Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
to be almost inert as far as regards the mass of mankind , when it is employed as the sole means of instruction ; -in a word , we take the nature of man to be , that he is half an angel and half a beast , _ he has long been treated as a being actuated by reason in opposition to instinct ; on the contrary , he has as many and dominant instincts as any other animal : it is requisite to educate these instincts and convert them to
, the best purposes . B y appealing only to the angelie nature of man , you may incite him to acts ^ of heroism and martyrdom ; but to make him perform constantl y and surel y the many unobtrusive duties which form the daily beauty of his life , the corporal habits must be brought to blend with , and assist , the suggestions of the loftier faculties . To apply this principle to the correction ofthe public morals in
every respect , would require more space than our limits allow ; but , since all are agreed that drinking is a vice more prevalent than any other , and that it forms the incipient step from which most other crimes take their origin , we shall commence by showing how the growth oi this baneful practice is produced , and how the management of the habit may be employed for its correction . It must be observed , in the first place that
the love of drinking is a propensity , various in its nature , various in its degree , and differing in both respects in its moral delinquency . Independently of drinking purely to quench thirst , the majority of persons drink from habit : this being created b y imitation of those b y whom they have been brought up , as is the case with our regular meals of tea and coffee , in which obviously more is drunk , and with less
expedition , than would be necessary , if we took them on account of thirst . The habit , however , must have had originally a deeper source , which appears to have been listlessness , the want of amusement , or , what is almost the same thing , of employment . These fluids are allowed by the doctors to have some sli ght influence on the nerves , causing , according to them , a gentle exhilaration , or even a distant approach to intoxication followed
by depression : such is possibly the case , when they are taken in inordinate quantities , and of unusual strength ; but upon the whole , the symptoms are so slight , and among the lower class of persons so little time is allowed for their production , that we may conclude the habit of employing oneself in the act of tasting and swallowing a particular fluid , at a particular time , and in company with others , to be the main cause of the great consumption of tea and coffee which is constantly taking place .
But to habit , the custom of imitation , and the necessity for some species of employment to fill up the listless intervals of leisure , we must add another , and a much more powerful motive as the cause of the consumption of intoxicating liquors—it is the anticipation of a hi ghly pleasurable excitement : —no one can deny this . In vain the self-admiring ascetic may abuse any departure from water drinking as invor , I .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
to be almost inert as far as regards the mass of mankind , when it is employed as the sole means of instruction ; -in a word , we take the nature of man to be , that he is half an angel and half a beast , _ he has long been treated as a being actuated by reason in opposition to instinct ; on the contrary , he has as many and dominant instincts as any other animal : it is requisite to educate these instincts and convert them to
, the best purposes . B y appealing only to the angelie nature of man , you may incite him to acts ^ of heroism and martyrdom ; but to make him perform constantl y and surel y the many unobtrusive duties which form the daily beauty of his life , the corporal habits must be brought to blend with , and assist , the suggestions of the loftier faculties . To apply this principle to the correction ofthe public morals in
every respect , would require more space than our limits allow ; but , since all are agreed that drinking is a vice more prevalent than any other , and that it forms the incipient step from which most other crimes take their origin , we shall commence by showing how the growth oi this baneful practice is produced , and how the management of the habit may be employed for its correction . It must be observed , in the first place that
the love of drinking is a propensity , various in its nature , various in its degree , and differing in both respects in its moral delinquency . Independently of drinking purely to quench thirst , the majority of persons drink from habit : this being created b y imitation of those b y whom they have been brought up , as is the case with our regular meals of tea and coffee , in which obviously more is drunk , and with less
expedition , than would be necessary , if we took them on account of thirst . The habit , however , must have had originally a deeper source , which appears to have been listlessness , the want of amusement , or , what is almost the same thing , of employment . These fluids are allowed by the doctors to have some sli ght influence on the nerves , causing , according to them , a gentle exhilaration , or even a distant approach to intoxication followed
by depression : such is possibly the case , when they are taken in inordinate quantities , and of unusual strength ; but upon the whole , the symptoms are so slight , and among the lower class of persons so little time is allowed for their production , that we may conclude the habit of employing oneself in the act of tasting and swallowing a particular fluid , at a particular time , and in company with others , to be the main cause of the great consumption of tea and coffee which is constantly taking place .
But to habit , the custom of imitation , and the necessity for some species of employment to fill up the listless intervals of leisure , we must add another , and a much more powerful motive as the cause of the consumption of intoxicating liquors—it is the anticipation of a hi ghly pleasurable excitement : —no one can deny this . In vain the self-admiring ascetic may abuse any departure from water drinking as invor , I .