The question whether such and such a course of conduct does or does not
do physical harm is the safest test by which to try the question whether
it is moral or no. If it does no harm to the body we ought to be very
chary of calling it immoral, while if it tends towards physical
excellence there should be no hesitation in calling it moral. In the
case of those who are not forced to over-work themselves—and there are
many who work themselves to death from mere inability to restrain the
passion for work, which masters them as the craving for drink masters a
drunkard—over-work in these cases is as immoral as over-eating or
drinking. This, so far as the individual is concerned. With regard to
the body politic as a whole, it is, no doubt, well that there should be
some men and women so built that they cannot be stopped from working
themselves to death, just as it is unquestionably well that there should
be some who cannot be stopped from drinking themselves to death, if only
that they may keep the horror of the habit well in evidence.