mind, etc., 20. 
 
 Combe, Mr. George, views of religion and 
 morals, 141-2 ; advises that a certain 
 portion of each day be devoted to re- 
 ligious exercises, 142 ; on the harmony 
 of the divine government, ibid. ; views 
 of prayer, 170; elucidation of the laws 
 of hereditary descent, 207, 210, 211; 
 views of parentage, the conjugal fitness 
 of parents for, 211, 214. 
 
 Conception, the time when the consti- 
 tution of the child is established, 218 ; 
 mental traits of children received at, 
 ibid. ; modified indefinitely by all suc- 
 ceeding influences upon the mother, 
 ibijd. et seq. 
 
 Constitution of Man, Combe's, cited, 141 
 et seq . 
 
 Conversation, the elements of, 172; com- 
 
 prehends science and art and culture, 
 ibid.; the duty of cultivating, 173; fine 
 powers of, a rare accomplishment, ibid. ; 
 defective teaching of, ibid. ; Bronson's 
 views on, ibid. 
 
 Cowley's lines to his love, cited, 177. 
 
 Crime, the relation of, to knowledge, 38, 
 39 ; influence of seasons on, 39, 40; in- 
 sanity and, 41 ; the sexes and, 39 ; dis- 
 ease and, 28, 29. 
 
 Culture, Greek conception of, 103 ; Emer- 
 son on, toi ; views of Dr. Ray, 102; 
 Dr. Maudsley's idea of, 103 ; manual 
 exercise an adjuvant to, 102 et seq.; 
 Dr. Todd on, 126. 
 
 De Quincey on the effects of opium, 63. 
 
 Descartes on the probable influence of 
 medicines on the mind, 22. 
 
 De Tocqueville's need of friends, 179. 
 
 Diet, influence of, on the mind, 47; the 
 chemical views of, controverted, 48, 49 ; 
 modification of character by, 51 ; in 
 animals, ibid, et seq.; views of Sylvester 
 Graham, 52; influence of, on the pas- 
 sions, 53. 
 
 Disappointment, influence of, 148; a cause 
 of suicide, ibid. 
 
 Disease, demoralizing to the mental func- 
 tions, 42; views of Dr. J. R. Black, 44 ; 
 Dr.Win-dow,ibid. ; Feuchtersleben, 45 ; 
 Hahnemann, ibid.; Maudsley, ibid. 
 
 Divorce unknown in Pagan Rome for 
 several centuries, although her laws 
 permitted it for various causes, 228. 
 
 Dodge, Miss, views of responsible ma- 
 ternity, 206. 
 
 Eichhorn on the wholesome influence of 
 
 hard study, 112. 
 Emerson, R. W., views on the mental 
 
 influence of the grand and beautiful in 
 
 nature, 27. 
 Emotions, the discipline of the, 144; evils 
 
 arising from the undue exercise of, 144 
 
 et seq. 
 England, History of Civilization in, cited, 
 
 11 ■ 
 
 Europe, Intellectual Development of, 
 cited, n. 
 
 European Morals, History of, cited, iS. 
 
 Exercise, reciprocal influence of corporeal 
 and mental, 95 ; inferior position of man- 
 ual, 98 ; manual not desirable for its own 
 sake, ibid.; mental culture the true end 
 and object that should be sought in 
 bodily training, 101 ; the occasion for 
 great physical development passing 
 away, 100; Kmerson in support of this 
 view, 101; the physical energies required 
 to support the mental, in the present 
 civilization, 102; a natural tonic, 100; 
 Mr. Graham's views of, ibid.; imparts 
 grace and strength to the body, and 
 vigor and energy to the mind, ibid. ; 
 harmony of mental and physical, indis- 
 pensable to normal development, 103; 
 the laws of, equally applicable to both 
 
INDEX. 
 
 237 
 
 mind and body, 103 ; partial and defect- 
 ive exercise of the faculties a direct 
 cause of vice and disease, 105 ; Ruloff's 
 case cited, ibid.; the development of 
 great men points to this conclusion, 
 ibid. 
 
 Faculties, the disproportionate develop- 
 ment of, the cause of evil, 105 et seq. 
 Faith, a strong element in human nature, 
 
 163 ; an agent in the operation of medi- 
 cine as well as of moral causes, 9, 10, 
 154, 166; credulity a lower form or 
 manifestation of, 164 ; all the religions 
 founded upon, 152 ; the corner-stone of 
 Christianity, 153 ; Christ's testimony in 
 respect to, ibid. ; Paul's, ibid. ; James's, 
 ibid. ; the pope had a lever in, by which 
 he was able to move the world, 155 ; 
 abuses of, common among savages and 
 Christians alike, ibid. ; examples of the 
 exercise of, among savages, 156 ; among 
 Christians, 157; true faith the basis of 
 success in any calling, 163 ; its higher 
 manifestation prominent in the conduct 
 of the most reasonable, 163 ; does not 
 decline with the advance of civilization, 
 
 164 ; its exercise not limited to religion, 
 ibid.; Franklin's idea of, 162; Mr. Em- 
 erson's views of, 164; Sir Humphry 
 Davy's interesting experiment illus- 
 trating the power of, in curing disease, 
 166; the Prince of Orange's experience 
 with sham medicine cited, ibid.; Bag- 
 livi's testimony respecting its agency in 
 the physician's calling, 167 ; in com- 
 bating disease is often more potent than 
 medicine, 165, 166. 
 
 Fasting, influence of, on the mind, 59 et 
 seq. ; experience of Christ and Gotama 
 referred to, 54, 58 ; decline of the custom 
 of, in the Christian church, 59. 
 
 Fear, destructive effect of, 145. 
 
 Feuchtersleben on the moral influence of 
 bodily conditions, 45. 
 
 Fevers, influence of, on the mind, 42 ; im- 
 pair the processes of thought and feel- 
 ing, ibid. 
 
 Eruptive, in general, leave a salutary 
 impression on the mind and morals, 
 ibid.; destructive effect of, on the func- 
 tion of cerebration, ibid. ; sometimes 
 beneficial on the mind, 43 ; Dr. Tuke's 
 case cited, ibid. ; author's experience, 
 ibid. 
 
 Scarlet, wholesome influence of, ibid. 
 Typhus, sometimes restores a weak 
 mind and breaks a strong one, 43. 
 
 Fidelity, absence of, among nominal Chris- 
 tians, 133, 153; the love of gain a stronger 
 element in than, ibid, et seq.; a su- 
 preme virtue among the ancient pagans, 
 230. 
 
 Fitzosborne's noble sentiment relative to 
 life's work, 181. 
 
 Flirts, the worst kind of, improved by 
 marriage, 203 ; examples of, cited, ibid. 
 
 Flourens, M., and others, experiments in 
 
 removing the cerebra of animals, 19 ; 
 the twofold life of the higher orders of 
 animals demonstrated thereby, ibid. 
 Friendship, the regenerating influence of, 
 178 et seq.; the real nature and mean- 
 ing of, 179; Mr. Alger's views cited, 
 ibid. ; De Tocqueville's dependence on, 
 ibid. ; cultivation of, in Sparta, between 
 the sexes, 230. 
 
 God, our knowledge of, derived solely 
 from the moral powers, 129,185 ; Emer- 
 son quoted in support of the hypothesis, 
 ibid. ; residence of, in matter, 50. 
 
 Good's, Dr., Study of Medicine, cited, 
 209 ; his prayer and prayerful example, 
 193- 
 
 Gotama, the fine theology of, 54. 
 
 Graham, Sylvester, on the effects of stim- 
 ulants, 61 ; moral influence of diet, 51, 
 52 ; exercise a tonic, 100. 
 
 Greeks, their idea of culture, 103. 
 
 Grief, the influence of, 146. 
 
 Haller's Elements of Physiology cited, 
 209. 
 
 Hallucinations, the, of hasheesh and 
 stramonium, 46, 83. 
 
 Hasheesh, influence of, on the mind, 83 
 et seq. 
 
 Health preserved by jugglery anciently, 
 10 ; a practice not altogether extinct 
 among civilized people, 10, n. 
 
 Hereditary descent, the principles of, 
 206 ; virtues and vices, bodily and 
 mental peculiarities, alike propagable, 
 ibid, et seq. ; Laban's knowledge of, 
 209 ; Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter's statement 
 of the law of, 208; Dr. Pritchard's con- 
 firmation of the truth of, ibid. ; Dr. 
 Good's opinion of, 209 ; stupidity and 
 wit propagable, ibid. ; idiocy subject to 
 the laws of, ibid. ; cases cited in confir- 
 mation of, from Haller, 209; Esquirol 
 quoted, 210; cowardice transmissible, 
 210; the case of James I. of England 
 cited in proof of, ibid. ; courage likewise 
 propagable, 211 ; Napoleon Bonaparte 
 an example of, ibid. ; the vice of theft 
 subject to the laws of, ibid. ; cases cited 
 from the author's observation, ibid. ; 
 the bearing of the laws of, on gestation 
 and parentage, 212 et seq. 
 
 Hippocrates on the moral influence of 
 food, 50. 
 
 History of Man, Sketches of the, Lord 
 Karnes, 149, 150. 
 
 Honor, the lack of, in the medical profes- 
 sion, 133; in all the professions, 135; 
 and trades, 135, 158, 159 ; H. \V. Beech- 
 er's testimony on, 159 ; causes of, 135, 
 161. 
 
 Huet's views on mental pursuits, 113. 
 
 Hygeia, the goddess, controlled the con- 
 dition of health, and by the aid of ser- 
 pents dissipated disease and pestilence, 
 10. 
 
 Hygiene, mental, comprehends the laws 
 
2 3 8 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 and conditions of man's mental being, 
 16; its study partial and incomplete, 
 ibid. ; the restrictions imposed by the- 
 ology and metaphysical philosophy on, 
 16, 17. 
 Hyoscyamus, the jealous furore of, 46. 
 
 Idleness, the danger of, 181 ; the student's 
 special " devil," ibid. ; Dr. Todd's views 
 of, 181 et seq. 
 
 Ignatia and lycopodium, sorrowful prop- 
 erties of, 46. 
 
 Imagination, influence of diet on, 52, 54, 
 65 ; of tea and coffee, 55 ; of flesh, 52 ; 
 of fasting, 59 ; Milton's views, ibid. ; 
 Moleschott cited, ibid. ; Thackeray's 
 experience, 58 ; effect of medicines on 
 the, 61. 
 
 Immorality, the wide prevalence of, 132 
 et seq.; causes of, 135, 161; not incon- 
 sistent with popular religion, 131 ; cure 
 of, to be sought in culture, 136 et seq. ; 
 unmanly nature of, 136. 
 
 Industry a talisman against the tempta- 
 tions of the devil, 181 ; a valuable specific 
 against disease, and an invaluable aux- 
 iliary of moral reform, ibid. ; Mr. Emer- 
 son on the preserving power of, 182. 
 
 Insanity affected by age, 33 ; by the sea- 
 sons, 32 ; comparative liability of the 
 ■ sexes to, 34; Dr. Guy on, and crime, 
 
 Irving, Washington, on the influence of 
 marriage, 199. 
 
 Jealousy, the baleful nature of, 149 ; Lord 
 
 Karnes's characterization of, ibid. 
 Joy, the influence of immoderate, 145. 
 Justice, the love of, a superior virtue, 136. 
 
 Karnes, Lord, on jealousy, 149 ; on the 
 influence of prayer, 191. 
 
 Keightley's History of the Roman Em- 
 pire cited, 225 et seq.; his testimony 
 relative to the moral influence of celi- 
 bacy, ibid. 
 
 Language, the study of, ranks high in 
 mental culture, 172; it comprehends 
 both science and art, ibid. 
 
 Laws of health, the, comprehend our rela- 
 tions to the Infinite, 9, 20. 
 
 Laws of nature, the, control all events, 
 spiritual as well as physical, 10, 11 ; the 
 laws of God, 225 ; will soon be recog- 
 nized by all classes of philosophers as 
 being as undeviating in the moral as 
 in the material world, 11 ; Draper, 
 Buckle, and Lecky relative to, cited 
 ibid. 
 
 Lecky, Mr., on the universality of law, 
 11 ; on the Greek idea of culture, 103; 
 his History of European Morals cited, 
 11, 18; also of Rationalism in Europe, 
 103, 153. 
 
 Lee, Dr. C. A., on the effect of alcohol, 
 92. 
 
 Leechman, Rev. Dr., on prayer, and the 
 
 unchangeableness of the Divine purpose, 
 189, 190. 
 
 Lewes on the mind and brain, 14 ; alcohol, 
 93 ; tobacco, 77. 
 
 Liebig's hypothesis of nutrition, 92. 
 
 Light, influence of, on the mind, 27 ; 
 Cowper's experience cited, ibid.; melan- 
 choly dissipated by, ibid. 
 
 Literature, the study of, an exalted recre- 
 ation, 173; a cure for grief and disap- 
 pointment, an antidote for sorrow, ibid. ; 
 the control of, long maintained by the 
 church, 174; the influence of, on the 
 young, 175 ; literature more influential 
 over the mind than companions, 174. 
 
 Longevity, promoted by mental pursuits, 
 106 ; examples of, among statesmen and 
 philosophers, 106-108 ; among paint- 
 ers, 109; among sculptors, no; among 
 scholars, 113; adverse influence of in- 
 digence on, 115, 116. 
 
 Love, two phases of, the virtuous and 
 vicious, 177 ; virtuous, an inspiration to 
 all that is good and noble, ibid.; vicious, 
 in marriage or outside of it, demoralizing, 
 177, 200, 201, 204, 205, et seq.; Home's 
 views of virtuous love, 177; Petrarch 
 believed love to be the " holiest right of 
 the soul," ibid. ; the essence of religion, 
 ibid. ; Southey's opinion, ibid. ; Terence 
 on the transforming influence of, ibid.; 
 Cowley's sentiment in illustration of the 
 nature of, ibid. ; the exercise of true, an 
 indication of nobility, 178; true mar- 
 riage the evolution of, 195 ; Buckle's 
 opinion respecting the heart's need of, 
 ibid. ; Mrs. Evans Lewes on the exalt- 
 ing influence of, 201 ; in marriage, an 
 indispensable requisite for generating 
 well-endowed children, 212 et seq.; 
 Mr. Combe's view of, incomplete, 212; 
 Sir J. Mackintosh's indebtedness to, 
 201 ; Melanchthon's acknowledgment 
 of the influence of, ibid. ; Mill's elevated 
 sentiment of, 195. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, tribute to his 
 wife, 201. 
 
 Maddens Infirmities of Genius cited, 112. 
 
 Man, mind the most important part of, 
 3, 17; a physiological unit, 19. 
 
 Mania and alcoholism, the parallel of, 
 69. 
 
 Margravine's advice respecting the care 
 of a mother, or of her who is about to 
 become such, 207. 
 
 Marriage, the nature of, 195; the true 
 and false, ibid.; instinctive compre- 
 hension of the true, ibid., 221 ; the 
 necessity of, ibid. ; the demands of man- 
 hood and womanhood for, ibid. ; the 
 poetic conception of, in Genesis, ibid. ; 
 Mr. Mill's fine ideal of, 196; Mr. Al- 
 ger's excellent pen-sketch of, ibid. ; the 
 sanctity of, 107; Statins, line sentiment 
 of, ibid. : Theodore Parker's idea of, 
 ibid.: the Christian's view of, of the 
 earth earthy, ibid.; the Roman Catho- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 239 
 
 lie doctrine concerning, ibid. ; the civil 
 view of, ibid. ; the influence of, on the 
 individual and the state, 198 ; true, an 
 inspiration to virtue ; false, an incite- 
 ment to evil, ibid. ; Mill cited, ibid. ; 
 promotes mental balance, and extirpates 
 selfishness, 199; Washington Irving's 
 views of, ibid. ; cases in confirmation of 
 the hallowed influence of, ibid., 200; 
 Mr. Alger on the cementing of, ibid. ; 
 Mackintosh's tribute to the influence of, 
 201 ; the starting-point in many men's 
 career in virtue or vice, 201, 202 ; influ- 
 ence of, on health and longevity, ibid. ; 
 statistics collected by M. Bertillon, of 
 Paris, on, ibid. ; woman no exception to 
 the operation of the influence of, 203 ; 
 cases of flirts, cited in confirmation, ibid.; 
 man and woman designed to be mutu- 
 ally helpful in, 204 ; the sexes not com- 
 plete without, ibid. ; the mismated de- 
 moralized by, ibid. ; love descends into 
 lust in impure, 205 ; cases in illustration 
 of the evils of discordant, 205 ; the influ- 
 ence of, on the progeny, for weal or woe, 
 206 et seq. ; ill-assorted, full of woe to 
 the children, ibid. ; the teachings of 
 physiology relative to the laws of hered- 
 itary descent, and their bearings on, I 
 208 et seq. ; cases in confirmation of, 
 ibid.; M. Esquirol quoted, ibid.; Mr. 
 Combe's views cited, 211 ; the requisite 
 conditions of true marriage, 212; moral 
 and intellectual qualities no adequate 
 fitness for, ibid. ; Mr. Combe contro- 
 verted, cases in confirmation of the 
 author's views of, ibid, et seq.; great 
 men may be produced in indifferent, 
 213 ; but good and great men, never, 214 ; 
 man no chance product of nature, ibid. ; 
 the quality of, largely influences his 
 destiny, ibid. ; absence of, better for the 
 progeny than impure, ibid, et seq. ; 
 some of the evils on the mother of dis- 
 cordant, 218; children cursed in un- 
 chaste, before they are born, ibid. ; an 
 illustration of "being conceived in sin 
 and born in iniquity," ibid. ; the ordi- 
 nary influences to, ibid. ; Dr. Johnson's 
 statement of the motives which lead to, 
 219 ; the rights of maternity not re- 
 spected in discordant, ibid. : the re- 
 pugnance to child-bearing of the dis- 
 cordantly married, 220 ; unhappy, an 
 incitement to infanticide and foeticide, 
 ibid. ; the contrast between the true 
 and false, 221 ; the remedy for the evils 
 of discordant, 222 ; obeying the laws of 
 God the true remedy for the evils of, 
 ibid. ; legislation in respect to, itself an 
 evil, ibid. ;_ virtue in, not a proper ob- 
 ject of legislative edicts, 223; examples 
 of the ancients relative to, ibid. ; the 
 lesson of Rome, ibid. ; the influence of 
 celibacy on, 225 et seq.; morals and, 
 depraved by celibacy, 226 et seq.; 
 Lycurgus's recommendations relative 
 to, 227; Solon's regulations of, 227,231. 
 
 Massachusetts, State Board of Health of, 
 reports, 25, 68, 71. 
 
 Materialism not inconsistent with spirit- 
 uality, nor degrading to man, nor op- 
 posed to the dignity of Deity, 50. 
 
 Matter, the nature of, obscure, 12 ; is in- 
 separable from force, 13 ; the laws of, 
 objects of study, its essence beyond the 
 ken of reason, 12, 13; Deity in, 50; 
 relation of mind and, 13, 50. 
 
 Maudsley on the mind, 13, 15 ; psychical 
 properties of drugs, 45 ; on alcohol, 69 ; 
 on biography, 169. 
 
 Mayhew, Mr., views of, on the needs of 
 the London poor, criticised, 36, 37. 
 
 Medicines, psychical influence of, 46; 
 views of Maudsley on, 45 ; modus ope- 
 randi of, 47 ; views of Paine, quoted, 
 ibid. 
 
 Melanchthon's indebtedness to Catherine, 
 his wife, 201. 
 
 Memory, men distinguished for, 123, 124 ; 
 examples of remarkable, 124, 125 ; views 
 of Sir Wm. Hamilton on, 124. 
 
 Mental labor favorable to longevity, 106; 
 examples cited, ibid, et seq.; embar- 
 rassed by errors of living, 125 ; Eich- 
 horn's views, 112; Dr. Caldwell's views, 
 ibid. 
 
 Mental powers, symptoms of the failure 
 of the, 121 ; serious symptoms of, ibid. ; 
 the remedy for, 122. 
 
 " Middlemarch" cited on the power of 
 love, 20T. 
 
 Mill, J. S., the beautiful tribute to his 
 wife, 201 ; his Subjection of Woman 
 cited, 195 ; his fine conception of love, 
 and marriage, ibid. 
 
 Mind, the, not an entity, 12 ; phenomena 
 of, the result of the nervous functions of 
 living beings, ibid. ; not separable from 
 matter, except in conception, 13; the 
 brain the organ of, 12 et seq.; nature 
 of, obscure and incomprehensible, 12, 
 13 ; is a part of nature, and subject to 
 the organic laws, 15 et seq. ; is the 
 supreme evolution of organic life, 17; 
 consciousness gives no knowledge of, 13 ; 
 complete dependence of, on the brain 
 and nervous system, 19 ; development 
 of, consentaneous with the development 
 of the nervous system, 14 ; the mutual 
 dependence of mind and matter, of 
 body and mind, 20 et seq. ; affected by 
 morbific causes, 21 et seq.; the victim 
 of "possession," 90,91 ; variously modi- 
 fied by physical and medicinal agents, 
 22 et seq.; Magendie on the, 13; the 
 views of Good, Spurzheim, Combe, 
 Maudsley, Lewes, Brown, and others 
 on the, 13 et seq.; effect of fear on, 145 ; 
 grief on, 146 ; anxiety on, ibid. ; re- 
 morse on, 147; revenge on, 149; dis- 
 appointment on, 148 ; jealousy on, 149 ; 
 influence of superstition on, 150 et 
 seq.; influence of tobacco on, 8o; of 
 alcohol on, 64 ; of opium on, 62 ; of 
 hasheesh on, 83 et seq. ; of tea and coffee 
 
240 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 on, 56, 57 ; modified by fever, 43 ; and 
 by various other diseases, 42 ; and by 
 meteorological influences, 23, 24, 25, 
 26 ; by food, 51 ; by fasting, 58, 59 ; the 
 effect of raw flesh on, 52 ; Fuseli's ex- 
 perience cited, ibid. ; Mr. Graham's 
 testimony, ibid. 
 
 Mitford's, Miss, caution against riches, 183. 
 
 Moleschott,on alcohol, 94; on hunger, 59. 
 
 Money and morality, the antagonism be- 
 tween, 137. 
 
 Morals, influence of physical agents on, 
 45 et seq. ; of meteorological condi- 
 tions, 26 ; Winslow's observations, ibid.; 
 of destitution, 28; of medicines, 45, 46; 
 of diseases, 43, 44; Winslow, Black, 
 Hahnemann, and Feuchtersleben cited 
 in support of, 44, 45 ; of food, 51 ; Hip- 
 pocrates cited, 50; of the fast, 58; of 
 alcohol, 80 et seq. ; of opium, 63 ; of 
 tea and coffee, 72; of tobacco, 81, 82; 
 degenerate condition of public, in Chris- 
 tendom, 131 et seq. 
 
 Morbid anatomy and immorality frequent- 
 ly supplement each other, 18. 
 
 Mortality, percentage of, greatest among 
 the poor, 116; least among brain- 
 workers, 106 et seq. 
 
 Mosheim, on the demoralization of the 
 Christian church consequent on en- 
 forcing the decree of celibacy, 226. 
 
 Mother, the, a proper object of tender 
 solicitude, 207 et seq.; adverse in- 
 fluences upon her reflected upon her 
 child, ibid. ; the instincts of a, will be 
 respected by the husband in true mar- 
 riage, 220, 221 ; an animal love during 
 gestation abhorrent to a, 218 et seq. 
 
 Music, influence of, on the corporal and 
 mental functions, 170; a remedy in 
 madness, ibid. ; the cultivation of, a 
 cure for vice, 171; Shakspeare's views 
 of, ibid. ; Mr. Graham's high commen- 
 dation of, ibid. 
 
 Napoleon, the ante-natal influences on, 
 211 ; his opinion of smoking, 78. 
 
 Nature, early Greek conception of, 15; 
 comprehends all things within the ken 
 of reason and observation, 15, 16. 
 
 Nutrition, the two considerations ordina- 
 rily implied in, 49 ; mental considera- 
 tions scarcely second to those of the 
 physical, 51 ; chemical views of, contro- 
 verted, 48. 
 
 Nux vomica, specific influence of, on the 
 medulla oblongata, 71 ; ill-humor caused 
 by, 46. 
 
 Opinions, fools have a plethory of, 177. 
 Opium, specific effects of, on the mind, 
 
 62 ; paralyzing effect on the passions 
 
 of, 63 ; impairs the judgment, ibid. ; 
 
 De Quincey's experience with, ibid. ; 
 
 Bayard Taylor's, 64. 
 
 Paine, Dr. Martin, on the modus operandi 
 of medicinal agents, 47. 
 
 Palpitation of the heart, a common effect 
 of tobacco, 74 et seq. ; the experiments 
 of Dr. Edward Smith cited, ibid. 
 
 Passion, the sexual, destroyed by opium, 
 63 ; stimulated by china, coffee, alcohol, 
 and tobacco, 46, 66, 82. 
 
 Pathology, moral, the necessity for a, 18 ; 
 the intimate relation of disease and 
 crime points to an identity of causes of 
 both phenomena, 18; and the mental 
 effects of medicinal agents indicate like- 
 wise the possibility of a science of moral 
 therapeutics, 18, 46; Mr. Lecky's an- 
 ticipations in this direction, 18; Ray's 
 contribution to, quoted from, 128. 
 
 " Peculiar People's," the, faith in prayer, 
 158; an analogous instance of, among 
 the barbarians of the Sandwich Islands, 
 
 159- 
 
 Pereira, Dr., on alcohol, 92. 
 
 Peruvian bark, psychical effects of, 46 ; 
 demoralizing influence of, 42. 
 
 Physician, the calling of the, a noble one, 
 133 ; deserving of special consecration, 
 ibid. ; the " doctor" does not always rise 
 to the ideal type of, 134. 
 
 Physiologist, the materialistic and the 
 metaphysical, 15 ; divergence of, ibid. ; 
 different stand-points to observe the 
 same phenomena, 14 ; the conflict of 
 opinion between them of no practical 
 importance, ibid. 
 
 Plutarch on Sparta, 230 ; his admiration 
 for the Spartan character, 231. 
 
 Possession, demoniacal, not greatly at 
 variance with fact, 90, 91 ; a new theory 
 of, ibid. 
 
 Poverty, the moral influence of, 182 ; the 
 condition of, one for gratitude, 183; 
 the meaning of, ibid. ; an incentive to 
 labor, without which there is no excel- 
 lence, ibid. ; the intended curse an 
 obvious blessing, ibid. ; Porphyry's 
 golden words, ibid. ; \Vm. Wirt's in- 
 spiring precept, ibid. 
 
 Prayer, the exercise of, an element of 
 moral hygiene, 184 ; the desire to en- 
 gage in, arises in a distinct mental 
 function, ibid. ; it affords evidence of a 
 Supreme Being, 185; it is also an in- 
 stinctive recognition of dependence, 
 ibid. ; and of the possibility of commu- 
 nion with the divine in nature, ibid. ; 
 the natural language of a superior men- 
 tal gift, ibid. ; Pope's grand utterance 
 of, 186; the meaning of, ibid.; not 
 always capable of utterance, ibid. ; the 
 influence of, on the character, ibid. ; the 
 power of, over disease and disturbed 
 emotions, ibid. ; the philosophy of, 187; 
 the Deity's answer to. ibid. ; rationale 
 of, ibid. ; the recourse to outward audi- 
 ble supplication a superstitious relic, 
 ibid. ; the Bible view of, inconsistent 
 with reason, 188; Christ and the apos- 
 tles taught extravagant views of, ibid. ; 
 the early Christians professed to heal 
 the sick by, 156, 158, 1S8 ; and to control 
 
INDEX. 
 
 24I 
 
 meteorological phenomena and national 
 affairs, ibid, et seq . ; this view of the 
 power of, not wholly abandoned, 10, 
 189, et seq.; the extraordinary claim of 
 the influence of, exceedingly impudent, 
 ibid. ; extravagant views of, the cause of 
 division in the church, ibid. ; the Revs. 
 Leechman and Blair of the last century 
 conspicuous examples of dissent from 
 the ordinary doctrines of, in the Presby- 
 terian Church, 190 et seq. ; their views 
 of, very generally entertained by Scotch 
 divines, ibid. ; Christian rationalists 
 generally opposed to the extreme Bible 
 doctrine of the power of, 191 ; views 
 of Lord Kames on, ibid. ; Mr. O. B. 
 Frothingham's, 192 ; Dr. Good's daily 
 habit of, 193 ; the influence of, on us, 
 rather than Deity, 190; excess of, full 
 of grave evil, 170; an instance cited, 
 ibid. ; intemperance in, robs labor of its 
 reward, ibid. 
 
 Principle, the lack of moral, among Chris- 
 tians, 133 et seq. ; the one thing needful, 
 ibid. ; moral, characteristic of great 
 minds, 138; the natural language of, 
 139 ; Horace Mann's views, 140; Elmer- 
 son's confirmative of, ibid. 
 
 Principles, the elementary, of the moral 
 brain outlined, 1^6 et seq. 
 
 Providence pays as he goes, 139 ; insulted 
 no less by impious prayers than blas- 
 phemy, 189. 
 
 Pulsatilla, mild, soothing influence of, 46 ; 
 causes and cures religious melancholy, 
 ibid. 
 
 Pulse, the effect of tobacco on the, 74 et 
 seq. 
 
 Quetelet's Science of Man, 28 et seq.; 
 views of, on the subjection of man to 
 nature, 30 ; tables of, illustrating the 
 modifying influences of nature and soci- 
 ety on mental development and morbid 
 psychological phenomena, 32 et seq. 
 
 Rational philosophy like light in dark 
 places, 9. 
 
 Rationalism in Europe, history of, cited, 
 103, 151, i5 2 - 
 
 Ray, Dr. Isaac, views of, on the mental 
 influence of climate, 24 ; limits of men- 
 tal labor, 122 ; subjection of mind to its 
 environments, 128. 
 
 Religion, false views of, 129 ; divorce of, 
 and morality, hypocrisy the result of, 
 134 et seq. ; Geo. Combe's views of the 
 necessity of religion and of daily re- 
 ligious training, 141, 142. 
 
 Remorse, destructive influence of, 147; 
 real or imaginary, equally depressing, 
 147, 148. 
 
 Revenge, the effect of indulging feelings 
 of, 149. 
 
 Rome, ancient, one of the lessons of her 
 decline and fall, 224. 
 
 Ross, Sir John, on the physical effects of 
 alcohol as a beverage, 93. 
 
 Rousseau on the effect of excessive men- 
 tal application, 117. 
 
 Rush, Dr. Benj., on alcohol, 95; respon- 
 sibility of society for disease, 30; diet 
 in madness, 60. 
 
 Science and the wisdom of the ages equal 
 to our guidance, 232. 
 
 Seasons, effect of, on crime, insanity, etc., 
 32 et seq. 
 
 Sentiments, the moral, the highest evolu- 
 tion of mind, 130; confer grace and 
 dignity on the character, 131 ; Emer- 
 son's views on, ibid. ; constitute man a 
 religious being, ibid.; separate him 
 from the purely animal, 132 ; deteriora- 
 tion of, among nominal Christians, 135 ; 
 defective influence of, in the medical 
 profession, 134; and in all the trades, 
 135 ; and in the amenities of social inter- 
 course, 133 ; Mr. Beecher's testimony 
 in confirmation of the fact, 159 et seq. ; 
 causes of the deterioration of, 135, 167 ; 
 the cultivation of, a duty, 131 ; give us 
 a perception of the Infinite, 129 ; pro- 
 mote health and happiness, 131 ; Dr. 
 Austin Flint on the hygienic influence of 
 the exercise of, 131. 
 
 Sin and sickness, the relation of, often one 
 of cause and sequence, 18; both largely 
 the consequence of ignorance and folly, 
 162. 
 
 Society, responsibility of, for disease and 
 crime, 28, 29 ; man's dependence on, 
 180; society's work a remedy for ner- 
 vous disorders, 181. 
 
 Sparta, life and manners at, 229; the 
 sturdy virtues and excellences of, un- 
 surpassed, ibid. 
 
 Spirituality, the faculty of, inspires to 
 purity and goodness, 137 ; illustrated in 
 the prayer of the Psalmist, 137; and the 
 words and example of Christ, ibid. 
 
 Stramonium, morbid fear and cowardice 
 of, 46. 
 
 Study, hard, promotes health and lon- 
 gevity, in ; good for infirm people, 
 112; the views of Winslow, Eichhorn, 
 Caldwell, Madden, Ray, Huet, and 
 Todd on the influence of, 111, 112, 113, 
 114, 126 ; no rules for, applicable to all, 
 in, 126. 
 
 Sulphur, obstinate effects of, 46. 
 
 Superstition, its origin a credit to man, 
 150; the abuse of, attended with evil, 
 151 ; Mr. Lecky on, ibid. ; common to 
 the primitive mind, 151 ; founded on 
 faith, 150 ; is dispelled by knowledge, 
 
 Table showing the relation of ignorance 
 and crime, 38 ; of sex and crime, 39 ; 
 of seasons and crime, 40 ; of insanity 
 and crime, 41 ; of insanity, as influenced 
 by age, 33 ; by sex, 34 ; by the seasons, 
 32 ; of suicides, as affected by age, 35 ; by 
 the seasons, 34: of intemperance, show- 
 ing the effect of on pauperism, 71 ; of 
 
242 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 illegitimate births compared with legiti- 
 mate, 233; oflongevity of distinguished 
 women, 115; of comparative longevity, 
 as influenced by trades and professions, 
 ibid. 
 
 Taylor, Bayard, on tobacco, 80 ; opium, 
 63 ; coffee, 57; hasheesh, 83 et seq. 
 
 Tea, effect of, on the mind, 58, 72; supe- 
 rior to coffee, ibid. ; the tonic effects of, 
 on the brain and mind, ibid. 
 
 Temperance, a rule of life, 169 ; its ob- 
 servance applicable to the exercise of 
 the mental as well as the bodily powers, 
 ibid. 
 
 Theology, the propagation of, a bar to 
 moral culture, 15 ; obscure propagation 
 of, the real object and purpose of re- 
 ligion, 15; and impose restrictions on 
 inquiry, ibid. ; Maudsley's views on, 
 ibid. ; Carpenter's confirmative of, 153; 
 the love of abstract controversy a legacy 
 bequeathed to medicine by, 15. 
 
 Therapeutics, a science of moral, fore- 
 shadowed in the development of medi- 
 cine, 18 ; the necessity for, indicated 
 in the universal prevalence of mental 
 aberration, 133, 135, 136, 159, 160, 
 161. 
 
 Tobacco, mental influence of, 73 ; Mr. 
 Axon's paper on, 74 et seq.; author's 
 views, 75 et seq. ; Mr. Lewes's favora- 
 ble views of the use of, 78 ; adverse 
 opinions of Druhen, Blatin, Lizars, 
 Parton, Napoleon, and others, 78 et 
 
 seq. ; Mr. Taylor's eulogy of, 79 ; in- 
 fluence of, on the heart and pulse, 74 ; 
 on the sympathetic system, 77 ; vertigo 
 caused by, 76; death caused by, ibid. ; 
 the habitual use of, devoid of aesthetic 
 beauty, 77 ; deteriorates the moral pow- 
 ers, 79 ; produces cowardice, 78 ; self- 
 ishness, morbid irritability, and rest- 
 lessness caused by, 81. 
 Todd, Rev. John, his views of culture and 
 the limits of brain-work, 126; different 
 capabilities of mental endurance, ibid. ; 
 the German mind more hardy than that 
 of Americans, ibid. ; reading not study, 
 ibid. ; six hdurs of hard study a day 
 sufficient, 127 ; morning the best time 
 for study, ibid. 
 
 Veneration a moral element, 136; the 
 exercise of, a religious virtue, 137 ; in- 
 cites to worship and love the Supreme 
 Good, ibid. 
 
 Vertigo from tobacco-smoking, 76. 
 
 Winslow, Dr. Forbes, views of, on the 
 wholesomeness of study and literary 
 pursuits, 111"; examples of longevity 
 quoted from, 112 et seq. 
 
 Women, The Friendships of, quoted, 179, 
 196, 201 ; the love of a noble woman has 
 reclaimed many a man from a career 
 of vice, 201 et seq. ; grand character of 
 the Spartan, 230; influence of marriage 
 on, 207 et seq. 
 
 THE END. 
 
IMPORTANT MEDICAL WORKS 
 
 RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
 71S and 717 MARKET STREET, Philadelphia. 
 
 A New and Revised Edition of the United States 
 
 Dispensatory. The DISPENSATORY OF THE UNITED 
 STATES OF AMERICA. By George B. Wood, M.D., and 
 Franklin Bache, M.D. Thirteenth Edition. Carefully Revised 
 and Corrected, with Numerous Important Additions. One Vol- 
 ume, Royal Svo. Superfine paper. Sheep. $10.00. 
 
 Hand-Book of Operative Surgery. By John H. 
 
 Packard, M.D., Sec. of the Coll. of Physicians of Phila., etc. 
 With Fifty-four Steel Plates, and Numerous Illustrations on Wood. 
 8vo. Extra cloth. $5.00. 
 
 "Its distinguishing feature is abundant I quent opportunity of witnessing practical 
 illustration, and in this respect it is un- surgery, the volume before us will prove 
 equaled by any hand-book with which of unquestionable value." — N. Y. Med. 
 we are acquainted. . . . To students Record. 
 and practitioners who have not the fre- | 
 
 Medical Diagnosis with Special Reference to Prac- 
 tical Medicine. A Guide to the Knowledge and Discrimination 
 of Diseases. By J. M. Da Costa, M.D. Illustrated with En- 
 gravings on Wood. Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 8vo. 
 Fine cloth, $6.00; sheep, $7 00. 
 
 " To digest and memorize the matter | book which will do credit to our national 
 of all its pages will well repay the labor medical literature." — Amer. Jour, of 
 it costs. It may be welcomed as a text- | Med. Sciences. 
 
 d Compend of Materia Me die a and Therapeutics. 
 
 For the Use of Students. By John C. Riley, A.M., M.D., Prof, 
 of Mat. Med. and Therap. in the Nat. Med. Coll., etc. 8vo. 
 Extra cloth. $3.00. 
 
 " Prof. Riley has done his work very I are very concise and remarkably accu- 
 •ell. . . . The descriptions of the rate." — N. Y. Med. Journal. 
 arious articles of the Materia Medica 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT &> CO. 
 
 A Handbook of Medical Microscopy. By Joseph 
 
 G. Richardson, M.D., Microscopist to the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
 Philadelphia. i2mo. Fine cloth. $2.25. 
 
 This work is designed to supplement by- 
 minuteness of detail and accuracy of illus- 
 tration the practical instruction so gener- 
 ally necessary for an advantageous use of 
 the instrument as an aid to the diagnosis 
 of disease. It should be in the hands of 
 every medical man who either possesses 
 a microscope or contemplates purchasing 
 one, since, in the latter case, it will often 
 save many times its own cost by advice 
 
 in regard to the selection of apparatus ; 
 while the advanced student and practi- 
 tioner of medicine will find in it brief but 
 precise directions for the various kinds of 
 research, according to the most recent 
 discoveries, as well as for the avoidance 
 of those errors of interpretation which are 
 sometimes so mortifying to the inexpe- 
 rienced observer. 
 
 Rand's Medical Chemistry. A New Edition of 
 
 Elements of Medical Chemistry. By B. Howard Rand, M D., 
 Professor of Chemistry in the Jefferson Medical College. Care- 
 fully Revised, with Additions. Illustrated. i2mo. Extra cloth, 
 $2.00; sheep, $2.50. 
 
 "We commend it to the student as the 
 best vade-mecum we have yet seen. We 
 shall also adopt it as a text-book in our 
 
 College of Pharmacy." — St. Louis Med 
 Reporter. 
 
 "Prof. Rand has long held, as he has | to its different subjects, 
 deserved, a high position as a teacher of 
 Chemistry. The simplicity, clearness, 
 ind absence of all superfluity, which 
 characterize his lecture-room demonstra- 
 tions, are seen in this book from the be- 
 ginning to the end. We would especially 
 -emark the due apportionment of space 
 
 . Medi- 
 cal students may feel themselves greatly 
 indebted to Prof. Rand for furnishing 
 them with a text-book so portable, con- 
 venient, and concise, and yet so lucid and 
 full, as to the really essential elements of 
 chemistry." — Medical and Surgical Re- 
 porter, Philadelpiiia. 
 
 Opium and the Opium- Appetite. With Notices of 
 
 Alcoholic Beverages, Cannabis Indica, Tobacco, Coca, Tea, and 
 Coffee, in their Hygeienic Aspects and Pathologic Relations. By 
 Alonzo Calkins, M.D. i2mo. Extra cloth. $1.75. 
 
 This volume forms an elaborate treatise I assuming greater importance, and in 
 jespecting the character and use of stim- | which all classes of thoughtful readers 
 ilants. Its subject is one that is daily | are more or less interested. 
 
 Microscopical Manipulation^ being the Subject- 
 
 matter of a Course of Lectures delivered before the Quekett Micro- 
 scopical Club, January— April, 1 869. By W. T. Suffolk, 
 F.R.M.S. Illustrated with Forty-nine Engravings and Seven 
 Lithographs. Crown 8vo. Fine cloth. $2.00. 
 
 Mr. Suffolk gives an explanation of 
 
 &e construction of the microscope, and 
 
 >aar, practical directions for preparing 
 
 abides and other apparatus, mounting and 
 
 preserving objects, and conducting a great 
 variety of experiments and researches. 
 The book is well illustrated."— N. York 
 Tribune. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT <Sr» CO. 
 
 A System of Medicine. Edited by J. Russell Rey- 
 nolds, M.D., F.R.C.P., and contributed to by the most eminent 
 Physicians of England. Vol. I., General Diseases; or, Affections 
 of the Whole System. I. Those Determined by Agents operating 
 from Without. II. Those Determined by Conditions existing 
 Within the Human Body. A New Edition, thoroughly Revised 
 and Enlarged. Extra cloth, $6.00 ; sheep, $7.25. 
 
 In a review of the First Edition, the 
 London Lancet said : " It is unnecessary 
 to say a word in favor of the high claims 
 of all these gentlemen to speak with au- 
 
 thority on the subjects which they re- 
 spectively handle; and we congratulate 
 the editor on his distinguished success in 
 securing the services of such a staff." 
 
 Manual of Hypodermic Medication. By Roberts 
 
 Bartholow, A.M., M.D., Professor of Materia Medica and Thera- 
 peutics in the Medical College of Ohio ; author of the Russell and 
 Jewett Prize Essay, of the National Medical Association Prize 
 Essay on Atropia, for 1869, etc. etc. i2mo. Toned paper. 
 Extra cloth. #1.50. 
 
 "Dr. Bartholow has written a new chapter in the history of Therapeutics."— 
 Phila. Press. 
 
 Sleep and its Derangements. By W. A. Hammond, 
 
 M.D., Professor of Diseases of the Mind and Nervous System, and 
 of Clinical Medicine in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, 
 New York, etc. i2mo. Toned paper. Extra cloth. $1.75. 
 
 "When the original monograph ap- 
 peared, it received our careful attention 
 and commendation; and now we have 
 only to repeat our good words, and ex- 
 
 A Treatise on the Diseases and Surgery of the 
 
 Mouth, Jaws, and Associate Parts. By James E. Garretson, 
 M.D., D.D.S., etc. Illustrated with Steel Plates and numerous 
 Wood-cuts. 8vo. Extra cloth. $7.50. 
 
 " There is no work of the kind which bears comparison with it."- — Pacific Med. 
 and Surg. Journal. 
 
 Percussion and Auscultation as Diagnostic Aids. A 
 
 Manual for Students and Practitioners of Medicine. By Dr. Carl 
 Hoppe, Assistant Physician to the Sixth Westphalian Regiment of 
 Infantry. Translated by L. C. Lane, M.D. l6mo. Tinted 
 paper. Extra cloth. $1.50. 
 
 A masterpiece in both thoroughness and brevity. 
 
 press our gratification that the work has 
 undergone such careful revision." — Cin- 
 cinnati Lancet and Observer. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT &* CC. 
 
 A MAGNIFICENT WORK. 
 
 A CRITICAL DICTIONARY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE 
 
 AND 
 
 BRITISH AND AMERICAN AUTHORS, 
 
 LIVING AND DECEASED. 
 
 From the Earliest Accounts to the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century. Con- 
 taining over Forty-six Thousand Articles (Authors), with 
 Forty Indexes of Subjects. 
 
 BY S. AUSTIN ALLIBONE. 
 
 Complete in Three Volumes, Imperial &vo. 3140 pages. Price per vol.'. Extra 
 Cloth, $7.50; Library Sheep, $8.50; Half Turkey, $9.50. 
 
 OPINIONS ON THE MERITS OF THE WORK. 
 - " As the work of a single man it is one of the wonders of literary industry. Every 
 
 MAN WHO EVER OWNED AN ENGLISH BOOK, OR EVER MEANS TO OWN ONE, WILL FIND 
 
 something here to his purpose." — Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 " Far superior to any other work of the kind in our language." — Lord Macaulay. 
 
 " All things considered, the most remarkable literary work ever executed by one 
 man." — American Literary Gazette. 
 
 " It may be safely said that it is the most valuable and comprehensive manual of 
 English literature yet compiled." — New York Evening Post. 
 
 " There seems to be no doubt that the book will be welcomed to innumerable read- 
 ing beings." — Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 "As a bibliographical work it is simply priceless." — New Yo^k Independent. 
 
 " We are proud that it is the work of an American. We earnestly recommend every 
 reader, student and teacher, and, we had almost said, every patriotic citizen, to secure 
 a copy of Allibone's Dictionary of Authors." — Boston Evening Transcript. 
 
 "A monument of unsparing industry, indefatigable research, sound and impartial 
 judgment and critical acumen." — Washington Irving. 
 
 " These volumes are treasuries of English literature, without which no collection of 
 books in our mother-tongue can be considered in any way satisfactory. They contain 
 what can be possessed in no other way than by the ownership of whole libraries of 
 books." — Philadelphia Ledger. 
 
 " If the rest of the work is as ably executed as that embraced under the first three 
 letters of the alphabet, it cannot fail to be an important contribution to English litera- 
 ture."— W. H. Prescott. 
 
 " No dictionary of the authors of any language has ever before been undertaken on so 
 grand a scale. For convenience and trustworthiness this work is probably not sur- 
 passed by any similar production in the whole range of modern literature. The author 
 has erected a monument of literary industry of which the country has reason to be 
 proud." — New York Tribune. 
 
 " In the English names alone Mr. Allibone's Dictionary will be far more complete 
 than any work of the kind published in the country." — London Daily News. 
 
 Dr. William Smith, who is accorded to be one of the greatest compilers of the 
 present age, has paid to the work of Mr. Allibone this generous tribute : " I have fre- 
 quently consulted it, and have always found what I wanted. The information is given 
 in that clear style and condensed form which is so important in a dictionary." 
 
 " Very important and very valuable." — Charles Dickens. 
 
 Special Circulars, containing a full description 0/ the work, with specimen pages, 
 will be sent, post-paid, on application. 
 
 <w 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. L T PPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 PRESCOTT'S WORKS. 
 
 CROWN OCTAVO EDITION. 
 
 COMPLETE IN FIFTEEN UNIFORM VOLUMES. 
 
 EACH VOLUME WITH PORTRAIT ON STEEL. 
 
 Prescotfs History of the Reign of Ferdinand and 
 
 Isabella the Catholic. Three vols. 8vo. 
 Prescotfs Biographical and Critical Miscellanies. 
 
 With a finely engraved steel Portrait of the Author. One vol. 8vo. 
 
 Prescotfs History of the Conquest of Mexico, with 
 
 a Preliminary View of the Ancient Mexican Civilization, and the 
 Life of the Conqueror, Fernando Cortez. In three vols. 8vo. 
 
 Prescotfs History of the Reign of Philip the 
 
 Second, King of Spain. In three vols. 8vo. 
 
 Prescotfs History of the Conquest of Peru, with a 
 Preliminary View of the Civilization of the Incas. In two vols. 8vo. 
 
 Prescotfs Robertsons History of the Reign of the 
 
 Emperor Charles the Fifth. With an account of the Emperor's 
 
 Life after his Abdication. In three vols. 8vo. 
 
 Each work sold separately. Price per vol., cloth, $2.50; half calf, 
 
 neat, $3.75 ; half calf, gilt extra, marble edges, $4.25 ; half Turkey, gilt 
 
 top, $4.50. Complete sets, printed on tinted paper, handsomely bound 
 
 in green or claret-colored cloth, gilt top, beveled boards. Price, $40. 
 
 CHAMBERS'S BOOK OF DAYS. 
 
 The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular An- 
 
 tiquities in connection with the Calendar, including Anecdote, 
 Biography and History, Curiosities of Literature, and Oddities of 
 Human Life and Character. In two vols, royal 8vo. Price per 
 set, cloth, $9; sheep, $10 ; half Turkey, $11. Edited under the 
 supervision of Robert Chambers. 
 This work consists of 
 
 I. — Matters connected with the Church Calendar, including the Popu- 
 lar Festivals, Saints' Days, and other Holidays, with illustra- 
 tions of Christian Antiquities in general. 
 H.~Phenomena connected with the Seasonal Changes. 
 III. — Folk-Lore of the United Kingdom : namely, Popular Notions and 
 
 Observances connected with Times and Seasons. 
 IV,— Notable Events, Biographies and Anecdotes connected with the 
 
 Days of the Year. 
 V. — Articles of Popular Archaeology, of an entertaining character 
 tending to illustrate the progress of Civilization, Manners, 
 Literature and Ideas in those kingdoms. 
 VI. — Curious, Fugitive and Inedited Pieces. 
 
 The work is printed in a new, elegant and readable type and illus- 
 trated with an abundance of Woo< J Engravings. 
 
PUBLICATIONS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
 
 The Medical Times. 
 
 A WEEKLY JOURNAL OF 
 
 MEDICAL AND SURGICAL SCIENCE. 
 
 The leading features of this Periodical, which is intended to supply 
 an important want and to subserve the growing intelligence of the 
 Medical Profession, are as follows : 
 
 T. There is a department in each issue for Original Lectures, which 
 are furnished by the most distinguished clinical teachers in this and 
 other cities. 
 
 II. The space devoted to Original Communications in each number 
 is large, and articles will be contributed to it by many of the most 
 eminent American authors. 
 
 III. There is a department devoted to the publication of the records 
 of Important Cases, and of brief summaries illustrating Hospital 
 Practice. 
 
 IV. The Journal is open to the free and thorough discussion of all 
 important questions relating to Medical Science, Hygiene, Medical 
 Jurisprudence, Medical Education, Hospital Management, and kindred 
 subjects. 
 
 V. Abstracts of the Transactions of Medical and Scientific Societies 
 are furnished. 
 
 VI. In arranging the department of Foreign and Domestic Corre- 
 spondence, care has been taken to secure frequent and full accounts of 
 the progress of medicine, and of all important medical movements in 
 the principal cities of the world. 
 
 VII. Short but careful Reviews of the more important medical pub- 
 lications form a feature. 
 
 VIII. Reports of recent Improvements, Discoveries and Important 
 Observations in all branches of Medical Science are furnished in each 
 issue. 
 
 IX. Under the head of Medical Miscellany an ample summary is 
 presented of matters of general interest to the profession. 
 
 X. Illustrations are introduced when necessaxy for the elucidation 
 of the subjects discussed. 
 
 The Publishers are happy to be able to announce that among the 
 regular contributors to this Journal are many of the most distinguished 
 writers in the Medical Profession. 
 
 The Medical Times is published every Saturday. 
 
 Yearly Subscription, $5, in advance. Single Number, 12 
 
 CENTS. 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., Publishers, 
 
 715 and 717 Market Street, Philadelphia.