Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1881-02-11
n~.xGERoUs DOCTRINE.

DANGEROUS DOCTRINE
The attempt to refer all results, moral
or otherwise, to the operation of a physi-
cal cause. IS one of the salient character
;sties Of modern philosophic thought
and when the doctors tell US that intern
rerauce is not 50 much a crime as a
disease, they enunciate a doctrine which
is perfectly in accordance with the spirit
If the age. We have already learned
that the habitual criminal Is, from a
philosophical point of view, more TO De
nit;ed than to be blamed. That he should
break the laws Of God and mar IS a CIR
cumstance which is held to relate back
10 an hereditary faint, and 50 to be the
outeome Of causes over which be has no
control. The advocates Of this theory
have undertaken TO establish 1t by the
elaborate recital Of c~orroborated stats
tics. and they have been able to make
mt such a case as goes far to compel
conviction. Notwithstanding the strength
of the arguments by which 1t IS COM
mended. the conclusion at which these
theorists arrive will not be readily ac-
cepted by people who are intelligent
enough TO perceive all that it involves
and who understand how absolutely Our
system Of society is dependent upon the
maintenance Of moral principles.
1t must be the inevitable effect OF such
teachings as these to weaken and ulti-
mately to destroy the sense OF moral and
individual responsibility for II Intem-
perapce Is not so much a vice as a dis
ease. it is difhcult to see in what way a
drunkard lie more open to censure than a
consumptive, or TO admit that an attack
of the delirium tremens should involve
any more discredit than a case OF scarlet
fever or pneumonia. By a parity OF rea-
soning the brutal rufian whose mouth Is
full of oaths, and with whom a curse Is
the signal for a blow; who is the terror
OF the neighborhood in general, and OF
his miserable wife in particular, may rea-
sonably explain that not he but his ances-
tors are TO blame; and he may very logic
ally protest against being punishedfo for the
commission Of offences which are declared
by science to be the inevitable and natu-
raj sequence Of his physical constitution.
Once admit that vice and crime are al
together physical in their origin, that the
criminal and the debauchee are such be-
cause OF the peculiar organization trans
mitted to them by their parents, and
morality becomes a word without mean
ing. There is no longer any such thing
as duty, while law and justice must be
regarded as synonymous with the arbi-
trary oppression of IN irresponsible ma
jority.
In spite of the subyersive tendency OF
modern speculation, conscience still exerts
a restraining and salutary influence upon
the thoughts and conduct Of men, and
whatever weakens that force is something
to be guarded against and feared. But
what is conscience, 1t is the sense Of
moral responsibility, and that sense would
not very long survive the triumph Of the
theories ~propounded by what may b
called the physical school. If it is onc'
settled that whether a man is v~irtuoui
and sober and industrious and temperate
or whether he is the reverse Of all these
things, is mainly a matter Of temperament
and hereditary physique. and has com.
paratively little to do with intention
there are very many who will feel them
selves absolved from making any partic.
ular effort TO resist the promptings and
inclinations Of a degenerate nature. Thai
vice in many Of its forms is purely physi
cal in its origin is not to be denied, and
that alcoholism is as much a disease al
elephantiasis may safely be admitted,
But on account Of this it does not follow
that the criminal and the drunkard arr
to be justified or their offense condoned.
It is because the doctors and scientists
do not at all, or not sufficiently, recog
nizs mans higher nature that there is
moral danger in their teachings.