Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-03-14
REASON AS A GUIDE.

say we cannot expect instinct TO be
a trustworthy guide unless the envir-
onment is a simple one and has been
stable for several successive genera
conditions obtains in the case of man,
especially civilized a His environ
ment is infinitely more complex than
was that of his primitive ancestors,
and 1t has moreover varied. and con-
tinues to vary; very considerably from
generation to generation.-it has be-
come, 1. e.. unstable and pari passu, with
and as an inevitable result OF. this
increase in the complexity and iEsta-
bility Of the environment, instinct has
become less and less inadequate as a
guide, and reason more and more es-
sential. Hence, with the evolution OF
| reason, there has been a concomitant
dissolution of instinct, until, when we
arrive at civilized man, we find the
one guide all but superseded by the
other.
Now this places mar at a disadyan-
tage as compared with the brutes. since
the guidance Of reason Is not by any
means so trustworthy as that OF the
instinct which 1t has replaced. II Is
needless here to enter into a psychol-
ogical exposition of the defects OF
reason rs a guide for a To do
this with any sort of f~ullness and COM
pleteness. would be to write a book
on human error. But what does con-
Germ us, and hat most intimately. is
that under the working of this new
| arrangement, as we may call II, man
is continually going wrong. in matters
| physiological, and it is most difficult
to set him right. DO not we physicians
see him persistently SHINING against
! the laws OF health, and that with a ter
merity that would be utterly amazing
did we not know that beneath the ter
merity there lies a still more astonish-
ing ignorance of all the laws OF his
being. 1t is often a task OF much Diff
\ ficulty to enforce the most elementary
| principles OF hygiene even among the
educated classes; among the unedu-
Gated It Is well nigh impossible. Sol
diers on campaign prefer the risk OF
contracting typhoid fever to the trouble
of boiling their drinking water. and in
India the enforcement of sanitary pre-
| cautions against such terrible pests Is
| cholera and the plague Is not only stub
bornly resisted, but leads not infre-
quently, especially II It run counter
/ TO racial and religious ~preiudlces. IL
| riot and bIoodshed. We have had In
| stances OF this In Calcutta, in Poona,
and In cawnpore only Just recently
and It was but a few weeks ago that
the newspapers had to record the ac-
knowledged failure of the Indian gov
eminent TO enfore the plague regula-
tons, and its consequent resolve to
| give up the attempt TO stamp 1t out BY
| coercion. ut Is hopeless" SO rum the
r
report Of the official committee APP
| pointed to collect evidence. TO carry
| out effectively any system Of plague
administration which runs counter to
| the feelings, susceptibiltties, and pre-
| JUDGES of the people" But what =
| comment is such a statement as this
on reason as a guide instead Of in
| stinct. Nothing, however, &c strik-
ingly shows its in~adequacy as the fa-
grant errors into which 1t allows moth
ers to run IN regard to the upbringing
Of their offspring. and in one partics-
lar-the feeding Of chiIdren.-Dr. Hem
II Campbell y lcnsst/.-