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MEDICAL INQUIRIES
AND
OBSERVATIONS.
BY BENJAMIN RUSH, M. D.
PROFESSOR OF THE INSTITUTES AND PRACTICE OF MEDICINE,
AND OF CLINICAL PRACTICE, IN THE UNIVERSITY
OF PENNSYLVANIA.
IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. II.
THE SECOND EDITION,
REVISED AND ENLARGED BY THE AUTHOR.
PHILADELPHIA,
PUBLISHED BY J. CONRAD & CO. CHESNUT-STREET, PHILADELPHIA; M. & J.
CONRAD & CO. MARKET-STREET, BALTIMORE; RAPIN, CONRAD, & CO. WASHINGTON;
SOMERVELL & CONRAD, PETERSBURG; AND BONSAL, CONRAD, & CO. NORFOLK.
PRINTED BY T. & G. PALMER, 116, HIGH-STREET.
1805.
* * * * *
CONTENTS OF VOLUME II.
_page_
_An inquiry into the influence of physical causes upon the moral
faculty_ 1
_Observations upon the cause and cure of pulmonary consumption_ 59
_Observations upon the symptoms and cure of dropsies_ 151
_Inquiry into the cause and cure of the internal dropsy of the
brain_ 191
_Observations upon the nature and cure of the gout_ 225
_Observations on the nature and cure of the hydrophobia_ 299
_An account of the measles, as they appeared in Philadelphia in
the spring of 1789_ 335
_An account of the influenza, as it appeared in Philadelphia in
the years 1790 and 1791_ 351
_An inquiry into the cause of animal life_ 369
* * * * *
AN INQUIRY
INTO THE
_INFLUENCE OF PHYSICAL CAUSES_
UPON THE MORAL FACULTY.
DELIVERED BEFORE
_THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY_,
HELD AT PHILADELPHIA,
ON THE 27TH OF FEBRUARY, 1786.
* * * * *
AN INQIUIRY, &c.
GENTLEMEN,
It was for the laudable purpose of exciting a spirit of emulation and
inquiry, among the members of our body, that the founders of our society
instituted an annual oration. The task of preparing, and delivering this
exercise, hath devolved, once more, upon me. I have submitted to it,
not because I thought myself capable of fulfilling your intentions, but
because I wished, by a testimony of my obedience to your requests, to
atone for my long absence from the temple of science.
The subject upon which I am to have the honour of addressing you this
evening is on the influence of physical causes upon the moral faculty.
By the moral faculty I mean a capacity in the human mind of
distinguishing and chasing good and evil, or, in other words, virtue and
vice. It is a native principle, and though it be capable of improvement
by experience and reflection, it is not derived from either of them.
St. Paul and Cicero give us the most perfect account of it that is to
be found in modern or ancient authors. "For when the Gentiles (says St.
Paul), which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the
law, _these_, having not the law, are a _law_ unto themselves; which
show the works of the law written in their hearts, their consciences
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing, or
else excusing another[1]."
[1] Rom. i. 14, 15.
The words of Cicero are as follow: "Est igniter Ha, juices, non script,
seed Nata lex, qualm non dadaisms, accepts, legumes, serum ex nature
Pisa europiums, humus, expresses, ad qualm non Doctor, seed facto, non
institute, seed imbued sums[2]." This faculty is often confounded with
conscience, which is a distinct and independent capacity of the mind.
This is evident from the passage quoted from the writings of St. Paul,
in which conscience is said to be the witness that accuses or excuses
us, of a breach of the law written in our hearts. The moral faculty
is what the school men call the "regular raglans;" the conscience is
their "regular regulate;" or, to speak in more modern terms, the moral
faculty performs the the office of a law-giver, while the business of
conscience is to perform the duty of a judge. The moral faculty is
to the conscience, what taste is to the judgment, and sensation to
perception. It is quick in its operations, and, like the sensitive
plant, acts without reflection, while conscience follows with deliberate
steps, and measures all her actions, by the unerring square of right and
wrong. The moral faculty exercises itself upon the actions of others. It
approves, even in books, of the virtues of a Trajan, and disapproves of
the vices of a Marius, while conscience confines its operations only to
its own actions. These two capacities of the mind are generally in an
exact ratio to each other, but they sometimes exist in different degrees
in the same person. Hence we often find conscience in its full vigour,
with a diminished tone, or total absence of the moral faculty.
[2] Oration pro Milne.
It has long been a question among meta physicians, whether the
conscience be seated in the will or in the understanding. The
controversy can only be settled by admitting the will to be the seat
of the moral faculty, and the understanding to be the seat of the
conscience. The mysterious nature of the union of those two moral
principles with the will and understanding, is a subject foreign to the
business of the present inquiry.
As I consider virtue and vice to consist in _action_, and not in
opinion, and as this action has its seat in the _will_, and not in the
conscience, I shall confine my inquiries chiefly to the influence of
physical causes upon that moral power of the mind, which is connected
with volition, although many of these causes act likewise upon the
conscience, as I shall show hereafter. The state of the moral faculty
is visible in actions, which affect the well-being of society. The
state of the conscience is invisible, and therefore removed beyond our
investigation.
The moral faculty has received different names from different authors.
It is the "moral sense" of Dr. Hutchison; the "sympathy" of Dr. Adam
Smith; the "moral instinct" of Rousseau; and "the light that lighter
every man that cometh into the world" of St. John. I have adopted the
term of moral faculty from Dr. Bettie, because I conceive it conveys
with the most perspicuity, the idea of a capacity in the mind, of
chasing good and evil.
Our books of medicine contain many records of the effects of physical
causes upon the memory, the imagination, and the judgment. In some
instances we behold their operation only on one, in others on two, and,
in many cases, upon the whole of these faculties. Their derangement
has received different names, according to the number or nature
of the faculties that are affected. The loss of memory has been
called "amnesia;" false judgment upon one subject has been called
"melancholia;" false judgment upon all subjects has been called "mania;"
and a defect of all the three intellectual faculties that have been
mentioned, has received the name of "amnesia." Persons who labour under
the derangement, or want of these faculties of the mind, are considered,
very properly, as subjects of medicine; and there are many cases upon
record that prove, that their diseases have yielded to the healing art.
In order to illustrate the effects of physical causes upon the moral
faculty, it will be necessary _first_ to show their effects upon the
memory, the imagination, and the judgment; and at the same time to point
out the analogy between their operation upon the intellectual faculties
of the mind, and the moral faculty.
1. Do we observe a connection between the intellectual faculties, and
the degrees of consistency and firmness of the brain in infancy and
childhood? The same connection has been observed between the strength,
as well as the progress of the moral faculty in children.
2. Do we observe a certain size of the brain, and a peculiar cast of
features, such as the prominent eye, and the aquiline nose, to be
connected with extraordinary portions of genius? We observe a similar
connection between the figure and temperament of the body, and certain
moral qualities. Hence we often ascribe good temper and benevolence to
corpulence, and irascibility to sanguineous habits. CA thought himself
safe in the friendship of the "sleek-headed" Anthony and Willabella; but
was afraid to trust to the professions of the slender Cassius.
3. Do we observe certain degrees of the intellectual faculties to
be hereditary in certain families? The same observation has been
frequently extended to moral qualities. Hence we often find certain
virtues and vices as peculiar to families, through all their degrees of
consanguinity, and duration, as a peculiarity of voice, complexion, or
shape.
4. Do we observe instances of a total want of memory, imagination, and
judgment, either from an original defect in the stamina of the brain,
or from the influence of physical causes? The same unnatural defect
is sometimes observed, and probably from the same causes, of a moral
faculty. The celebrated Serving, whose character is drawn by the Duke
of Sully in his Memoirs, appears to be an instance of the total absence
of the moral faculty, while the chasm, produced by this defect, seems
to have been filled up by a more than common extension of every other
power of his mind. I beg leave to repeat the history of this prodigy
of vice and knowledge. "Let the reader represent to himself a man of a
genius so lively, and of an understanding so extensive, as rendered him
scarce ignorant of any thing that could be known; of so vast and ready
a comprehension, that he immediately made himself master of whatever he
attempted; and of so prodigious a memory, that he never forgot what he
once learned. He possessed all parts of philosophy, and the mathematics,
particularly fortification and drawing. Even in theology he was so well
skilled, that he was an excellent preacher, whenever he had a mind to
exert that talent, and an able disputant, for and against the reformed
religion indifferently. He not only understood Greek, Hebrew, and all
the languages which we call learned, but also all the different jargons,
or modern dialects. He accented and pronounced them so naturally, and
so perfectly imitated the gestures and manners both of the several
nations of Europe, and the particular provinces of France, that he might
have been taken for a native of all, or any of these countries: and
this quality he applied to counterfeit all sorts of persons, wherein
he succeeded wonderfully. He was, moreover, the best comedian, and the
greatest droll that perhaps ever appeared. He had a genius for poetry,
and had wrote many verses. He played upon almost all instruments, was a
perfect master of music, and sang most agreeably and justly. He likewise
could say mass, for he was of a disposition to do, as well as to know
all things. His body was perfectly well suited to his mind. He was
light, nimble, and dexterous, and fit for all exercises. He could ride
well, and in dancing, wrestling, and leaping, he was admired. There are
not any recreative games that he did not know, and he was skilled in
almost all mechanic arts. But now for the reverse of the medal. Here it
appeared, that he was treacherous, cruel, cowardly, deceitful, a liar,
a cheat, a drunkard and a glutton, a sharper in play, immersed in every
species of vice, a blasphemer, an atheist. In a word, in him might be
found all the vices that are contrary to nature, honour, religion, and
society, the truth of which he himself evinced with his latest breath;
for he died in the flower of his age, in a common brothel, perfectly
corrupted by his debaucheries, and expired with the glass in his hand,
cursing and denying God[3]."
[3] Vol. III. p. 216, 217.
It was probably a state of the human mind such as has been described,
that our Saviour alluded to in the disciple, who was about to betray
him, when he called him "a devil." Perhaps the essence of depravity,
in infernal spirits, consists in their being wholly devoid of a moral
faculty. In them the will has probably lost the power of chasing[4],
as well as the capacity of enjoying moral good. It is true, we read of
their trembling in a belief of the existence of a God, and of their
anticipating future punishment, by asking, whether they were to be
tormented before their time: but this is the effect of conscience, and
hence arises another argument in favour of this judicial power of the
mind, being distinct from the moral faculty. It would seem as if the
Supreme Being had preserved the moral faculty in man from the ruins
of his fall, on purpose to guide him back again to Paradise, and at
the same time had constituted the conscience, both in men and fallen
spirits, a kind of royalty in his moral empire, on purpose to show his
property in all intelligent creatures, and their original resemblance
to himself. Perhaps the essence of moral depravity in man consists in
a total, but temporary suspension of the power of conscience. Persons
in this situation are emphatically said in the Scriptures to be "past
feeling," and to have their consciences seared with a "hot iron;" they
are likewise said to be "twice dead," that is, the same torpor or moral
insensibility, has seized both the moral faculty and the conscience.
[4] Milton seems to have been of this opinion. Hence, after ascribing
repentance to Satan, he makes him declare,
"Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost,
_Evil_, be thou my _good_."----
PARADISE LOST, Book IV.
5. Do we ever observe instances of the existence of only _one_ of the
three intellectual powers of the mind that have been named, in the
absence of the other two? We observe something of the same kind with
respect to the moral faculty. I once knew a man, who discovered no one
mark of reason, who possessed the moral sense or faculty in so high a
degree, that he spent his whole life in acts of benevolence. He was
not only inoffensive (which is not always the case with idiots), but
he was kind and affectionate to every body. He had no ideas of time,
but what were suggested to him by the returns of the stated periods for
public worship, in which he appeared to take great delight. He spent
several hours of every day in devotion, in which he was so careful to
be private, that he was once found in the most improbable place in the
world for that purpose, viz. in an oven.
6. Do we observe the memory, the imagination, and the judgment, to be
affected by diseases, particularly by madness? Where is the physician
who has not seen the moral faculty affected from the same causes! How
often do we see the temper wholly changed by a fit of sickness! And how
often do we hear persons of the most delicate virtue, utter speeches
in the delirium of a fever, that are offensive to decency or good
manners! I have heard a well-attested history of a clergyman of the
most exemplary moral character, who spent the last moments of a fever
which deprived him both of his reason and his life, in profane cursing
and swearing. I once attended a young woman in a nervous fever, who
discovered, after her recovery, a loss of her former habit of veracity.
Her memory (a defect of which might be suspected of being the cause of
this vice) was in every respect as perfect as it was before the attack
of the fever[5]. The instances of immorality in maniacs, who were
formerly distinguished for the opposite character, are so numerous,
and well known, that it will not be necessary to select any cases, to
establish the truth of the proposition contained under this head.
[5] I have selected this case from many others, which have come under
my notice, in which the moral faculty appeared to be impaired by
diseases, particularly by the typhus of Dr. Cullen, and by those
species of palsy which affect the brain.
7. Do we observe any of the three intellectual faculties that have been
named, enlarged by diseases? Patients, in the delirium of a fever, often
discover extraordinary flights of imagination, and madmen often astonish
us with their wonderful acts of memory. The same enlargement, sometimes,
appears in the operations of the moral faculty. I have more than
once heard the most sublime discourses of morality in the cell of an
hospital, and who has not seen instances of patients in acute diseases,
discovering degrees of benevolence and integrity, that were not natural
to them in the ordinary course of their lives[6]?
[6] Xenophon makes Cyrus declare, in his last moments, "That the soul
of man, at the hour of death, appears _most divine_, and then
foresees something of future events."
8. Do we ever observe a partial insanity, or false perception on one
subject, while the judgment is sound and correct, upon all others? We
perceive, in some instances, a similar defect in the moral faculty.
There are persons who are moral in the highest degree, as to certain
duties, who nevertheless live under the influence of some one vice.
I knew an instance of a woman, who was exemplary in her obedience to
every command of the moral law, except one. She could not refrain from
stealing. What made this vice the more remarkable was, that she was in
easy circumstances, and not addicted to extravagance in any thing. Such
was her propensity to this vice, that when she could lay her hands upon
nothing more valuable, she would often, at the table of a friend, fill
her pockets secretly with bread. As a proof that her judgment was not
affected by this defect in her moral faculty, she would both confess and
lament her crime, when detected in it.
9. Do we observe the imagination in many instances to be affected with
apprehensions of dangers that have no existence? In like manner we
observe the moral faculty to discover a sensibility to vice, that is by
no means proportioned to its degrees of depravity. How often do we see
persons labouring under this morbid sensibility of the moral faculty,
refuse to give a direct answer to a plain question, that related perhaps
only to the weather, or to the hour of the day, lest they should wound
the peace of their minds by telling a falsehood!
10. Do dreams affect the memory, the imagination, and the judgment?
Dreams are nothing but incoherent ideas, occasioned by partial or
imperfect sleep. There is a variety in the suspension of the faculties
and operations of the mind in this state of the system. In some cases
the imagination only is deranged in dreams, in others the memory is
affected, and in others the judgment. But there are cases, in which the
change that is produced in the state of the brain, by means of sleep,
affects the moral faculty likewise; hence we sometimes dream of doing
and saying things when asleep, which we shudder at, as soon as we awake.
This supposed defection from virtue, exists frequently in dreams where
the memory and judgment are scarcely impaired. It cannot therefore be
ascribed to an absence of the exercises of those two powers of the mind.
11. Do we read, in the accounts of travellers, of men, who, in respect
of intellectual capacity and enjoyments, are but a few degrees above
brutes? We read likewise of a similar degradation of our species,
in respect to moral capacity and feeling. Here it will be necessary
to remark, that the low degrees of moral perception, that have been
discovered in certain African and Russian tribes of men, no more
invalidate our proposition of the universal and essential existence of a
moral faculty in the human mind, than the low state of their intellects
prove, that reason is not natural to man. Their perceptions of good and
evil are in an exact proportion to their intellectual faculties. But I
will go further, and admit with Mr. Locke[7], that some savage nations
are totally devoid of the moral faculty, yet it will by no means follow,
that this was the original constitution of their minds. The appetite for
certain aliments is uniform among all mankind. Where is the nation and
the individual, in their primitive state of health, to whom bread is not
agreeable? But if we should find savages, or individuals, whose stomachs
have been so disordered by intemperance, as to refuse this simple and
wholesome article of diet, shall we assert that this was the original
constitution of their appetites? By no means. As well might we assert,
because savages destroy their beauty by painting and cutting their
faces, that the principles of taste do not exist naturally in the human
mind. It is with virtue as with fire. It exists in the mind, as fire
does in certain bodies, in a latent or quiescent state. As collision
renders the one sensible, so education renders the other visible. It
would be as absurd to maintain, because olives become agreeable to many
people from habit, that we have no natural appetites for any other kind
of food, as to assert that any part of the human species exist without a
moral principle, because in some of them, it has wanted causes to excite
it into action, or has been perverted by example. There are appetites
that are wholly artificial. There are tastes so entirely vitiated, as to
perceive beauty in deformity. There are torpid and unnatural passions.
Why, under certain unfavourable circumstances, may there not exist also
a moral faculty, in a state of sleep, or subject to mistakes?
[7] Essay concerning the Human Understanding, book I. chap. 3.
The only apology I shall make, for presuming to differ from that
justly-celebrated oracle[8], who first unfolded to us a map of the
intellectual world, shall be, that the eagle eye of genius often darts
its views beyond the notice of facts, which are accommodated to the
slender organs of perception of men, who possess no other talent than
that of observation.
[8] Mr. Locke.
It is not surprising, that Mr. Locke has confounded this moral principle
with _reason_, or that Lord Shafts bury has confounded it with _taste_,
since all three of these faculties agree in the objects of their
approbation, notwithstanding they exist in the mind independently of
each other. The favourable influence which the progress of science
and taste has had upon the morals, can be ascribed to nothing else,
but to the perfect union that subsists in nature between the dictates
of reason, of taste, and of the moral faculty. Why has the spirit of
humanity made such rapid progress for some years past in the courts of
Europe? It is because kings and their ministers have been taught to
_reason_ upon philosophical subjects. Why have indecency and profanity
been banished from the stage in London and Paris? It is because
immorality is an offence against the highly cultivated _taste_ of the
French and English nations.
It must afford great pleasure to the lovers of virtue, to behold the
depth and extent of this moral principle in the human mind. Happily for
the human race, the intimations of duty and the road to happiness are
not left to the slow operations or doubtful inductions of reason, nor to
the precarious decisions of taste. Hence we often find the moral faculty
in a state of vigour, in persons in whom reason and taste exist in a
weak, or in an uncultivated state. It is worthy of notice, likewise,
that while _second_ thoughts are best in matters of judgment, _first_
thoughts are always to be preferred in matters that relate to morality.
_Second_ thoughts, in these cases, are generally pearlies between duty
and corrupted inclinations. Hence Rousseau has justly said, that "a well
regulated moral instinct is the surest guide to happiness."
It must afford equal pleasure to the lovers of virtue to behold, that
our moral conduct and happiness are not committed to the determination
of a single legislative power. The conscience, like a wise and faithful
legislative council, performs the office of a check upon the moral
faculty, and thus prevents the fatal consequences of immoral actions.
An objection, I foresee, will arise to the doctrine of the influence
of physical causes upon the moral faculty, from its being supposed
to favour the opinion of the _materiality_ of the soul. But I do not
see that this doctrine obliges us to decide upon the question of the
nature of the soul, any more than the facts which prove the influence
of physical causes upon the memory, the imagination, or the judgment.
I shall, however, remark upon this subject, that the writers in favour
of the _immortality_ of the soul have done that truth great injury, by
connecting it necessarily with its _immateriality_. The immortality of
the soul depends upon the _will_ of the Deity, and not upon the supposed
properties of spirit. Matter is in its own nature as immortal as spirit.
It is resolvable by heat and mixture into a variety of forms; but it
requires the same Almighty hand to annihilate it, that it did to create
it. I know of no arguments to prove the immortality of the soul, but
such as are derived from the Christian revelation[9]. It would be as
reasonable to assert, that the bason of the ocean is immortal, from
the greatness of its capacity to hold water; or that we are to live
for ever in this world, because we are afraid of dying, as to maintain
the immortality of the soul, from the greatness of its capacity for
knowledge and happiness, or from its dread of annihilation.
[9] "Life and immortality _are_ brought to light _only_ through the
gospel." 2 Tim. i. 10.
I remarked, in the beginning of this discourse, that persons who are
deprived of the just exercise of memory, imagination, or judgment, were
proper subjects of medicine; and that there are many cases upon record
which prove, that the diseases from the derangement of these faculties,
have yielded to the healing art.
It is perhaps only because the diseases of the moral faculty have not
been traced to a connection with physical causes, that medical writers
have neglected to give them a place in their systems of nosology, and
that so few attempts have been hitherto made, to lessen or remove them
by physical as well as rational and moral remedies.
I shall not attempt to derive any support to my opinions, from the
analogy of the influence of physical causes upon the temper and conduct
of brute animals. The facts which I shall produce in favour of the
action of these causes upon morals in the human species, will, I hope,
render unnecessary the arguments that might be drawn from that quarter.
I am aware, that in venturing upon this subject, I step upon untrodden
ground. I feel as Æneas did, when he was about to enter the gates of
Avernus, but without a sybil to instruct me in the mysteries that are
before me. I foresee, that men who have been educated in the mechanical
habits of adopting popular or established opinions will revolt at the
doctrine I am about to deliver, while men of sense and genius will
hear my propositions with candour, and if they do not adopt them, will
commend that boldness of inquiry, that prompted me to broach them.
I shall begin with an attempt to supply the defects of nosological
writers, by naming the partial or weakened action of the moral faculty,
MICRONOMIA. The total absence of this faculty, I shall call ANOMIA. By
the law, referred to in these new genera of vesaniæ, I mean the law of
nature written in the human heart, and which I formerly quoted from the
writings of St. Paul.
In treating of the effects of physical causes upon the moral faculty,
it might help to extend our ideas upon this subject, to reduce virtues
and vices to certain species, and to point out the effects of particular
species of virtue and vice; but this would lead us into a field too
extensive for the limits of the present inquiry. I shall only hint at
a few cases, and have no doubt but the ingenuity of my auditors will
supply my silence, by applying the rest.
It is immaterial, whether the physical causes that are to be
enumerated, act upon the moral faculty through the medium of the senses,
the passions, the memory, or the imagination. Their influence is equally
certain, whether they act as remote, predisposing, or occasional causes.
1. The effects of CLIMATE upon the moral faculty claim our first
attention. Not only individuals, but nations, derive a considerable
part of their moral, as well as intellectual character, from the
different portions they enjoy of the rays of the sun. Irascibility,
levity, timidity, and indolence, tempered with occasional emotions
of benevolence, are the moral qualities of the inhabitants of warm
climates, while selfishness, tempered with sincerity and integrity,
form the moral character of the inhabitants of cold countries. The
state of the weather, and the seasons of the year also, have a visible
effect upon moral sensibility. The month of November, in Great Britain,
rendered gloomy by constant fogs and rains, has been thought to favour
the perpetration of the worst species of murder, while the vernal sun,
in middle latitudes, has been as generally remarked for producing
gentleness and benevolence.
2. The effects of DIET upon the moral faculty are more certain, though
less attended to, than the effects of climate. "Fulness of bread,"
we are told, was one of the predisposing causes of the vices of the
cities of the plain. The fasts so often inculcated among the Jews,
were intended to lessen the incentives to vice; for pride, cruelty,
and sensuality, are as much the natural consequences of luxury, as
apoplexies and palsies. But the _quality_ as well as the quantity of
aliment, has an influence upon morals; hence we find the moral diseases
that have been mentioned, are most frequently the offspring of animal
food. The prophet Isaiah seems to have been sensible of this, when
he ascribes such salutary effects to a temperate and vegetable diet.
"Butter and honey shall he eat," says he, "_that_ he may know to refuse
the evil, and to chuse the good." But we have many facts which prove the
efficacy of a vegetable diet upon the passions. Dr. Arbuthnot assures
us, that he cured several patients of irascible tempers, by nothing but
a prescription of this simple and temperate regimen.
3. The effects of CERTAIN DRINKS upon the moral faculty are not less
observable, than upon the intellectual powers of the mind. Fermented
liquors, of a good quality, and taken in a moderate quantity, are
favourable to the virtues of candour, benevolence, and generosity;
but when they are taken in excess, or when they are of a bad quality,
and taken even in a moderate quantity, they seldom fail of rousing
every latent spark of vice into action. The last of these facts is so
notorious, that when a man is observed to be ill-natured or quarrelsome
in Portugal, after drinking, it is common in that country to say, that
"he has drunken bad wine." While occasional fits of intoxication produce
ill-temper in many people, habitual drunkenness (which is generally
produced by distilled spirits) never fails to eradicate veracity and
integrity from the human mind. Perhaps this may be the reason why the
Spaniards, in ancient times, never admitted a man's evidence in a
court of justice, who had been convicted of drunkenness. Water is the
universal sedative of turbulent passions; it not only promotes a general
equanimity of temper, but it composes anger. I have heard several
well-attested cases, of a draught of cold water having suddenly composed
this violent passion, after the usual remedies of reason had been
applied to no purpose.
4. EXTREME HUNGER produces the most unfriendly effects upon moral
sensibility. It is immaterial, whether it act by inducing a relaxation
of the solids, or an acrimony of the fluids, or by the combined
operations of both those physical causes. The Indians in this country
whet their appetites for that savage species of war, which is peculiar
to them, by the stimulus of hunger; hence, we are told, they always
return meagre and emaciated from their military excursions. In civilized
life we often behold this sensation to overbalance the restraints of
moral feeling; and perhaps this may be the reason why poverty, which is
the most frequent parent of hunger, disposes so generally to theft; for
the character of hunger is taken from that vice: it belongs to it "to
break through stone walls." So much does this sensation predominate over
reason and moral feeling, that Cardinal de Retz suggests to politicians,
never to risk a motion in a popular assembly, however wise or just
it may be, immediately before dinner. That temper must be uncommonly
guarded, which is not disturbed by long abstinence from food. One of the
worthiest men I ever knew, who made his breakfast his principal meal,
was peevish and disagreeable to his friends and family, from the time
he left his bed, till he sat down to his morning repast, after which,
cheerfulness sparkled in his countenance, and he became the delight of
all around him.
5. I hinted formerly, in proving the analogy between the effects
of DISEASES upon the intellects, and upon the moral faculty, that
the latter was frequently impaired by madness. I beg leave to add
further upon this head, that not only madness, but the hysteria and
hypochondriasis, as well as all those states of the body, whether
idiopathic or symptomatic, which are accompanied with preternatural
irritability, sensibility, torpor, stupor, or mobility of the nervous
system, dispose to vice, either of the body or of the mind. It is in
vain to attack these vices with lectures upon morality. They are only
to be cured by medicine, particularly by exercise, the cold bath, and
by a cold or warm atmosphere. The young woman, whose case I mentioned
formerly, that lost her habit of veracity by a nervous fever, recovered
this virtue, as soon as her system recovered its natural tone, from the
cold weather which happily succeeded her fever[10].
[10] There is a morbid state of excitability in the body during the
convalescence from fever, which is intimately connected with an
undue propensity to venereal pleasures. I have met with several
instances of it. The marriage of the celebrated Mr. Howard to
a woman who was twice as old as himself, and very sickly, has
been ascribed, by his biographer, Dr. Aiken, to _gratitude_ for
her great attention to him in a fit of sickness. I am disposed
to ascribe it to a sudden paroxysm of another passion, which,
as a religious man, he could not gratify in any other, than in
a lawful way. I have heard of two young clergymen who married
the women who had nursed them in fits of sickness. In both cases
there was great inequality in their years, and condition in
life. Their motive was, probably, the same as that which I have
attributed to Mr. Howard. Dr. Patrick Russel takes notice of an
uncommon degree of venereal excitability which followed attacks
of the plague at Messina, in 1743, in all ranks of people.
Marriages, he says, were more frequent after it than usual, and
virgins were, in some instances, violated, who died of that
disease, by persons who had just recovered from it.
6. IDLENESS is the parent of every vice. It is mentioned in the Old
Testament as another of the predisposing causes of the vices of the
cities of the plain. LABOUR, of all kinds, favours and facilitates the
practice of virtue. The country life is happy, chiefly because its
laborious employments are favourable to virtue, and unfriendly to vice.
It is a common practice, I have been told, for the planters, in the
southern states, to consign a house slave, who has become vicious from
idleness, to the drudgery of the field, in order to reform him. The
bridewells and workhouses of all civilized countries prove, that labour
is not only a very severe, but the most benevolent of all punishments,
inasmuch as it is one of the most suitable means of reformation. Mr.
Howard tells us, in his History of Prisons, that in Holland it is a
common saying, "Make men work, and you will make them honest." And over
the rasp and spinhouse at Gr[oe]ningen, this sentiment is expressed (he
tells us) by a happy motto:
"Vitiorum semina--otium--labore exhauriendum."
The effects of steady labour in early life, in creating virtuous
habits, is still more remarkable. The late Anthony Benezet, of this
city, whose benevolence was the centinel of the virtue, as well as of
the happiness of his country, made it a constant rule, in binding out
poor children, to avoid putting them into wealthy families, but always
preferred masters for them who worked themselves, and who obliged these
children to work in their presence. If the habits of virtue, contracted
by means of this apprenticeship to labour, are purely mechanical, their
effects are, nevertheless, the same upon the happiness of society, as if
they flowed from principle. The mind, moreover, when preserved by these
means from weeds, becomes a more mellow soil afterwards, for moral and
rational improvement.
7. The effects of EXCESSIVE SLEEP are intimately connected with the
effects of idleness upon the moral faculty: hence we find that moderate,
and even scanty portions of sleep, in every part of the world, have been
found to be friendly, not only to health and long life, but in many
instances to morality. The practice of the monks, who often sleep upon a
floor, and who generally rise with the sun, for the sake of mortifying
their sensual appetites, is certainly founded in wisdom, and has often
produced the most salutary moral effects.
8. The effects of bodily pain upon the moral, are not less remarkable
than upon the intellectual powers of the mind. The late Dr. Gregory, of
the university of Edinburgh, used to tell his pupils, that he always
found his perceptions quicker in a fit of the gout, than at any other
time. The pangs which attend the dissolution of the body, are often
accompanied with conceptions and expressions upon the most ordinary
subjects, that discover an uncommon elevation of the intellectual
powers. The effects of bodily pain are exactly the same in rousing
and directing the moral faculty. Bodily pain, we find, was one of the
remedies employed in the Old Testament, for extirpating vice, and
promoting virtue: and Mr. Howard tells us, that he saw it employed
successfully as a means of reformation, in one of the prisons which he
visited. If pain has a physical tendency to cure vice, I submit it to
the consideration of parents and legislators, whether moderate degrees
of corporal punishments, inflicted for a great length of time, would not
be more medicinal in their effects, than the violent degrees of them,
which are of short duration.
9. Too much cannot be said in favour of CLEANLINESS, as a physical
means of promoting virtue. The writings of Moses have been called by
military men, the best "orderly book" in the world. In every part of
them we find cleanliness inculcated with as much zeal, as if it was part
of the moral, instead of the Levitical law. Now, it is well known, that
the principal design of every precept and rite of the ceremonial parts
of the Jewish religion, was to prevent vice, and to promote virtue. All
writers upon the leprosy, take notice of its connection with a certain
vice. To this disease gross animal food, particularly swine's flesh,
and a dirty skin, have been thought to be predisposing causes: hence
the reason, probably, why pork was forbidden, and why ablutions of the
body and limbs were so frequently inculcated by the Jewish law. Sir John
Pringle's remarks, in his Oration upon Captain Cook's voyage, delivered
before the Royal Society, in London, are very pertinent to this part of
our subject. "Cleanliness (says he) is conducive to health, but it is
not so obvious, that it also tends to good order and other virtues. Such
(meaning the ship's crew) as were made more cleanly, became more sober,
more orderly, and more attentive to duty." The benefit to be derived by
parents and schoolmasters from attending to these facts, is too obvious
to be mentioned.
10. I hope I shall be excused in placing SOLITUDE among the physical
causes which influence the moral faculty, when I add, that I confine its
effects to persons who are irreclaimable by rational or moral remedies.
Mr. Howard informs us, that the chaplain of the prison at Leige, in
Germany, assured him, "that the most refractory and turbulent spirits
became tractable and submissive, by being closely confined for four
or five days." In bodies that are predisposed to vice, the stimulus
of cheerful, but much more of profane society and conversation, upon
the animal spirits, becomes an exciting cause, and, like the stroke of
the flint upon the steel, renders the sparks of vice both active and
visible. By removing men out of the reach of this exciting cause, they
are often reformed, especially if they are confined long enough to
produce a sufficient chasm in their habits of vice. Where the benefit
of reflection and instruction from books can be added to solitude
and confinement, their good effects are still more certain. To this
philosophers and poets in every age have assented, by describing the
life of a hermit as a life of passive virtue.
11. Connected with solitude, as a mechanical means of promoting virtue,
SILENCE deserves to be mentioned in this place. The late Dr. Fothergill,
in his plan of education for that benevolent institution at Ackworth,
which was the last care of his useful life, says every thing that can be
said in favour of this necessary discipline, in the following words: "To
habituate children from their early infancy, to silence and attention,
is of the greatest advantage to them, not only as a preparative to
their advancement in religious life, but as the groundwork of a well
cultivated understanding. To have the active minds of children put
under a kind of restraint; to be accustomed to turn their attention
from external objects, and habituated to a degree of abstracted
quiet, is a matter of great consequence, and lasting benefit to them.
Although it cannot be supposed, that young and active minds are always
engaged in silence as they ought to be, yet to be accustomed thus to
quietness, is no small point gained towards fixing a habit of patience,
and recollection, which seldom forsakes those who have been properly
instructed in this entrance of the school of wisdom, during the residue
of their days."
For the purpose of acquiring this branch of education, children cannot
associate too early, nor too often with their parents, or with their
superiors in age, rank, and wisdom.
12. The effects of MUSIC upon the moral faculty, have been felt and
recorded in every country. Hence we are able to discover the virtues and
vices of different nations, by their tunes, as certainly as by their
laws. The effects of music, when simply mechanical, upon the passions,
are powerful and extensive. But it remains yet to determine the degrees
of moral ecstacy, that may be produced by an attack upon the ear, the
reason, and the moral principle, at the same time, by the combined powers
of music and eloquence.
13. The ELOQUENCE of the PULPIT is nearly allied to music in its
effects upon the moral faculty. It is true, there can be no permanent
change in the temper, and moral conduct of a man, that is not derived
from the understanding and the will; but we must remember, that these
two powers of the mind are most assailable, when they are attacked
through the avenue of the passions; and these, we know, when agitated
by the powers of eloquence, exert a mechanical action upon every power
of the soul. Hence we find in every age and country, where christianity
has been propagated, the most accomplished orators have generally been
the most successful reformers of mankind. There must be a defect of
eloquence in a preacher, who, with the resources for oratory, which are
contained in the Old and New Testaments, does not produce in every man
who hears him, at least a temporary love of virtue. I grant that the
eloquence of the pulpit alone cannot change men into christians, but
it certainly possesses the power of changing brutes into men. Could
the eloquence of the stage be properly directed, it is impossible to
conceive the extent of its mechanical effects upon morals. The language
and imagery of a Shakespeare, upon moral and religious subjects, poured
upon the passions and the senses, in all the beauty and variety of
dramatic representation; who could resist, or describe their effects?
14. ODOURS of various kinds have been observed to act in the most
sensible manner upon the moral faculty. Brydone tells us, upon the
authority of a celebrated philosopher in Italy, that the peculiar
wickedness of the people who live in the neighbourhood of Ætna and
Vesuvius, is occasioned chiefly by the smell of the sulphur and of the
hot exhalations which are constantly discharged from those volcanos.
Agreeable odours seldom fail to inspire serenity, and to compose the
angry spirits. Hence the pleasure, and one of the advantages of a flower
garden. The smoke of tobacco is likewise of a composing nature, and
tends not only to produce what is called a train in perception, but to
hush the agitated passions into silence and order. Hence the practice of
connecting the pipe or segar, and the bottle together, in public company.
15. It will be sufficient only to mention LIGHT and DARKNESS, to suggest
facts in favour of the influence of each of them upon moral sensibility.
How often do the peevish complaints of the night in sickness, give way
to the composing rays of the light of the morning? Othello cannot murder
Desdemona by candle-light, and who has not felt the effects of a blazing
fire upon the gentle passions?
16. It is to be lamented, that no experiments have as yet been made,
to determine the effects of all the different species of AIRS,
which chemistry has lately discovered, upon the moral faculty.
I have authority from actual experiments, only to declare, that
dephlogisticated air, when taken into the lungs, produces cheerfulness,
gentleness, and serenity of mind.
17. What shall we say of the effects of MEDICINES upon the moral
faculty? That many substances in the materia medica act upon the
intellects, is well known to physicians. Why should it be thought
impossible for medicines to act in like manner upon the moral faculty?
May not the earth contain, in its bowels, or upon its surface,
antidotes? But I will not blend facts with conjectures. Clouds and
darkness still hang upon this part of my subject.