Necessity of popular education, as a national object; with hints on the treatment of criminals, and observations on homicidal insanity

Front matter

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NECESSITY

Preface

A deep conviction and solemn feeling of the necessity—the urgency—of a great National measure for enlightening, and morally elevating, the great body of our countrymen, are the author’s motives for offering the following pages to the deliberate consideration of the public. Whether they shall think his views juster and more practical than those that may have been before them, in a hundred other works on the “ interminable theme of education,” it is not for him to anticipate ; but he ventures to hope that they will find the subject placed in a light somewhat different from any with which they are already familiar. He appeals to the Crisis—a great increase of popular power, an immense extension of popular influence, without commensurate directing knowledge, and controlling virtue; and he claims a patient hearing, as the right of the humblest contributor to the difficult subject, to receive, and the duty of every wellwisher of his country and his species, to bestow. In this treatise the reader’s attention will be called to larger views of the subject of education, in its principles and pracvi PREFACE.

tice, than he may have met with before, and that in relation to atx classes of the community, for the education of man, adapted to his nature, knows no distinction of ranks; but he will likewise, it is humbly hoped, see the limit defined, to which the education of every sane human being ought to be carried, in order to fit him for that place in the social system, and in the creation of God, for which he was called into being. With the diffidence becoming the attempt, and the deference due. to his masters in the science of national economy, the author has ventured to propose a PLAN of popular education for public approbation, and legislative adoption; content if it shall move that discussion, by which it cannot fail to be greatly improved. He will be more than enough rewarded, too, if he shall succeed in reviving some share of interest in the neglected subject of the philosophy of Man, and his relations to external things, without which the science of education must remain, as it has hitherto remained, incapable of practical application, and therefore a discarded weariness. He repeats that the object presses, —-that it is exciting anxious inquiry,—and that it is shortly destined to rouse the attention of the most careless and inobservant dweller in the land.

Introduction

Page Education not yet placed on a right basis—Sound views exist, but are not systematised—The present an attempt at their combination—‘*‘ Ignorance prevails to a horrible extent”’—The truth that it is connected with suffering practically disbelieved—Appeal to fear—to justice and benevolence—Just notions of the general happiness—TIntellectual and moral necessary to physical improvement—Direct enjoyment from intellectual and moral elevation—The higher faculties of man are the gift of God, and intended for cultivation, use, and’ enjoyment, : ; Laeé

Chapter I

ON THE EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE ON THE CONDITION OF THE MANUAL-LABOUR CLASS OF THE PEOPLE.

Manual Labourers seven-eighths of the population—Twofold division of the people—Ist, Paysica condition of manual-labour class—Their ignorance of the conditions of health—Neglect of air, houses, beds, skin, ablution, muscular exercise—Cholera —Ardent Spirits and Sunday drunkenness—Temperance Societies— Transmission of diseases to offspring—Mortality of infants—Faults of Servants—Manufacturers.—2d, INrELLEc- TUAL condition of manual-labour class—Their prejudices, &c. ° ~—-The dupes of the designing—Absurd flattery addressed to them— Labour market—Striking for wages. —3d, Morat condition of manual-labour class—Their faculties work as instincts —RMalicious destroying and defacing—Cruelty to animals— Other causes of low condition—Effects of the Poor laws and

CONTENTS.

Page Allowance system—Religious condition—Present provision for education—Reading and writing—Scotch parochial schools— Prevailing prejudices, . z , : _@ 7-37

Chapter II. Om The Effects Of Imperfect Education On The Condition Of

THE CLASS OF THE PEOPLE ABOVE MANUAL-LABOUR.

The term ‘‘ Educated class,” relative—-Our vast attainments in

Physical Science—Confusion and error in Moral world—Controversy and party divisions—Contrast of sound legislation— General selfishness—- Demands of Christianity—Religion of the ‘*‘ Educated ’—Large provision for it—-Want of educational preparation—Fanaticism and insanity—— Certain social defects remnants of barbarism, national jealousies, offensive wars, criminal code, &c.—Barbarous customs, fox-hunting, engrossing rural sports, &c.—Happiness not attained, reasons —False views of life—Young men of fortune— Waste of life, wealth, and happiness, by the affluent—Their marriages—Sedentary study—Instructive illustrations on this head—Incogitate pursuit of wealth—Over-trading, glutted markets—Unwelcome inquiry—Good admitted—_Causes of our social evils —No moral training in education—Milton, Locke, Kames— Reading—Dead languages—False morality of classies—Barbarism of the ancients—Scientific studies—Science of Man, physiological, mental, and moral, a blank in Education, . 38-—81

CHAPTER IIT.

ON THE FACULTIES OF MAN, AND THEIR. RELATIVE OBJECTS.

Man the being to be educated—Knowledge of his nature required

—Training horses and dogs—Education, its three essentials— Human body, improvement of—The senses—their objects— Faculties of mind disputed—Modes mistaken for faculties——Admitted view of man’s nature—Shakspeare’s and Scott’s—Postulates to be conceded—Physiological evidence not founded on —Experience—Nine animal propensities —Self-Love—Desire of estimation—Fear—-Inferior feelings what—Law in the mind ——Benevolence—Justice— Veneration Ethics — Christianity Seven other moral sentiments——Intellect—Knowing faculties was

CONTENTS. - 1x

. Page — Reflecting —Language— Tabular view of faculties——Possessed by all, but in different degrees—Innate and Permanent— Combination Degrees of rank in faculties—- Supremacy of Sentiments and Intellect illustrated —— Mr Combe’s original

views, = : J esos 12}

Chapter IV. On Education As Adapted To The Faculties—infant Education

Faculties improveable—Man, how made wiser, how better-—-Law of exercise of faculties—Each faculty on its own objects— Exercise of one faculty does not improve another—Faculties that require regulation, excitement, direction of intellect— Loadstar of education—Pupil’s study of his own faculties, and their objects—Education, Physical, Moral, Intellectual—In-

_ FANT EpucaTIon, to commence in the cradle—Infant school, Physical training, Moral, Intellectual—Real and verbal—Pestalozzi and Mayo—Lessons on Objects—Summary of education of faculties—Edinburgh Model Infant School—Religious impressions, no distinction of sects, preparative—Agency of Man in this—Divine blessing—Intolerance deprecated—Edinburgh Infant School on liberal basis—Progress and success of the school—Prizes and places—Great merit of Wilderspin—Pre. judices against Infant education, objections answered, - 122-154

Chapter V

ON EDUCATION AS ADAPTED TO THE FACULTIES CONTINUED.-—— EDUCATION SUBSEQUENT TO INFANCY.

Pupils six years old—School till fourteen—Moral training conti- : nued—Record of duties—Monitorial system— Writing—Drawing—Arithmetic—Continuation of the Mayo lessous— Incidental teaching—TIncidental reading—Incidental grammar—No spelling— Lessons on chemical substances, solid, fluid, gaseous —Chemical experiments—Chemical elements— Knowledge of man in body and mind——Geography—Globe—Incidental Astronomy—Civil History—Geometry — Mechanical Science— Natural History—Incidenta] Natural Theology—Study of nature naturalized—Lessons on political state—Lessons on poli-~

CONTENTS.

Page tical economy—Exercise of the reflecting powers—Maxims and proverbs—Education for aLt—For peculiar talents or turns— Science taught to the young, to the working classes, to females—Educational Code—Training Teachers—Schools of Industry——American schools of manual labour—Domestic service —Ulterior education—Languages—Classics—College, 155-188

Chapter VI. On A Just Estimate Of Civil History, As A Study For Youth

History as an advanced study—Just views of it—A chronicle of the animal propensities—-Characteristics of antiquity—Fall of empires when natural—Details hurtful to youth—Patriot heroism—Passion for war—Martial glory applauded and rewarded—Internal polity of antiquity—Asia and Egypt—Monotony of propensities Tyrannies, caprices, and childishnesses— ‘¢ Free” states of antiquity, Greece, and Rome—No recognised principle of liberty—JIngratitude to public benefactors— Benevolence and justice foundations of free institutions—Selfish ambition of public men in Athens and Rome—Tribes that overthrew the Roman empire—How history should be written —How taught—.Abridgment—Dark ages—Since Reformation —Should be a late study, : j : 189-202

Chapter VII. On Popular Education As The Duty Of The Nation——plan Proposed

Burdens from popular ignorance—Education ought to be free— Working class cannot obtain it—Always has been at public expense— School fees—Voluntary schools précarious— Working class indifferent—Gratis experiment— Claims of working class—.They pay bulk of taxes—Nation must educate them— Commissioners— Minister —_Code—The Wuart of education —Practical arrangements—Proposed building and airing ground —School and scientific apparatus—Normal schools for training teachers—First and second grants—Control and superintendence—No lack of teachers—Legitimate compulsion on parents—Something immediately to be done—Extract from the Edinburgh Review, : : : : 203-229

CONTENTS, : xt

Chapter VIII. Difficulties——-obstacles—encouragements

Page DirFicuLTIEs—Counteraction by adult population—Reaction upon them—Decrease of drunkenness—Course with adults—Incurable class—Edinburgh Association for cheap lectures—Provision for free instruction to the adult workman—Schools of Arts—Denial of leisure to the manual-labourer——Proposed re- _ striction of labour— Workmen will restrict it—Farther restriction in factories—Poor Laws’ abuses—Criminal population— OxzstacLEs—Humble indifference—Remote results—Example of direct enjoyment from moral sentiments—Direct benefits— Great expense—Prejudice against educating the people—Existing interests— Sectarian zeal—Origin of clerical superintendence—Solecism in our laws——Church in danger—Opposition to Lancasterian schools, to London University, to Irish national education—Parallel in Catholic bigotry in Glasgow— Practical inference—Appeal to the dominant sect, to the Government, to the people—Encouragements—Advocacy of the press—We are outstripped by other nations— Wishes of the Government and Legislature—Existence of improvements al-

ready——Education of all ranks together—Conclusion, 230-273

Appendix

No. I.

Hints on the Necessity of a Change of Principle in our Legislation for the Efficient Protection of Society from Crime, . 277

No. II.

Observations on the Degree of Knowledge yet applied to the Investigation of Insanity, in Trials for Crime, chiefly Violence and Homicide, . ; : ; : » S25.

No. III.

Extract from Report of the Edinburgh Infant School Society, sth May 1832, 3 ; . 865 xil CONTENTS.

Page No. TV7 Letter from Mr Cunningham, Head Master of the Edinburgh Institution for Languages, Mathematics, &c. ‘ - $883 No. V.

Specimen of the Daily Record of Duties, Organic, Moral, Religious, and Intellectual, as kept for one Week, . 385 No. VI.

Summary of the Proceedings of the Association for procuring Instruction in Useful and Entertaining Science, from its Institution in 1832 to April 1834, - ‘ ; sep ooG

No. VII.

Extract from the First Report of the Commissioners appointed by the Lord Lieutenant to administer the Funds granted by Parliament for the Education of the Poor of Ireland, ordered to be printed by the House of Commons, 3d March 1834, . 398

POPULAR EDUCATION.

INTRODUCTION.

Education not yet placed on a right basis—Sound views exist, but are not systematised— The present an attempt at their combination — ‘* Tonorance prevails to a horrible extent” —The truth that it is connected with suffering practically disbelieved—Appeal to fear—to justice and benevolence—Just notions of the general happiness—Intellectual and moral necessary to physical improvement—Direct enjoyment from intellectual and moral elevation—The higher faculties of man are the gift of God, and intended for cultivation, use, and enjoyment.

Ir is matter of deep regret to the first men of the age, that Education has not yet been placed upon a practically useful basis. It is felt that it is imperfectly enjoyed even by the educated, utterly withheld from the multitude, and not yet systematised either in principles or plan. In presuming to offer to the public the following treatise, there is one avowal which the author cheerfully and gratefully makes. While failure to systematise education has disappointed much talent and worth which have been engaged on the subject, yet in many a reflec-

A

= - SOUND VIEWS—IGNORANCE-——SUFFERING, tive and eloquent page there are views unfolded which possess the character of essential truth, and offer ready materials to the hand of the architect of a more practically useful structure than the authors themselves erected. It may safely be predicated, that there already exists a large proportion of the materials of a philosophical sys- . tem of education, net rough in the quarry, but almost marked by their symmetry for their places in the building, and inviting their own combination, as a comparatively easy task to a very inferior workman who will collect them together. Such is the utmost pretension of the following attempt. The reader who is familiar with works on education, will perhaps scarcely discover in these pages a thought which in substance he has not met with before ; but if he shall find known thoughts in combinations different from any in which he may hitherto have recognised them, and better adapted to the great end to which they were directed, the utmost success for which the author dares to look, will have attended his humble labours. A new combination, for a beneficial end, of existing constructions, is an invention entitling to the royal patent. Every one is welcome to claim for himself, or any one else, any such stray idea, if he detects it in the following work ; all the author asks is the use of it.

It is most important for us all to be aware that much intellectual and moral darkness broods upon our land; that “‘ IGNORANCE PREVAILS TO A HORRIBLE EXTENT” * in our country ; that on ignorance must ever attend suf-

* Lord Chancellor Brougham’s Speech at the Wilberforce Meeting at York, October 1832,

ENGLAND UNEDUCATED—APPEAL TO FEAR, &c. 3 fering, physical and moral; and suffering accordingly abounds. In the resolutions of the British and Foreign School Society of March 1831, the confession is more than once emphatically made, that ““ ENGLAND Is YET UNEDUcATED.” Dr Chalmers says yet more despondingly, “ In the grievous defect of our national institutions, and the wretched abandonment of a people left to themselves, and who are permitted to live recklessly and at random as they list, we see enough to account for the profligacy of our crowded cities, and for the sad demoralization of our neglected provinces.” * But connection, in the closest relation of cause and effect, between ignorance and all this profligacy and demoralization, is by no means a practical belief with a large portion of the educated classes themselves ; and this is the only assignable reason for the amazing indifference, the incredulity, and even scorn, with which all plans, schemes, and projects, for the enlightenment of the great body of the people, are yet treated.

The Edinburgh Review ¢ has made a pointed appeal against this error to the public rears. None are safe, most certainly, m the centre of pestilence, in daily contact with profligacy, demoralization, and crime; but our fears are inferior impulses, and are not adequate to generous purposes; of these purposes, ‘higher motives are the fitting guides, noble faculties the ministers. Our fellow-men shall share our lights, if we have any ; not that we may be more safe, but that they may be more happy: The best selfishness is justice, and, higher yet, an unselfish benevolence, overflowing in its own disinte-

* Bridgewater Treatise. t No. 117.

4, ‘JUST NOTIONS OF HAPPINESS.

rested exuberance. The Creator will not bless any lower motive to do good. His system is arranged upon the supremacy of justice and benevolence in Creation, and Christianity is mainly addressed to these faculties in man. Till we ourselves have light and truth and love enough to see and feel that our own good flows as a secondary but invariable consequence, from our efforts exerted, primarily and, in their motives, exclusively, for our fellow-men, we shall in vain attempt to improve them,—we must first improve ourselves.

Besides being actuated by a powerful impulse to increase the general happiness, we must arrive at Just notions as to the true nature of that happiness. It is an error, springing from limited views of human capabilities, to rest satisfied with the physical weal of our fellow-men. The benevolence of Henry IV. of France yearned for the happiness of his people, but his lights were satisfied with wishing that there was “ a fowl in the pot of every peasant in his kingdom.” Had he directed his utmost kingly power solely to achieve this physical object, he would have failed. It is by operating on the moral and intellectual man, that the only steady and permanent provision is made fur his physical wants. The peasant must be capacitated to provide his own fowl, if he is to enjoy it often. The kind-hearted monarch would have given the fowl, if he could, and often repeated the dole ; but he would thereby have degraded the whole character of his people, and unfitted them for the attainment of substantial permanent prosperity. The only true channel of physical comfort will be found in cultivated intellectual and moral powers. Besides attaining the self-

INTELLECTUAL AND MORAL ENJOYMENT. 5 denying, upright, benevolently-cooperating, and industrious habits, which live in the very atmosphere of an improved morality, an enlightened intellect looks before and after, observes relations, calculates consequences, and, according to the nature of things, avoids evil, and secures good. But this is not all; it is the humblest office of an elevated moral and intellectual character to improve the physical condition; when it has established bodily comfort, and, what is a new contemplation for the thinking few, reasonable leisure from reasonable toil,—an indispensable element, as shall hereafter appear, of human weal, physical and moral,—it is in itself a positive good, a source of direct enjoyment, far above the richest material possessions. This scarcely requires illustration to the enlightened and the moral. They have only to reflect how small a proportion of their enjoyment is physical or sensual, when compared with that which consists in the refined delights of knowledge, of taste, of feeling, and of sentiment, reaped from books and social converse, from the acts of benevolence, and from the acknowledgments of religious thankfulness and adoration. These give its chief value to easy circumstances, not the mere command of material accommodations ; and it is from these that the great bulk of our fellow-men are excluded, by the exhaustion of their time and strength in labour, and by their want of capacity, from deficient education, to convert their leisure, if any they had, to these higher enjoyments. The Creator has done his part. He has given to every man some portion of intellect, some share of moral sentiment, intended not merely to control his animal appetites, for the preservation of his own safety,

6 HIGHER FACULTIES INTENDED FOR USE.

but to furnisk him with pure and refined delight, which we have only to conceive sufficiently intense, to gain a faint glimpse of Heaven. He does nothing in vain. Let those who despair of human nature, reflect that, if He has given to man a share of those high endowments which are the only real approach to his own image, then assuredly he has designed them for cultivation, for use, and for high enjoyment. To deny this,—and it is practically denied in our abandonment of seven-eighths of our countrymen to ignorance and all its evils,—is to deny that the intellectual and moral nature of man is the work of God.

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Chapter I

ON THE EFFECTS OF IGNORANCE ON THE CONDITION OF THE MANUAL-LABOUR CLASS OF THE PEOPLE.

Manual Labourers seven-eighths of the population—Twofold division of the People—IJst, Puysicau condition of manual-labour class—Their ignorance of the conditions of health—Neglect of air, houses, beds, skin, ablution, muscular exercise—Cholera—Ardent Spirits and Sunday drunkenness—Temperance Societies——Transmission of diseases to offspring — Mortality of infants—Fanlts of servants— Manufacturers. — 2d, InrELLECTUAL condition of manual-labour class—Their prejudices, &c.—The dupes ef the designing—Absurd flattery addressed to them—Labour market—Striking for wages.—3d, Morat condition of manual-labour class—Their faculties work as instincts—Malicious destroying and defacing—cCruelty to animals—Other causes of low condition—Effects of the Poor laws and Allowance system—Religious condition—Present provision for education—Reading and writing— Scottish parochial schools—Prevailing prejudices.

THE production and preparation for man’s use, of the material necessaries, comforts, luxuries, and elegancies of life, occupy the hands of nearly seven-eighths of the pepulation of this country. Machinery is only a combination of tools to extend the power of the hand. Still more than seven-eighths of out population live by labour of some kind, either of ‘hand or head; so that there is not perhaps a fiftieth part of the whole population of | Britain who live entirely independent of labour. This last mentioned limited class, for my present purpose at least, may be ranked with those who work not with the hands ; so that we may assume a twofold division of the British

8 PHYSICAL CONDITION—-AIR—BEDS.

people into the manual-labour class, and the class above manual labour. In considering the condition of the manual-labour class, it must not be lost sight of, that they are endowed in kind, though not generally in degree, with the like capabilities of education with the class above them, with the like faculties for the attainment of knowledge, moral elevation, and genuine religion.

First, The Puysicau condition of the whole class of manual labourers, is much worse than it might be rendered, and rendered by themselves, if they were more enlightened than they are. Making allowance for grades in their condition, and individual exceptions, a great majority of that class are left utterly uninstructed in, and live of course in disregard of, the simplest conditions of health. In too many instances* the light and air, which Heaven bestows and man excludes, very imperfectly enter to cheer and purify their dwellings, noisome with animal and vegetable effluvia, and accumulated refuse. In the worst cases, they sleep in beds,—often several persons in one,—which rarely know cleanly change, and have become infectious as the depositories of weeks of insensible perspiration, ascertained to be nearly a pound weight from each adult in twelve hours.. The nocturnal consumption of the air of a crowded room, renders it a posi-

* It is important to offer a caveat against being thought to state the case too strongly against this class of my countrymen. We have all seen many clean and comfortable houses belonging to workmen. Very generally, however, we observe a disregard of ventilation; and, if we perceive a want of this essential of health in their houses, we are led to suspect the state of their beds. I not only will permit every manual labourer, who conscientiously can, to claim exemption from my description, but should rejoice that the exemptions were numerous,

THE SKIN—ABLUTION. 9 tive poison to the lungs, the heart, and the blood; aud when the workman has to contend with a deleterious trade during the day, what must the effect be, upon his health, of the atmosphere and contact of his repose? Rising from this dormitory, of whose operation on his constitution he is profoundly unconscious, the manual labourer resumes his day garments, in part of which he has probably slept, and “ unwashed” returns to his labour. He has never learned the import of the word “ unwashed,” —the diseases external and internal of an unheeded skin, —the consequences of obstructing that exquisite: organ which exhales waste, and therefore hurtful, matter from the system, aids importantly in the regulation of the animal heat, is an agent of absorption, and the seat of touch and sensation. Nature lavishes water, as she is profuse of pure air for which every vital function pants; but water is refreshing, detersive, and luxurious, in vain to the son of toil*. Mr Thackrah of Leeds, the able and useful writer upon the diseases incident to trades, says, on the subject of ablution, “ There are other trades, in which the surface of the body is affected, though in a less degree, by the peculiar substances applied ; but, without entering into further detail, I would urge the necessary effect of almost all the occupations of a manufacturing town, in fouling the skin. When we consider the functions which this organ is known to perform, independently of those which physiology suspects but has

* This, and other conditions of health, are admirably treated of in a work just published by Dr Andrew Combe of Edinburgh, on the ‘‘ Principles of Physiology applied to the Preservation of Health, and to the Improvement of Physical and Mental Education.” A. & C. Black, Edinburgh,

10 MUSCULAR EXERCISE—DISEASES.

not ascertained, when we refer to the natural products of the skin, insensible perspiration, sweat, unctuous matter, &c., we wonder how men can endure the compound crust of soot, dust, and secretions, with which they are enveloped. Throughout the whole of the labouring classes, and indeed among the majority of the middling and upper, this subject is strangely neglected. Cleanliness is practised in a very imperfect manner, the whole surface is seldom washed ; and, in most persons, the body, with the exceptions of the hands and face, is cleaned only by the removal of those impurities which adhere to the linen. Bathing is rarely used in any form.”

It is another condition of health that the muscular frame shall be suitably exercised by motion and exertion. Some kinds of manual labour, and these besides often in the open air, exercise generally the muscular frame, and such labourers are the most healthy ; while other kinds are carried on in confined and ill-aired rooms, or manufactories which are loaded with flying dust, and deleterious effluvia, and afford no exercise beyond a movement of the fingers, or a turn of the wrist. A few minutes of fresh air between his work-shop and his home, is the workman’s portion of that cheapest and best of luxuries ; and worn out in mind as well as body, by the monotony of twelve or fourteen hours’ employment, he swallows his meal, often drinks ardent spirits, which aggravate greatly the power of every other destroyer of his constitution ; and in the same bed, and the same air, he spends the night, as he did the night before, in the unrefreshing sleep of already formed disease. Can we wonder that fevers, cutaneous, and other infectious diseases, originate in the unheeded persons, neglected beds, and unventilated dwellings of many of this

CHOLERA-—FILTH—-DRUNKENNESS. i]

class of the people. When the irruption of the Cholera forced us—I wish I could say from higher impulses than “ fear”—to enter the manual labourer’s abode, and explore the state in which he lived, a very general want of cleanliness was discovered, and in many houses a horrible state of filth. Swine-sties were in some instances found in the same room, already squalid with human crowdedness. The disclosure was too humiliating and alarming ever to be forgotten, and it was the first step to the cure of so great an evil, that it should be fully known.

When to all now described is superadded the curse of ardent spirits, the physical degradation of the manual labourer is complete; and as a temporary stimulus to weakened nerves and a vacant mind, this vice is dreadfully prevalent among his class. He has from his childhood been left in profound ignorance of the effects of the practice upon the functions of his body, and in the degradation of his character. In the society in which he lives, on the contrary, he has been accustomed, from his childhood, to connect drinking with manly privilege, conviviality, and pleasure, and to deem it not only safe, but wholesome and beneficial. Sunday is a day of too prevalent intoxication among the manual-labour class ; and their employers well know, that Monday and even Tuesday are in consequence what are called slack days in the workshop and manufactory. I have been assured, by benevolent medical practitioners who visit the worst classes of manual labourers, that they find it unsafe, as well as disgusting, to go among them on the days of their orgies, when the scenes of beastly drunkenness a TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES.

which they witness are altogether indescribable. It will afterwards appear how education may be brought to bear upon this shocking vice, which is, in a greater degree than is generally supposed, a sin of ignorance. Without early moral training and intellectual enlightenment, it is to be feared that those well-meant experiments called Temperance Societies, will do little to reform that part of the class in question who most require it. What is their vow to abstain, if you should get it, against their appetite to indulge? The vow binds none whom light and knowledge would not have more securely bound ; and it is well known to be a fact, that the example of the vow has no effect on the ignorant and the debased. Vows are rejected by the truly moral: they would as soon think of tying their own hands: they are on principle members of the society of temperance, without such artificial or mechanical aid; they use all things as not abusing them, and need not the compulsion of an oath or an undertaking. It is knowledge of the mischiefs of spirits-drinking that has brought all the sincere adherents of the societies within their pale; their only error is their vow. None will join them without knowledge, and when knowledge is attained generally, Temperance Societies will cease to be necessary. However, by all means, let all tie their own hands, who think they need that mode of restraint ; the motive is inferior, but much direct good will follow the restraint.

The manual labourer whom filth, foul air, muscular and nervous relaxation aggravated hy ardent. spirits, have combined to predispose to and affect with disease, has had no lesson ever taught him that his weakened

EVILS TO OFFSPRING—INFANT MORTALITY. 13 frame, predispositions, and actually formed diseases, will be the wretched inheritance of his children, if he shall become a father. The same ignorance that has induced his own condition, renders him reckless of the misery if not guilt of transmitting it. He himself derived a tainted constitution, perhaps, from his progenitor, and, with his own actual deteriorations superadded, conveys it to his offspring; a few such generations must extinguish the steck—the very source of such a population. If infants are born in poisonous air, nursed in infectious beds, swathed in scanty and unchanged clothing, denied those ablutions so notoriously indispensable to the skin, when most vasculent and more active and important in the infant economy than all the viscera put together,—the last tasked beyond their power by the reflux circulation which an uncontracted and unobstructed skin would have disposed of,—is there just cause of wonder that they are swept away in thousands by convulsions, croups, and bowel-complaints, or that the seeds are sown in infancy of the numerous diseases of after life? The London bills of mortality prove that nearly a fourth of the infants baptised, die within the first two years from their birth. This mortality is not the design of the Creator : it is not true of the inferior animals, and therefore must have removeable causes ; which causes will assuredly be found in gross ignorance. The animals are guided aright by their instincts ; man ought to be directed as truly by his observing and reflecting powers, which were given him for that end; but then the condition of cultivation and improvement was annexed to the gift, and that command of the All-wise is forgotten or disobeyed.