Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-05
A NOVEL IDEA IN OREGON.

In Oregon circulars are being sent to all
parts OF the State soliciting names to pc.
tition to be presented to the Legislature
asking that body at its next session "to
enact laws requiring instruction in physi-
ology and hygiene, which shall give special
prominence to the effects of alcoholic
drinks, stimulants and narcotics upon the
human system, in all schools supported by
public money or under State control" The
Oregonian gives the proposition its support,
and says it is practical " method Of work
ing against the evils produced by liquor
drinking" So far as the instruction is con-
cerned, it can do the pupils no harm. We
favor the brosdest possible course OF study
consistent with the capacity of the pupils,
their physical ability and thorough learn
ing. Our Oakland contemporary, the
Times, pronounces against nearly all stud.
les in the common schools except the three
RS, and in that respect is as much of an
extremist as the man who insists upon at.
taching to the school course instruction in
mechanic arts, telegraphy, printing, pho
biography, drawing, etc. The happy mean
is that which gives the pupil the fullest
possible and most varied possible instruc-
ton consistent with his capacity to receive
and digest. But here is proposition in
Oregon that suggests teaching branch
of study with a view to prominence of one
portion Of it, and necessarily to the neglect
of thorough teaching and comprehension
of the complete scheme of the study. The
suggestion is fortified by an appeal to the
sentiment against intemperance, That
is well enough, but we venture
to say that it has never yet
been established that special kpowl.
edge of the action of alcoholic stimulants
has made any perceptible inroad upon the
habits of drinking. AS matter of fact
the most inveterate t'pplers are those who
know precisely the physical effects OF their
iutemperance, and can accurately describe
the action induced in every part of the
| system by the Introduction into the blood
of a stimulant. Physiological specialists
are about as steady drinkers as the men
who are wholly ignorant of the internal
economy of the body and of physiological
| details. So, we saT, that as a matte for
| fact there is no warrant for the assumption
J that physiological studies will tend to
! check the growth of intemperance. We
have very much more faith in the appeals
| to reason, in the instruction Of the heart,
! in the protest Of decency, in the examples
of daily lie, in the precepts of sobriety
and the authority OF home. Precisely the
same may be said regarding special studies
regarding the effects of the tobacco habit
| The reasons advanced by the Oregon petit
TONERS would apply equally well to the
opium habit, the coffee and tea habit and
to a still more dangerous but nameless
habit of youth. In short, we cannot enter
| the field at all and find a stopping place
| But if we could, we repeat that the pro.
motion of sobriety must be separate
work and attach itself to the school system
only so far as it naturally relates itself
CeI tlinlyno one will object to the virtues of
temperance being taught and the horrors
Of intemperancs being pictured in the
schools, If it can be done without reducing
the time necessary to be bestowed upon
fundamental studies There is danger of
overlooking the common school curriculum
with special studies and special sentiments,
and of overwhelming teachers with special
missions. Let the children pursue physio-
logical studies with view to general in
formation of the entire subject, and let the
maxims and words of wisdom from the
teachers lips be OF the most radical tenn
perance character if it pleases any COM
nunity to 30 order, but we submit that
there is nothing in the past to justify the
inference that the special teaching pro.