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the new views. It has doubtless been a surprise to all critical readers to find the materialist so loud in affirmation and so puzzle-headed in argument, so fierce in his demands for logic and so backward in furnishing it. Bottom in his two moods is inevitably suggested. "I will roar you that it will do any man's heart good to hear me;" but fearing to frighten the ladies, he changes his mind and resolves, "I will roar you as gently as any sucking dove; I will roar you an 'twere any nightingale." At times the advanced thinkers flirt with instinct and impulse in the old common-sense fashion; and once in a while they even go so far as to blaspheme logic and logical consequences. Especially do they turn a deaf ear to demands for consistency, and practise the old theological eclecticism. One professor, in the very lecture in which he proved that we are in all respects what the viscera and nerves make us, urged us to do the duty which lies next to us, as if an automaton could have duties. Our advanced teachers abound in moral exhortation. Many of their performances in this direction are as edifying as the old manuals of devotion. Assuming logic to be valid and logical reasoning to be possible, we feel insulted by such exhortation. We have a feeling that our teachers are poking fun at But all our trouble arises from the fancy that logical reasoning is still possible; and all our difficulties vanish when we abandon this pestilent heresy. Reasoning is only the inner side of a nerve-process. Consistency might be expected of free minds; but who would expect consistency of nerves? From this standpoint, the abiding wonder is not that the nerves reason badly now and then, but that they ever reason well. If, then, a clump of advanced thoughts fall into irrelevant and inconsistent moral exhortation, it only means that the nerves have wrought in that direction. If such a clump show a remarkable backwardness in drawing a conclusion, the reason is that the nerves are set in another way. The amiable commonplace, the mild religiosity, the occasional attacks of fierce morality, which are the chief components of an advanced thinker, are no indications of personal character, but represent only the droll ways of the nervous plexuses and their nascent motor excitations. Matter plays hide-and-seek, with us, that is all. If the advanced thinker were a person, and were free to think rationally, we should insist on logic; but as this is not the case, the nerves

us.

Reductio ad absurdum.

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must be left to their own devices. Anything good which they may grind out is so much clear again; their illogicality and frequent errors must be reckoned to the misery of being.

Looking, then, at the world-system with materialistic eyes, we see a perpetual and necessary kaleidoscopic process. Parts of this process are attended by thoughts partly true, but mostly false. By hypothesis all of those thoughts which collide with materialism are false. In particular, the notions of right and wrong and freedom and all religious beliefs are pure fictions, by hypothesis, of course. Throughout the world-process there is a strong and almost overwhelming tendency to dream and falsehood; and but for a few advanced thoughts, error would have reigned supreme. Sadly enough, also, whether these advanced thoughts shall hold their own depends in no way upon their truth, but upon the nerves. Beliefs too are seen to be changing. This fact in itself is insignificant, but it is important in its implications. Each belief is the inner side of a nervous state; and a change in one points to a change in the other. What direction the nervous states will take in the future is not clear. It is highly improbable that the evolution philosophy is itself the only philosophy which is exempt from the law of evolution. We must expect that sooner or later all things and opinions will pass, the evolution dogma among the rest. The outlook upon practice is equally suggestive. Hitherto action has been under the influence of those nervous states which have God, freedom, and righteousness for their inner face. It is not sure what it will be when they are displaced by opposite nervous states. History and experience are not without their suggestions; and theory points to a reversal of current principles of action. If it were simply a matter of opinion, it would be immaterial; but as it is a matter of profound changes in the nerves, a change of some kind must result. There is no telling what horrors the nerves may have in store. Of course in this language there is an implicit assumption of freedom, but it is in the language only. We expressly disclaim all power to order our thoughts, to criticise, to draw conclusions, or to resign ourselves to the inevitable.

Plainly this result logically cancels all further inquiry. If there were a mind able to grasp the theory and its consequences, it would declare that the mind can be only a passive

spectator of the nervous unfolding. But of course there is no spectator, passive or otherwise. The advanced thinker himself vanishes into advanced thoughts. The nerves are all and in all. The preparation of this paper has been attended by some thoughts; but that thought at most was only the sign to nobody that the nerves were at work. If, then, any advanced nerves should produce a feeling of dislike to anything therein recorded, the nerves which produced this paper produce also the hope that the advanced nerves will supplement the dislike by producing the soothing conviction that it is all a necessary nerve-process. Finally, if any advanced thinker should escape from his nerves so as to become capable of logical reasoning, we request, as a great favour, and as a duty to advanced science, that he show where the logic of these conclusions fails. We have learned by heart the various assurances that truth can do no harm. We fear also that this half-heartedness, this dallying with compromise, this sewing of the new cloth to the old garment, prevents us from reaping the fulness of blessing which advanced science has procured for us. Moreover, it is bringing advanced science itself into discredit. When an advanced thinker begins to descant on duty, there are sundry advanced actors who say with Gretchen, though by no means in her spirit, "That's about what the preacher says, only with rather different words." Then follow sundry brutal sneers about a chromo-religion. And the theologians, too, are beginning to take heart. A few years ago they were pretty thoroughly cowed, or at least bullied; but now that the advanced thinkers have been so illogical as to lay stress on duty and religious sentiment, they are bringing out their degrading dogmas with the old assurance. And it must be confessed that Christianity can outdo advanced science on the field of instinct and sentiment. Besides, we who have followed the prophets of the new dispensation out of the theological and illogical Egypt, ought not to be left in the desert without manna and without sight of the promised land. Our nerves, however,

will not stop without jotting down the remark that they are not able to produce much expectation in this direction, owing, of course, to the illogical ways of nerves in general and their nascent motor excitations. And even this will not satisfy them, but they must add that at present logic is not the strong

Rational Abstinence.

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point of advanced thinkers. They are sentimental, ethical, religious, and highly prejudiced; but they are not logical. So strong are their tendencies to worship that some of the stricter positivists have taken to mixed ancestor-and-progenyworship. Strauss and Clifford have urged us to worship the Cosmos with the devotedness of the Christian in his worship; and the suggestion has been received with great favour. So fearful are they also of any contamination of selfishness that many of them will not hear of a future life lest the purity of moral action be sullied. All are full of the most engaging sentiments; but it would be of advantage to all concerned if they would for a time forego sentiment and cultivate logic. May the advanced nerves speedily take this direction!

BORDEN P. BOWNE.

ART. IX.-A Sober View of Abstinence.1

THIS article contains an endeavour to find in some of the facts and circumstances of the case a reasonable footing for a practical abstinence from alcoholic drinks as a good rule,the dictate of common prudence and Christian benevolence. The words "practical abstinence" or "abstinence" are used instead of "total abstinence," inasmuch as this latter phrase, though apparently more definite, is in reality less so, because it is necessary in practice to qualify it with other words, such as "beverage," which, again, are indeterminate, and open a wide field of discussion as to what constitutes a convivial, dietary, or medicinal use. It is enough if abstinence can be established as the best general rule, to which use forms the exception. Our inquiry falls under three heads: first, prudential abstinence; second, benevolent abstinence; third, objections.

I. PRUDENTIAL ABSTINENCE.

The reasons for abstinence as a measure of prudence are derived (1) from physiology, (2) from experience. Let us consider, then,

1 From the Bibliotheca Sacra.

1. Prudential Abstinence in the Light of Physiology.

Dogmatism here is very common, and in view of the enor mous evils of drunkenness very tempting, yet caution and candour are greatly needed. In the present state of physiological chemistry we are not to look for proofs which will amount to a demonstration, but rather for evidence of tendencies. When scientific men who have spent their lives in investigating the subject speak of their knowledge as imperfect, and their conclusions as tentative, it becomes others to be modest.

1. We take up first the question as to the effect of alcohol upon the nervous system, because this is its most obvious and important effect, the effect which probably to a large degree controls all others, especially that upon the circulation and nutrition. Now what in general is this effect? Science and also experience when carefully interrogated at once answer, It is anæsthetic, or deadening. This is the perfectly well known and most prominent action of alcohol, that which makes it at once a charm and a curse, and also gives it whatever value it has. It cannot better be stated than in the language of Dr. E. A. Parkes of Netley Hospital, whose death in 1876 removed one of the most profound and candid observers. Speaking of the effect of alcohol on the nervous system, he says: "In most persons it acts at once as an anesthetic, and lessens also the rapidity of impressions, the power of thought, and the perfection of the senses. In other cases it seems to cause increased rapidity of thought, and excites imagination; but even here the power of control over a train of thought is lessened."1

It is true in popular language this effect of alcohol is spoken of as stimulating, but in general no more misleading word could be used. Men do not drink to have their nerves excited, but really to have them partially paralysed, and if in some cases pleasurable excitement seems to follow, it is because a greater or less paralysis of the nerves controlling the circulation and mechanism of the senses and the feelings is taking place, and hence the blood moves faster, the sensibility is blunted, and the sensitiveness of the entire organism is agreeably diminished. The whole secret of the fascination which alcoholic beverages

1 Manual of Practical Hygiene, by Edmund A. Parkes, M.D., F.R.S. (4th ed., London, 1873), p. 274.

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