Moral Pathology 
 
 A. E. GILES, M. D. 
 
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MORAL PATHOLOGY 
 
! ; 
 
 MORAL PATHOLOGY 
 
 ARTHUR E. GILES, M.D., B.Sc. 
 
 ' ' Sin, like disease, is a vital process. It is a function and not an 
 entity. It must be studied as a section of anthropology. No pre- 
 conceived idea must be allowed to interfere vrith our investigation of 
 the deranged spiritual function, any more than the old ideas of 
 demoniacal possession must be allowed to interfere with our study 
 of epilepsy. Spiritual pathology is a proper subject for direct ob- 
 servation and analysis, like any other subject involving a series of 
 living actions." — Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
 
 LONDON 
 SWAN SONNENSCHEIN & CO. 
 
 NEW YORK : CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 1895 
 

 1JU> 
 
^0 
 MY FATHER 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS 
 AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAGB 
 
 PREFACE - - vii 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION . . . . i 
 
 II. THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE - 8 
 
 III. THE NATURE OF MORAL DISEASE - I9 
 
 IV. THE MORAL PHYSICIAN - 27 
 V. MORAL HYGIENE. PART I. — PERSONAL 
 
 HYGIENE - - - 31 
 VI. MORAL HYGIENE. PART II.— THE HYGIENE 
 
 OF SURROUNDINGS - - 41 
 
 VII. MORAL DIATHESES - 49 
 
 VIII. EGOISM - 63 
 
 IX. DIAGNOSIS - - - 72 
 
 X. PROGNOSIS - 81 
 
 XI. THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE - 87 
 
 XII. CAUSATION OF MORAL TllS^ASE— continued - 99 
 
 XIIL SELFISHNESS - - m 
 
 XIV. INDOLENCE - - - I20 
 
 XV. DISHONESTY - - - 128 
 
 XVI. TEMPER 
 
 XVII. INTEMPERANCE 
 
 XVIII. MORAL HYPOCHONDRIASIS - - 151 
 
 XIX. THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORAL DISEASE— 
 
 THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS - - 156 
 
 XX. TREATMENT - - - - 166 
 
 134 
 141 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The frequent overlapping and interlacing of moral 
 and medical questions in daily work has impressed 
 me, as it has impressed others, with the fact that a 
 man's moral nature is not something separate and 
 supernatural, owning no allegiance to natural laws, 
 but an integral part of himself, dependent upon 
 and in turn influencing his condition of mind and 
 body. The comparison of sin with sickness is no 
 new one, but it has been made, as a rule, discon- 
 nectedly and by way of illustration. I believe 
 that a systematic review of " Moral Pathology " 
 on these lines has not been done, and that some 
 useful light may be thrown on the subject of 
 morals by the consideration of the principles of 
 moral disease in medical fashion. 
 
 I do not pretend to have dealt with the matter 
 exhaustively. I have wished rather to give an 
 outline of it, leaving the filling in of details to be 
 done in some measure by the reader. The spirit 
 
 vu 
 
VIII PREFACE. 
 
 of the book is indicated in the extract from The 
 Poet at the Breakfast-Table which appears on the 
 title-page, whilst its scope will be gathered from 
 the list of chapters. 
 
 To a certain but limited extent, the condition of 
 the body is influenced by the will ; in the domain 
 of mind and morals the will has a more absolute 
 (though even here not unlimited) dominion. So 
 at the outset I disclaim any intention of minimis- 
 ing the seriousness of wrong-doing by furnishing 
 comfortable excuses to the morally weak. My 
 hope is rather that a clearer understanding of 
 the scope and limitations of moral responsibility 
 may increase its efi'ectiveness ; and that by a 
 thoughtful inquiry into the nature, causes, symp- 
 toms and results of moral disease, a better insight 
 may be gained into the methods of successfully 
 overcoming such disease in one's self and in others. 
 
 ARTHUE E. GILES, 
 
 57 Queen Anne Street, W. 
 SepUmber, 1895. 
 
MORAL PATHOLOGY 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The ardent longing of the world's well-wishers is 
 to see realised a perfected humanity. Mens sana 
 in corpore sano : this is the ideal. Taken in this 
 sense, the " mind " must be understood to include 
 the moral as well as the mental qualities. There 
 are, then, the three parts of man's nature to be cared 
 for, in order that the healthy body, the healthy 
 mind, and the healthy soul may together form 
 the perfect man. Moreover, they must be cared 
 for in the order given, for all true progress, like 
 building, must be from the lower to the higher. 
 The study of the body's health is in many and 
 safe hands ; health of mind is more difficult to 
 attain, and the laws by which it is governed are 
 
2 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 not SO plain ; yet in this field also is much advance 
 being made. In the humblest walks of life, edu- 
 cation is taking the place of ignorance ; in the 
 higher, culture is being grafted on to education. 
 
 Health of soul is the highest, and therefore the 
 hardest to achieve ; and the difficulties have been 
 increased, rather than diminished, by the mysteries 
 in which it has been enfolded. These must be 
 stripped ofif; and it will then be seen that the 
 health of the soul, like that of the body, depends 
 on the fulfilment of the laws by which it is 
 governed. Science has many daughters ; the 
 science of ethics is amongst the youngest of 
 them. She has, however, a vigorous vitality, 
 and bids fair to thrive in a manner that will 
 justify the most sanguine hopes. 
 
 Some analogies from the science of medicine 
 will help us. When, in the Darker Ages, medi- 
 cine was under the sway of empiricism, progress 
 was slow ; observation was often overshadowed by 
 theory ; and by the application of empirical rules 
 and abstract reasoning to the treatment of the 
 sick, results were proportionately uncertain. Now 
 that the fact is better known, that no single theory 
 of disease will cover all its forms, many old 
 formulas are sinking into their proper insignifi- 
 cance, and the sick person engages much of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 attention formerly given to the abstract disease. 
 The modern physician does not remain content 
 with the study and treatment of the symptoms 
 of sickness ; he goes further and looks for the 
 cause. Having found this, he attacks it, and 
 trusts that the symptoms will disappear when 
 their cause is removed. He tries also to make 
 his diagnosis exact ; he recognises that the out- 
 ward signs of two very different ailments may be 
 much alike ; and that what has cured the one may 
 have no effect on the other. 
 
 A few leaves may, then, be borrowed with 
 profit from the doctor's note-book : — 
 
 Moral disease is infinitely complex ; no single 
 theory will account for all cases. 
 
 A knowledge of moral disease cannot be ob- 
 tained in the retirement of the hermit's cave, nor 
 in the quiet of the preacher's study, but only 
 among men who are morally sick. 
 
 In moral, as in medical pathology, the patient, 
 and not the disease, must be treated. 
 
 It is in vain that remedies are applied to relieve 
 the symptoms of moral disorder, if their cause 
 remain untouched. 
 
 A method of moral treatment which has sue- 
 
4 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 ceeded in one instance may fail in another because 
 the two cases are only outwardly alike. 
 
 Why is it that, in spite of all the moral systems 
 and teaching of many thousand years, the con- 
 dition of men to-day is no better than it is ? that 
 
 " age to age succeeds, 
 Blowing a noise of tongues and deeds, 
 A dust of systems and of creeds,'' 
 
 and that the net result in the department of 
 morality is yet so unsatisfactory ? Many answers 
 may be given. I will suggest a few. 
 
 It is partly because moral teaching is so often 
 conveyed in old formulas, whose words are learnt 
 by heart, while their meaning is neither thought 
 about nor understood. 
 
 It is partly because teaching should be given 
 in the days when the nature is plastic, in child- 
 hood, by parents ; and manj' parents are unfit for 
 it, or hand over the responsibility to those who, 
 from a lack of personal interest, do not under- 
 stand the nature of the individual child. 
 
 Moreover, the moral code laid down in early 
 life is often out of harmony with human nature ; 
 it is unnatural and therefore repellent ; and the 
 moral sense, distorted and baffled by insignificant 
 
INTRODUCTION. S 
 
 trifles, loses its keenness and its sense of propor- 
 tion in dealing with the larger questions of right 
 and wrong. 
 
 It is partly because people requiring moral treat- 
 ment are dealt with by the gross, instead of in- 
 dividually. 
 
 It is partly because the motives for right action 
 that are taught are of a supernatural order, and 
 are, by their very nature, not lasting. 
 
 It is partly because the causes and origin of 
 moral disease are not understood. 
 
 Lastly, it is partly because many teachers are 
 not able to support their teaching by personal 
 example. 
 
 It is not my purpose to lay down any new 
 ethical code ; nor to attempt to re-adjust the old 
 ones. But by considering the subject of moral 
 disease from an independent standpoint, partly 
 freed from traditional phraseology, it may be pos- 
 sible to see some of its features as they really are. 
 The set forms of words in which many of our 
 ideas of right and wrong are cast have had their 
 uses ; they once expressed living ideas. But ideas 
 are living and consequently changing things ; even 
 ideas about right and wrong must change ; and the 
 effect of retaining old phrases and formulas is often 
 this, that they cease to convey any idea at all ; all 
 
6 MORAL PATHOLOGV. 
 
 that is left is a vague sense of security and comfort 
 in the words, such as the well-known, pious old 
 lady derived from the sound of "that blessed 
 word, Mesopotamia." 
 
 Definitions have their use; but definition is 
 the limitation of growth. Once plunge a living 
 thought into the fixing-solution of definition, and 
 its growth ceases. It is then inert, and is fit to be 
 labelled and packed away in a museum. Its form 
 may be fair, but its life is gone. 
 
 The wish to deal with the subject of moral 
 disease, untrammelled by any set form of words, is 
 one reason why the religious side of the matter is 
 here left untouched. A second reason is that " the 
 good life has a claim upon us in virtue of its su- 
 preme worth to humanity. It therefore rests for 
 its justification on no external authority, and on 
 no system of supernatural rewards and punish- 
 ments, but on the nature of man as a rational and 
 social being." The additional incentives to good 
 conduct which religion supplies are a great help in 
 the preservation of moral health ; but they do not 
 in any way lessen the obligation to right living 
 which is imposed upon us by our very nature as 
 "rational and social beings." A third reason for 
 not dwelling on the religious aspect of the question 
 is a wholesome dread of the admonition which 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 " Urania speaks with darkened brow : — 
 Thou pratest here where thou art least ; 
 This faith has many a purer priest, 
 And many an abler voice than thou." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE. 
 
 A QUESTION stands upon the threshold of this 
 inquiry into moral pathology : What is moral 
 disease ? By what criterion are we to judge 
 whether any action is morally normal or patho- 
 logical, that is, right or wrong ? 
 
 But as all definitions presuppose a certain 
 amount of previous knowledge, there are some pre- 
 liminaries which must be discussed before we can 
 give a definition of moral disease. One of the best 
 ways of finding out what a thing is, is to ascertain 
 how it came to be what it is. I shall therefore pre- 
 pare the way for the consideration, in the next 
 chapter, of the nature of moral disease by an in- 
 quiry here into its origin. 
 
 We must, however, start at a stage even earlier 
 
 than this. Before we can understand disease, we 
 
 must know what constitutes health. Our first 
 
 duty is, therefore, to trace the origin of the moral 
 
 8 
 
THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE. 9 
 
 distinctions, right and wrong, and of the standards 
 of moral health which were thus formed. 
 
 Then we shall consider in what ways men came 
 to depart from the standards of moral health, and 
 so developed moral disease. 
 
 It will avoid much confusion if we remember 
 that in studying the origin of the distinction be- 
 tween right and wrong there are two distinct 
 questions to be considered : firstly, its origin in 
 the history of the race ; secondly, its origin in the 
 life of the individual. For though the develop- 
 ment of the individual is in many respects a 
 repetition in miniature of that of the race, that 
 repetition has the form rather of an abstract, 
 epitome, or summary, than of a full and verbatim 
 report. Or it may be compared to a series of re- 
 sults of calculations, of which the details of work- 
 ing out have been effaced. The individual life is 
 too short to work out for itself all the theorems of 
 existence, but starts with the results of these 
 ready -stated in the form of postulates and axioms. 
 
 Thus the intuition of the modern man is the 
 inheritance of the cumulative experience of the 
 ancients, condensed and ready for use. 
 
 That man has probably developed out of lower 
 types of life is now generally admitted. What these 
 may have been need not trouble us ; nor is there 
 
16 MORAL PATHOLOGV. 
 
 reason to be ashamed that our far-off ancestors were 
 lowly-born, On the contrary, the fact is gratify- 
 ing; for the descent of man has been an ascent; and 
 if there has been such startling progress in the past, 
 it augurs well for the future, and the contemplation 
 of perfection in the ages to come becomes increas- 
 ingly hopeful. 
 
 In the days of the earliest men, before they were 
 associated in tribes, the duty of each individual 
 was summed up in two obligations, self-preserva- 
 tion and the rearing of offspring. The fulfilment 
 of these two obligations was a source of gratifica- 
 tion, and duty and pleasure went hand in hand. 
 To destroy any individuals who interfered with 
 either duty brought no more compunction than the 
 slaying of animals for food. Wrong consisted in 
 disobeying one or other of these mandates, and 
 was followed by prompt retribution of physical 
 suffering upon the individual or upon his offspring. 
 But immediate gratification of the senses was no 
 doubt discovered before long to be followed in 
 certain instances by harm, either to the individual 
 or to his children. In this conflict of present with 
 prospective advantage lay the germ of the contest 
 between right and wrong. The conflict assumed 
 more definite form when individuals were collected 
 into families and tribes. It became essential for 
 
The origin of moral disease. it 
 
 self-preservation that the safety of the tribe should 
 be first considered; and the individual had to 
 surrender his personal advantage at certain times 
 for the good of the rest of the community. Thus 
 arose the contest between the interests of self and 
 those of others. The tendency to self -gratification 
 was at first kept in check mainly by two considera- 
 tions : firstly, fear of the vengeance of the souls of 
 the departed heroes of the tribe ; secondly, the 
 authority of the chief, who was necessarily the 
 strongest man. Herbert Spencer has ably traced 
 out the development of these two influences into 
 the two principal incentives to right conduct, 
 religion and law. To review his arguments in 
 their order would take me far beyond the scope of 
 this work ; nor is there any need for me to re- 
 capitulate indifferently what he has done in a 
 masterly way. A third factor soon came into 
 operation, the influence, namely, of custom, growing 
 by degrees into that complex structure, social 
 opinion. 
 
 In this manner four standards of conduct came 
 into being : firstly, that of the individual, framed 
 on considerations of self-preservation, of the suc- 
 cessful rearing of offspring, and of the harmonious 
 living with others ; then the other three standards, 
 the religious, the political, and the social, consisting 
 
12 MORAL tATHOLOGY. 
 
 mainly of traditions and precepts, embodying the 
 principles that had been found most advantageous 
 for the fulfilling of the above aims. 
 
 As mind developed, the sense-presentations of 
 these facts became abstract ideas ; the higher ideas 
 overshadowed the lower ; present gain became 
 more and more subservient to future good ; the 
 desire to benefit others as a means to personal 
 advantage became a sufficient end in itself ; and 
 altruism finally triumphed over selfishness, as the 
 ultimate goal of conduct. 
 
 In this evolution of conduct, all four standards 
 had their share. The authoritative standards of 
 law and religion, strengthened by penal codes of 
 considerable severity, compelled a certain degree of 
 obedience ; and, in some measure at least, men were 
 forced to do the right, at a time when the right 
 was, for them, a question of expediency rather than 
 of inclination. In the course of time, right conduct 
 assumed something more of the nature of habit, 
 whilst the reasonableness of right and the disad- 
 vantages of wrong became felt. At this stage the 
 authority of priests and rulers was seldom if ever 
 questioned, and the inquiry " What is right ? " 
 could be answered simply : it consisted in obedience 
 to the Divine Will and to the law of the land. 
 Public opinion was thus formed, and became the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE. 13 
 
 third great standard. But this standard was and 
 still is faulty in one important respect : it had re- 
 gard to the outward appearances of actions rather 
 than to their intrinsic worth. Society cares little 
 for motives ; it pronounces only upon actions. It 
 asks for forms, for outward conformity ; it makes 
 no inquiries into the subjective side of morality. 
 Lastly, there came a time when men began to 
 question authority, and to think out for themselves 
 the relations of right and wrong. At first this was 
 done by only a few, and they met with but scant 
 appreciation from those to whom authority was the 
 only oracle. It was a feature of later civilisation 
 that this habit of thinking spread more and more. 
 From it arose comparatively crude ethical theories, 
 embodying, however, for the most part, in some 
 form or other, the fundamental truth that the aim 
 of morality is happiness. In some cases an immedi- 
 ate advantage was sought ; others, more far-seeing, 
 strove for ultimate happiness. Some sought only 
 the happiness of the individual ; others that of the 
 race. In this last century more definite efforts 
 have been made to establish and define a science of 
 ethics. 
 
 Such is a very brief outline of the development 
 of the moral standard in the history of the race. 
 And now we must pass on to the second question : 
 
14 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 What is the origin of the moral standard in the 
 life of the individual ? 
 
 The individual starts life under the influence of 
 two controlling forces : an innate inheritance and 
 an external environment. The first gives him in- 
 tuitions ; the second controls him with traditions. 
 His intuitions, as I said before, represent the net 
 resultant of experience laboriously acquired and 
 accumulated in the course of many generations ; 
 the traditions that he learns represent much the 
 same experiences handed down in a collateral 
 fashion and in less condensed form. The result is 
 that in the main an individual's intuitions of right 
 and wi'ong correspond fairly well with the teaching 
 he receives from without. Further, the child, as 
 he develops, becomes acquainted, although it may 
 be not discerningly, with the three external stan- 
 dards I have spoken of. Of the three, the religious 
 impresses him the most, because it receives a double 
 sanction. Tradition has ascribed to it a super- 
 natural origin ; and his own intuition is to him 
 inexplicable, except on the assumption that this 
 also is supernatural. As he grows, the individual- 
 istic standard tends to develop; he asks himself 
 why this is right and that is wrong. It is possible 
 for such questionings to be checked, if his early 
 teachers refer him, as sole explanation, to the ipse 
 
THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE. 1 5 
 
 dixit of revelation. Otherwise, this side of moral- 
 ity gains increasing force and dimensions, until in 
 his mature years the other three standards come to 
 be accepted or rejected according as they harmonise 
 or not with his own standard. 
 
 After this rapid survey of the origin of moral 
 distinctions in the race and in the individual, we 
 have now to consider in what ways and in what 
 order the inner tendencies of man's nature came 
 into conflict with standards of right. That is to say, 
 we have to review the evolution of moral disease. 
 
 The primitive forms of moral disease were pro- 
 bably such as are associated with the basis of 
 man's nature, namely his body ; they had to do 
 with gratification of the senses. Of this we have 
 some evidence in children ; with them, the earliest 
 wrong actions are generally of this kind; faults 
 due to greed are perhaps the commonest of all. 
 As the nature expands, and its capacities are un- 
 folded, other kinds of faults are possible. Looking 
 again at the child we see how many kinds of 
 wrong-doing are associated with the fundamental 
 emotions : anger, revenge, cruelty and the like. 
 Some emotions, more complex, are developed later, 
 notably those of sex ; and the faults related to 
 them are also seen later. By degrees the intellec- 
 tual faculties- are developed, and the faults due to 
 
1 6 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 their wrongful exercise appear also. Cunning, 
 deceit, dishonesty, vanity, arrogance, injustice, ill- 
 balanced ambition, and a host of others belong to 
 this class ; whilst underlying almost all other 
 forms of moral disorder is the many-headed hydra 
 of selfishness — the result of a distortion of the 
 fundamental tendency of self-preservation. 
 
 It must, of course, be understood that a simple 
 classification of moral diseases into (1) those associ- 
 ated with the senses ; (2) those associated with the 
 emotions ; and (3) those associated with the intellect, 
 is not possible. Every added faculty becomes re- 
 lated to those already present. So that moral 
 disorders associated with complex faculties such 
 as intellect, are often associated also with the 
 emotions and with the senses. Thus, while greed 
 is mainly sensual, lust is partly sensual and partly 
 emotional. Anger is mainly emotional, but re- 
 venge is partly emotional, partly intellectual. 
 Nevertheless the account of the evolution of moral 
 disorder on the broad lines above indicated will 
 probably be found to be, in the main, correct. 
 
 In the beginning of the history of the race, as in 
 the early life of the child, the first condition was 
 probably innocence, not in its derivative sense of 
 " doing no harm," i.e., absence of guilt, but in its 
 sense of "ignorance of wrong." But when the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF MORAL DISEASE. l^ 
 
 knowledge of good and evil was attained, there 
 was a " fall " from the condition of innocence or 
 ignorance; just as the "fall" occurs at some time 
 in the early life of every child. The first wrong- 
 doing that is recognised as such is, for that child, 
 "the fall." 
 
 The origin of moral disease is thus to be traced 
 in the development of those very capacities of body 
 and mind which are necessary for moral health. 
 The condition of there being possibilities for good 
 is that there be possibilities of evil. As Carlyle 
 says in " Sartor Resartus " : "A strange contra- 
 diction lay in me, and I as yet knew not the solution 
 of it ; knew not that spiritual music can spring 
 only from discords set in harmony ; that but for 
 evil there were no good, as victory is only possible 
 by battle." Moreover, the higher an individual's 
 capacities for good, the greater also are his possi- 
 bilities of evil. " When a wise man makes a false 
 step," says George Meredith, " will he not go 
 farther than a fool ? " 
 
 Medical science teaches us that the more complex 
 the development of any bodily organ, the greater 
 is its liability to various diseases and to degenera- 
 tion. And so we find that certain forms of insanity 
 are relatively more common among the cultured 
 than among the uneducated ; whilst men of the 
 
t8 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 highest genius not uncommonly show some kind of 
 moral obliquity. "The passionate heart of the 
 poet is whirled into folly and vice." Infinitely 
 better, however, is the great capacity for good, 
 though necessarily accompanied by increased lia- 
 bility to evil, than a dull mediocrity, or a still lower 
 inferiority, from which neither much good nor 
 much evil is likely to come. Innocence is no doubt 
 better than evil known and yielded to ; but evil 
 known and overcome is even better than innocence. 
 The origin of moral disease need not therefore be 
 regarded as anything very mysterious ; nor need 
 its existence be looked upon as a blot upon the fair 
 scheme of creation; indeed, many of the most 
 sublime virtues, such as mercy and forgiveness, 
 humility, patience and self-control, would never 
 have been known had it not been for the moral 
 disease which called them forth, and over which, in 
 turn, they triumphed. Out of Death, the worst, 
 comes Life, the best. 
 
 " Surely in the great beginning, God made all things good, 
 and still 
 
 That soul-sickness men call sinning entered not without 
 His will. 
 
 Nay, our wisest have asserted that, as shade enhances light. 
 
 Evil is but good perverted, wrong is but the foil of right. 
 
 Banish sickness, then you banish joy for health to all that 
 live ; 
 
 Slay all sin, all good must vanish, good being but com- 
 parative." 
 
 Adam Lindsay Gordon (The Road to Avemus). 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE NATURE OF MORAL DISEASE. 
 
 We are now in a position to consider the question, 
 " What is moral disease ? " 
 
 We have seen in the previous chapter how the 
 experience of many generations as to what was 
 best both for the individual and for the race be- 
 came defined and formulated in various sets of 
 " rules of conduct " ; and we named three principal 
 sets of rules or standards, the legal, the religious, 
 and the social. These codes set forth, therefore, 
 the duty of man, what he ought to do, and what he 
 ought to avoid. We have seen also that every in- 
 dividual born into a civilized community is brought 
 under the influence of these rules of conduct ; and 
 has, in addition, an innate sense or intuition which 
 in the main corroborates and approves of these 
 rules. From these combined sources, a moral law 
 is derived, to which the individual is required to 
 conform. 
 
 The moral law explains what things are right, and 
 what other things are wrong ; and what the moral 
 19 
 
20 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 law does from without, the moral sense does from 
 within. Once the right or wrong nature of an 
 action has been thus made clear, there is an impulse 
 to do the right; this is conscience. When the 
 promptings of conscience are habitually yielded to, 
 the individual's condition is one of moral health. 
 
 Moral disease may therefore be defined as disre- 
 gard of conscience. Moral disease is not the wrong 
 action itself ; this is but a symptom ; the malady 
 consists in the mental condition which allows of 
 disobedience to the voice of conscience. 
 
 The word " conscience " is commonly used in 
 three distinct senses : — 
 
 1. As that which distinguishes between right 
 and wrong. I have called this the moral sense. 
 
 2. As that which prompts to right actions. I 
 have called this the moral impulse. 
 
 3. As that feeling of satisfaction which follows 
 right, or of dissatisfaction which follows wrong, as 
 expressed in the terms, " a good or bad conscience." 
 I use the word " conscience " as comprising the 
 second and third meanings. 
 
 Men do not differ from one another in their con- 
 science ; in all, conscience says, "Do the right; 
 what thou knowest to be right." But all are not 
 equally obedient to this voice, and consequently, 
 all are not equally morally healthy. 
 
THE NATURE OF MORAL DISEASE. 21 
 
 At the same time, in their estimate of what is 
 right and what is wrong men also differ ; for this is 
 the function, not of conscience, but of reason ; and 
 consequently their actions may be widely divergent, 
 and yet they may be equally healthy because 
 equally obedient. The moral health of each in- 
 dividual has, therefore, to be judged of in relation 
 to his standard of right and wrong. 
 
 No standard can be final. The standard of 
 society is notoriously faulty. I pointed out in the 
 previous chapter that society can take cognizance 
 of outward appearances only ; and further, it often 
 gravely misapprehends the relative gravity of 
 offences. A single lapse from virtue is frequently 
 visited with much greater severity than a lifetime 
 of harshness or unkindness. More inconsistent 
 still, it often reserves its chief and most enduring 
 censures for mere faults of savoir-faire. 
 
 The standard of the law is often hopelessly 
 wrong ; indeed, the " uncertainty of the law " has 
 come to be a proverb, and it has been found necessary 
 to make a distinction between " law " and " equity." 
 
 The standard of the Church, though on the 
 whole admirable, is not always adequate. It is 
 apt to be unpractical, visionary ; it takes too little 
 count of the progress of thought, and of the vary- 
 ing conditions of life. Not uncommonly it fosters 
 
22 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 an irrational altruism at the expense of a rational 
 egoism. It has, however, a vast sphere o£ useful- 
 ness ; it is the one safe standard for moral children, 
 and for those who are not able to frame a healthy 
 standard for themselves. In saying this, there is 
 no implication that it is necessarily unfit for moral 
 adults ; and many who are able to form their own 
 standard find that it agrees very well with that of 
 the Church. But in actual life we find that there 
 are many persons whose standard differs from that 
 of the Church, and is, nevertheless, as good. 
 
 These three imperfect standards have their place 
 and value. They serve, at least, as approximations 
 towards a perfect code of rules for conduct. It is 
 not possible to trace back every individual question 
 of right and wrong to its ultimate basis ; and these 
 temporary approximations should then be adhered 
 to. They form a basis upon which every thinking 
 individual may and should form a standard of his 
 own, not lower, but higher than any of the other 
 three. 
 
 In furtherance of this object, the following con- 
 siderations may assist. 
 
 The best standard has as its aims : — 
 
 1. As regards the individual: the development 
 and exercise of all his bodily and mental faculties, 
 
THE NATURE OF MORAL DISEASE. 23 
 
 with a view to the achievement of happiness, both 
 present and future, and of usefulness. 
 
 2. As regards the race: its preservation with 
 development in a condition of well-being and of 
 mutual helpfulness. 
 
 The means by which these aims are to be 
 attained require continual re-adjustment in rela- 
 tion to developing faculties and advancing thought. 
 In a moral code there is, and can be, no finality. 
 
 The sphere of morals thus embraces every other 
 department of life, physical, emotional, mental, 
 social and political. 
 
 Further, it is to be noted that most actions are 
 relatively right or wrong. There are a few wrong 
 actions which are probably intrinsically wrong, 
 such as injustice, cruelty, oppression, dishonesty, 
 and so forth ; but even many wrongs of this class 
 have from time to time received the sanction of 
 law and custom. Killing is considered right if 
 done on a large enough scale, as in war. Slavery 
 and deception have received countenance from 
 ancient writings — some of them regarded as 
 authoritative. Most actions are, however, bipolar ; 
 one end is right and the other wrong. In other 
 words, most sins are the negative aspect of certain 
 qualities of which the positive aspect are virtues. 
 
24 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 A few instances will make this clear. The same 
 characteristics which, properly directed, lead to 
 prudence, may, wrongly directed, appear as 
 cowardice. Prodigality is often the result of 
 exaggerated generosity. Kindness, if not well 
 balanced, may lead to weakness. A strict con- 
 scientiousness, if not tempered by mercy, may lead 
 to hardness and Pharisaism. Native shrewdness 
 may pass over, by stages of diplomacy and cunning, 
 to deceit. For this reason a single moral trait can 
 seldom be judged of by itself ; it must be taken in 
 conjunction with other moral features. And, as 
 will appear more fully later on, in dealing with the 
 subject of moral treatment, a deficiency in moral 
 character will often require to be remedied, not 
 directly, but by cultivating or controlling some 
 other characteristic, the deficiency or excess of 
 which leads to the particular fault under con- 
 sideration. 
 
 Standards must necessarily vary with age, cul- 
 ture and knowledge, and the question is. Must an 
 individual conform to any other standard but his 
 own ? To this I answer No or Yes, according as 
 his actions affect himself alone or others also. In 
 the former case everyone must be " a law unto him- 
 self," and his anxiety should be this, to follow in 
 all things the dictates of his conscience. But in 
 
THE NATURE OF MORAL DISEASE. 2$ 
 
 matters affecting others, the rules of conduct which 
 receive general assent are to be respected ; not in 
 the direction of laxity of conduct, in contravention 
 of his own higher dictates, but in the direction of 
 additional restraint and severity ; for from the 
 point of view of the community many things are 
 inexpedient because of their influence on others 
 which are not wrong as concerns the individual. 
 
 At the same time it must be remembered that 
 there are circumstances in which an individual 
 may violate the commonly-accepted rules of con- 
 duct with a proper motive, and in so doing he may 
 show, not moral disease, but moral health. 
 
 To sum up. When reduced to its simplest terms 
 moral disease consists of a disregard of that im- 
 pulse to do the right, which we call conscience. 
 Wrong actions are the various forms which this 
 disobedience to conscience takes. But in practice 
 it is impossible to analyse every man's impulses ; 
 and, moreover, some kind of common working 
 basis is required. The tacit assumption, therefore, 
 is that in the main the reason of men will lead 
 them to hold similar views as to what is right and 
 what is wrong ; and that any man who acts in 
 opposition to generally accepted ideas of right is 
 acting also in opposition to his own conscience ; 
 and that he is therefore morally diseased. This 
 
26 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 assumption will, no doubt, be wrong in many 
 cases ; but it is inevitable, unless we can ascertain 
 the individual circumstances. 
 
 In what follows it will be assumed that the various 
 moral disorders treated of are universally regarded 
 as pathological conditions. It is, however, the 
 duty of the moral physician to inquire into every 
 case individually, and take it on its merits. 
 
 He will then discover that many men whose 
 actions do not fall into line with those of their 
 neighbours are nevertheless acting in conformity 
 to their standard of right, the effect of which will 
 be to broaden his sympathies and to give him a 
 better opinion of human nature than he would 
 obtain from a merely superficial survey. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE MORAL PHYSICIAN. 
 
 A MORAL physician maybe said to be a person who 
 has made a special study of moral disease, and who 
 endeavours, day by day, to remedy it. Such an 
 endeavour, at one time or other, is made, professedly 
 or otherwise, by all who have the interests of man- 
 kind at heart; but without a special knowledge of 
 the subject it is clear that there can be no claim to 
 the title. Ministers and priests of the churches, of 
 whatever creed, are moral physicians by profes- 
 sion ; but even among them there are some who 
 are physicians in name only, for they know little or 
 nothing of their subject. 
 
 Besides study, the qualifications necessary for 
 the ofiice are : — insight, to discern where the 
 secret of the malady lies ; sympathy, that he may 
 gain the confidence of his patients, for without this 
 he will court failure ; experience, derived from a 
 personal acquaintance with men and their ways ; 
 
 and the ability to illustrate his teaching by his 
 
 27 
 
28 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 own example. It need hardly be added that he 
 must himself have faith in his treatment, and that 
 his heart must be in his work. Nearly every 
 moral convalescent thinks that he can treat his 
 own disease in others ; this by no means always 
 follows, for his recently acquired knowledge may 
 be too partial. In this, as in other departments of 
 life, when a man thinks he can teach his fellows 
 something, it is well that he should stop to consider 
 whether he has not simply discovered for himself 
 what most people already knew. 
 
 The want of experience is a frequent cause of 
 failure. The subject is not one which can be 
 properly acquired in the seclusion of a hermitage, 
 or in the peaceful calm of the study. Those who 
 have in this way learnt what they know of moral 
 disease may have a tolerably good understanding 
 of their own condition ; but if their deductions 
 concerning the condition of others are based on this 
 kind of experience, they will often hit very wide 
 of the mark. Those whose knowledge of physic 
 has been derived from books, instead of by the 
 bedside, are apt to be perplexed at their want of 
 success. But it is not very surprising, for, in the 
 first place, they have a tendency to treat the dis- 
 ease instead of the patient ; and, in the second 
 place, they may fail to discover what the patient is 
 
THE MORAL PHYSICIAN. 29 
 
 really suflFering from, although, once they know 
 this, they may know well enough, in theory, what 
 is the appropriate remedy. 
 
 That a man should pose as a moral physician, 
 whose heart is not in his work, and who has little 
 or no faith in the remedies he suggests, is such an 
 anomaly that it could not be believed were it 
 not that we see examples day by day. Are not 
 some young men destined for "the Church" be- 
 cause they are fit for nothing else ? Do not some 
 occupy their post simply as a sinecure ? Nay, 
 worse ; have we not seen some hopeless moral 
 cripples, some all but incurables, invested with the 
 robes of office ? In " Lycidas," Milton " takes 
 occasion," as he says, to make some pertinent re- 
 marks on this subject. One can only wonder that 
 in a profession so honourable, so responsible, the 
 esprit de corps has not induced its members to take 
 rather more stringent precautions against the ad- 
 mission to membership of unworthy candidates, 
 and against the retention in their midst of those 
 who have not fulfilled their trust. Were this done, 
 there is no doubt that confidence in the profession 
 would be much more wide-spread. 
 
 There is, moreover, such an individual as the 
 moral "quack." I have seen him. He is to be 
 avoided. 
 
30 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 But although, owing to the high qualifications 
 necessary, all cannot be moral physicians, there is 
 still much that can be done, and that ought to be 
 done, by all who wish to serve their fellows well. 
 It is not straining the analogy too far to say that 
 there is ambulance and nursing work to be done. 
 Indeed, I have often seen " first aid " very efficiently 
 rendered. Invaluable service, in the cause of 
 righteousness, is done by influence and example, 
 unstudied, but simply the outcome of the person's 
 own moral health. Conscious example, influence 
 purposely exerted, — these are very apt to fail 
 utterly. 
 
 The sphere of helpfulness in the work of alleviat- 
 ing moral sufiering and healing moral disease is 
 such a wide one that all who will may find a place. 
 The kingdom of righteousness is vast, without 
 bounds, and the work to be done is infinitely 
 varied. Whilst, therefore, those who wish to be of 
 greatest use must learn what is to be learnt, that 
 they may do what is to be done, the humbler offices 
 may also be filled with honour. 
 
 " Who beat 
 Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state 
 Is kingly ; thousands at His bidding speed, 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest. 
 They also serve who only stand and wait.'' 
 
CHAPTER v., 
 
 MORAL HYGIENE. 
 Part I. — Personal Hygiene. 
 
 Of late years, medical research has more and more 
 taken the wise direction of the study of the pre- 
 vention of disease. That " prevention is better than 
 cure " is a truth so fundamental that its statement 
 is now getting superfluous. And it evidently loses 
 none of its appropriateness when applied to the 
 subject of moral disease. Moral hygiene may, 
 therefore, fittingly occupy our serious attention. 
 
 The first question to consider is : What are the 
 fundamental characteristics of moral health ? I 
 should say they are strength, purity, honesty, and 
 unselfishness. 
 
 Strength is the first condition of moral stability. 
 A weak nature is always liable to go, or to be 
 led, astray. At the best, the virtues exhibited by 
 such a nature will be negative ones. As plastic 
 
 31 
 
32 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 material on which to work, a strong nature, with 
 its greater possibilities, both for good and for evil, 
 is much to be preferred, for, properly handled, its 
 capacities for usefulness are great. And if the 
 sources of moral strength be analysed, it will be 
 found that, 
 
 " Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control, 
 These three alone lead life to sovereign power. 
 Yet not for power (power of herself 
 Would come uncalled-for), but to live by law. 
 Acting the law we live by without fear ; 
 And, because right is right, to follow right 
 Were wisdom in the scorn of consequence." 
 
 The first essential therefore is that there should 
 be firmly implanted in the mind the conviction 
 that the right should be followed for its own sake ; 
 and that once a certain course appears to be the 
 right one, it is to be pursued, no matter who may 
 oppose it or what may be the consequence. 
 
 The second great condition is purity. Let the 
 ideal be as high as it can be framed ; and let the 
 motives for action be always the highest, never the 
 lowest. To refrain from what is impure because it 
 is unworthy and degrading will lead to the self- 
 reverence above-mentioned. Once self-respect is 
 lost, all other evils may be expected to follow. 
 Whilst on the other hand, the preservation of self- 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 33 
 
 respect is a most powerful incentive to right. It is 
 a source of strength. It is no idle boast that of 
 Galahad, 
 
 " My strength is as the strength of ten, 
 Because my heart is pure." 
 
 It is rather a physiological fact. The secret, as 
 well as the result, of purity is self-control. And 
 no moral steadfastness can be expected of the man 
 who gives way to every sensual desire (using the 
 words in a wide sense) that may arise. 
 
 The third great condition is honesty ; not the 
 kind that is prompted by " best policy " considera- 
 tions ; nor such as arises from the wish to appear 
 well in the sight of others ; but honesty in one's 
 own sight. 
 
 " This above all : to thine own self be true, 
 And it must follow, as the night the day, 
 Thou canst not then be false to any man." 
 
 It may be safely said that, whatever errors a 
 man may commit, from ignorance, from folly, or 
 under the stress of sudden temptation, he can not 
 become seriously morally diseased as long as he is 
 at heart honest. Such honesty is like the strong 
 constitution which will carry a man through much 
 ill-health, and bring him out safely at the last. 
 
34 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 For where such honesty exists, wrong-doing will 
 invariably bring about that " godly sorrow which 
 leads to repentance." Honesty readily sees through 
 the shallow pretexts of sophistry ; and the re- 
 sponsibility of sophistry for wrongful acts is great. 
 
 The fourth great condition is unselfishness. 
 The selfish man may do the right as long as this is 
 consistent with his interest ; but sooner or later an 
 occasion is sure to arise where his apparent interest 
 lies in wrong-doing ; he then yields, and in so 
 doing, lays the reins on the neck of his inclination, 
 and they will soon carry him to disaster. On the 
 other band, the unselfish man may, it is true, fall 
 into all kinds of wrong which may be the out- 
 come of weakness ; but if he is at heart unselfish, 
 he will see how largely his wrong-doing is harmful 
 to others ; and he will thus always have a powerful 
 motive to keep to the right path. 
 
 These four characteristics are therefore at the 
 basis of moral hygiene ; and the efforts made to 
 prevent moral disease should take the form, in 
 great measure, of impressing these points on the 
 still mouldable mind of the child. 
 
 And so, to those who have the training of 
 children, the great object should be to secure the 
 conditions of moral hygiene. Up to a certain time 
 in the training of a child rules must of necessity 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 35 
 
 be laid down, and commands enforced, without 
 explanation. But this principle must not be 
 carried too far. The incessant laying down of 
 rules, often absurdly trivial, has the effect of bafS.- 
 ing the child's native moral sense. The reason of 
 rules should be given. Otherwise, especially if the 
 child has a strong individuality, he will very soon 
 rebel against admonitions and restrictions depen- 
 dent, apparently, simply on caprice. The system 
 of rewards and punishments also has a limit to its 
 usefulness. But if the child be taught that the 
 Tightness of an action is a quite sufficient reason 
 for doing it ; that certain things are to be avoided 
 because they would conflict against his own nobility 
 of character ; that the approval of his own con- 
 science is one of the most precious things that can 
 be secured ; and that the welfare of others is to be a 
 ruling principle of the whole of life, with such ideas 
 implanted in his mind, he will readily see why this 
 or that thing is right or wrong ; and he will al- 
 ways have a motive for the right. 
 
 As the child's manifold activities unfold he must 
 be provided continually with proper outlets for his 
 energies, for "idleness is chief mistress of vices 
 all." And thenceforth this must hold throughout 
 life. The man who has healthy subjects on which 
 to exercise his tboughts, who has worthy ways in 
 
36 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 which to busy his hands, is morally safeguarded in 
 many respects. Let the child, therefore, be made 
 to feel something of the seriousness of life, even 
 through his mirth and happiness ; a child's natural 
 activity is well known ; before he knows how to 
 direct this activity into useful and profitable 
 channels he will still be always busy. Idleness is 
 absolutely unnatural in a healthy child. Nothing 
 is easier than to turn these tendencies to good 
 account, by teaching that idleness is a disgrace. 
 Unfortunately, many grown-up children still re- 
 quire to be taught that to work is honourable. 
 The life of a human being is wasted, it is a failure, 
 unless such an one work and produce; and yet there 
 are lords, ladies, and honourables, there are also 
 plain men and women, to whom a definite serious 
 life-work is a matter of scorn, it being a much 
 surer sign of greatness to pass the time in pleasure 
 and dilettantism, living by the work of others, 
 than to work for one's daily bread, adding to the 
 world's wealth or knowledge. Hence the ennui 
 and sentimentalism that lead to debility physi- 
 cally, to hysteria mentally, and to instability 
 morally, among the women of the land, and to 
 shallow-brained dandyism and immorality among 
 the men. Idleness is an insuperable obstacle to 
 moral hygiene. 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 3)7 
 
 Undue rigidity in the training of a child is to be 
 avoided just as much as undue laxity, or spoiling. 
 Each extreme is apt to lead to moral weakness in 
 some form. Rigidity commonly has the effect of a 
 spring ; once released, as it must be when the per- 
 sonal control of parents is removed, there will be a 
 tendency to rebound in the direction of excess. 
 Especially is this the case when the rigidity is 
 capricious, artificial, or unnatural. But a rigidity 
 which is consistent, and which is in harmony with 
 the natural laws of mind and body is otherwise ; 
 its influence will be for good only, for it will main- 
 tain a sense of proportion, and will not treat trivial 
 faults as though they were grave crimes. 
 
 The proper function of one who trains a child is 
 essentially to guide. It is in no wise to break or 
 to crush the early tendencies. If a child shows 
 signs of a strong will, this should be a cause for 
 rejoicing, for the force necessary to lead the child 
 into right ways is already to hand. Does a parent 
 or teacher propose to " break " a child's will ? It 
 is foolish and wrong. Foolish, because it is a 
 waste of force ; wrong, because, if successful, it 
 will leave the child morally weak. Do not 
 " break,'' rather " direct." If the child's inclina- 
 tions be trained, diverted, in a healthy direction, 
 then the whole reserve force of the child's will 
 
3^ MORAL PATHOLOGV. 
 
 helps to keep him in the right way. No natural 
 endowment is given for the purpose of being 
 crushed or mutilated. Self-annihilation is a crime 
 against God and man. Let the endowments rather 
 be utilised for good purposes; let the "self" be 
 employed, turned to good account. Persistent 
 crushing and restraining ends in moral idiocy, 
 which may or may not be of the vicious type. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no sight more melancholy 
 than that of a broken-winged, morally weak 
 parent, struck with amazement in the contempla- 
 tion of his child's vigorous moral activities, inanely 
 trying to control the fledgeling's efforts to fly. 
 
 It yet remains to be realised by many that in- 
 capacity for training a child makes fatherhood a 
 failure of trust, and so a reproach, instead of the 
 highest honour to which a man can aspire. 
 
 Attempts are sometimes made to secure moral 
 hygiene by maintaining a condition of " ignorance 
 of evil." Up to a certain point this is not only an 
 advantage ; it is absolutely necessary. But within 
 the precincts of even the purest and of the best- 
 guarded home, the knowledge of evil must enter ; 
 no boy or girl, becoming a man or a woman, can 
 remain ignorant of it. If no teaching on the 
 subject be given, the only eflfect will be that the 
 child will discover it for himself, and the process is 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 39 
 
 not devoid of danger. Unwarned of the nature 
 and consequences of sin, the child will at first see 
 evil only as a mystery, and from this mystery a 
 glamour arises, which leads to wrong by, at first, 
 almost imperceptible degrees. No advantage is to 
 be gained from a personal experience that, for 
 instance, " the bread of deceit is sweet to a man, 
 but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with 
 gravel." It is no advantage to a man that he 
 should come to lead a pure life as the result of the 
 loathing and disgust derived from satiety. 
 
 Shall a child be allowed to burn, to scar, it may 
 be to disfigure himself, for the want of being 
 told that fire burns ? It is far better that teaching 
 concerning evil be given by father and mother, 
 not in the course of a scolding or a rebuke because 
 of wrong done, but before the false step has been 
 taken. Quite inconceivable to me is that false 
 shame which restrains fathers and mothers from 
 speaking to their children of the dangers that lie 
 round about and in front of them, or which causes 
 them to wrap up their words daintily in vague 
 allusions and mysterious hints, by which, indeed, 
 in many cases more harm is done than good. 
 Teaching should, of course, be graduated to the 
 child's developing powers and advancing know- 
 ledge ; if given too early, it will not be under- 
 
40 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 stood ; if given too late, cure may be called for 
 rather than prevention. 
 
 Hygiene comprises two departments : first, the 
 care of the personal health ; secondly, attention to 
 the healthiness of the surroundings. In this 
 chapter, I have so far discussed the former ; and I 
 must now say a few words on the subject of 
 surroundings in relation to moral health. This 
 much, however, it is well that we should keep in 
 mind ; that not on constitution alone, nor on 
 surroundings alone, does health depend ; but on the 
 relationship between the two. And quite similarly, 
 a man's moral health, that is to say, his character 
 as shown in his actions, will be determined by the 
 relation between the strength of his moral nature 
 and the force of the temptations to which he is 
 exposed. It is obvious, therefore, that the study 
 of temptations is a most important part of the 
 subject of moral hygiene, so much so, indeed, that I 
 shall devote a separate chapter to its considera- 
 tion. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MORAL HYGIENE. 
 
 Part II. — The Hygiene of Surroundings. Temp- 
 tation. 
 
 Man is so constituted that even were his moral 
 surroundings ideally healthy, he would still be 
 exposed to temptations " from within," or arising 
 from his very nature. The healthiness of surround- 
 ings is therefore not all-sufficient ; but it is still all- 
 important, in order that the risks of moral disease 
 may be reduced to a minimum. 
 
 Let us consider, for instance, the question of 
 bodily want. The most important want is hunger. 
 Hungry people are not necessarily worse, morally, 
 than other people ; simply for this reason, that they 
 may have enough moral strength and self-control 
 to say, " Better hunger, better even death, than 
 disgrace and sin." But take a hundred average 
 people, fifty of them hungry, and the rest not; 
 all other conditions being equal, the moral tone of 
 
 41 
 
42 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 the hungry ones will certainly be lower, and the 
 likelihood of wrong actions will be greater, than 
 among the others. It must necessarily be so, 
 becaTise hunger affects the whole disposition. No 
 one would ask a favour of a hungry man, if he 
 could wait till the man had dined. And, moreover, 
 if a man who is hungry to the point of starvation 
 come to me and say, " The first law I recognise is 
 that I should live ; I must and will eat, at any 
 cost," I have no answer wherewith to convince him 
 otherwise. Outside the confines of society, his 
 claim would not be disputed. And within such 
 confines, it should be an absolute impossibility that 
 a man who is willing to work should lack food. 
 It is not for me to discuss here social and poor-law 
 economics ; but the broad principle is one of 
 fundamental justice and equity, and cannot be 
 evaded. A society that is content that some of its 
 members should go hungry, undeservedly, must 
 expect a lowered standard of morality. 
 
 Hunger is but one want, and there are many 
 others almost as important. It may be briefly 
 stated that the first essential condition in a healthy 
 environment is that there should be no undue 
 want. Naturally, a man's wants vary with his 
 capacities and circumstances ; and as long as he 
 does not fix his standard of necessaries unduly 
 
Moral hygiene. 43 
 
 high, he has a right to expect that a society whom 
 he serves well should supply those necessaries. 
 
 Hence, those who go about seeking to supply the 
 wants of their needy fellows are doing the best 
 possible work in the cause of righteousness ; they 
 are going to the root of the matter, and fulfilling 
 the primary conditions for securing the moral 
 health of the community. The admonition, " Seek 
 ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
 and all these things shall be added unto you," is 
 the right one for the individual to apply to his own 
 case ; but in considering the case of others, the 
 order must be reversed : " Seek first to add to thy 
 fellow those things he requires, and then look in 
 faith for righteousness." 
 
 In this connection, the influence of hunger, and 
 of other kinds of want, on prostitution, is a subject 
 well worth the consideration of all workers in the 
 cause of social purity. This gigantic vice of our 
 civilisation has, of course, many roots ; but it can- 
 not be doubted that want is one of these roots, and 
 an important one ; I dare afiirm, without fear of 
 contradiction, that if want were done away with, 
 an immense decrease in this vice would at once 
 follow. To preach purity to a starving "fallen 
 woman " is about as futile as to preach honesty to 
 a starving thief. 
 
44 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 Another important matter is the influence of 
 vicious surroundings on children. If a child be 
 brought up in the home of a gang of swindlers, 
 shall we expect this child to turn out honest ? So, 
 also, a respect for sobriety and temperance will be 
 looked for in vain in a home of drunkards. Of 
 supreme importance, therefore, is the rescue work 
 carried on among children. Such work has 
 assumed very large proportions of late ; its increase 
 in scope and eiEciency must be the fervent desire 
 of all the true-hearted, and is one of the best pos- 
 sible channels for their helping efforts. 
 
 Another direction in which true missionary work 
 is urgently needed is the improvement of the ac- 
 commodation of the poor, so as to prevent over- 
 crowding. Most people who have lent a hand to 
 help can speak of numerous instances in which 
 they have seen one sleeping-room serve for a father 
 and mother, and perhaps half-a-dozen children, 
 more or less grown up. What standard of morality 
 can be expected under such conditions ? Nay, 
 what standard is found ? Often none at all. In a 
 village known to me there is a row of some dozen 
 of these hovels. The owner is a lady of some posi- 
 tion and wealth, who gives largely to religious and 
 other charities. The tenants made requests that 
 the houses (!) should be enlarged, by throwing two 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 45 
 
 into one, offering to pay higher rents ; there were 
 no other houses in the village available for them. 
 But the owner could see no reasonableness in these 
 requests, and matters remained as they were. Was 
 it a subject for wonder that, one after another, the 
 young girls in these places " went to the bad " ? 
 And if a " settling of accounts " come one day, 
 where will the responsibility lie ? 
 
 It is clear from these considerations that one 
 part of the duties of the " moral officer of health " 
 is to secure healthy surroundings. And have 
 "infectious diseases" no parallel in the realm of 
 morals ? Yes, truly. 
 
 There is nothing so contagious as bad example ; 
 it is even more potent than good example. It is a 
 curious fact that suicide, for instance, often occurs 
 in the form of epidemics. From of old this has 
 been noticed. Among mobs an outbreak of savage 
 cruelty has sometimes spread with an alarming 
 swiftness ; of this, histories of revolutions contain 
 many examples. And this factor in life has to be 
 reckoned with on a smaller scale. 
 
 Obviously " prevention " here must take the form, 
 as much as possible, of removal of those we wish to 
 protect from the influence of such bad examples. 
 In a great measure this can be done. Yet there 
 are limits. All who pass through the world must 
 
46 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 necessarily come in contact with evil. Some are, 
 by their very duties, especially so exposed. The 
 only rule that can be laid down is that no unneces- 
 sary risks be run. To expose the young to the 
 influence of evil, simply that they may " see the 
 world," is no wise course. It will always be time 
 enough when such exposure occurs inevitably in 
 the course of the daily life, as it must, sooner or 
 later. Many must " touch pitch " ; that is no 
 reason why they should be defiled. Everyone who 
 has had to touch pitch has the opportunity of wash- 
 ing his hands, and can at least see that he does not 
 carry it with him, to touch other people with it. 
 In just the same way many doctors, nurses, and 
 others, must at times come in contact with cases of 
 fever ; that is no reason why they should either 
 take the disease themselves or carry it to others. 
 There are such precautions as moral antiseptics to 
 be used. And if a person, whose duty does not 
 take him in contact with fever-cases, goes to visit 
 such, in carelessness or bravado, he has only himself 
 to blame if he fall ill. On the other hand, when 
 duty so calls, no selfish considerations of personal 
 safety should be allowed to interfere. Let him, 
 however, who is called into contact with moral 
 disease know his danger, and the danger to others, 
 and exercise all reasonable care. 
 
MORAL HYGIENE. 47 
 
 In the science of medicine there has been much 
 research into the protective inoculation against 
 disease. And this also has an application. Many- 
 persons who have had a slight attack of some moral 
 complaint are " protected " in greater or lesser 
 degree from subsequent attacks. But of deliberate 
 inoculation of mild moral disease, to protect against 
 severer forms, there is nothing to be said except 
 this, that the proceeding is fraught with the greatest 
 danger. Who shall gauge the dose to be inoculated ? 
 It must be remembered also that moral disease is 
 fearfully progressive. Once started, its arrest can 
 by no means be foretold. Whilst, therefore, the 
 man who, by a comparatively slight slip has been 
 warned from grdver danger, may take to heart the 
 salutary lesson and be thankful, this measure can 
 never be recommended to the healthy. Let them 
 keep their health intact, and also be thankful. 
 
 ■ How many a father have I seen, 
 A sober man, among his boys, 
 Whose youth was full of foolish noise, 
 Who wears his manhood hale and green ; 
 
 And dare we to this fancy give. 
 
 That had the wild oat not been sown, 
 The soil, left barren, scarce had grown 
 
 The grain by which a man may live ? 
 
48 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 " Or, if we held the doctrine sound 
 For life outliving heats of youth, 
 Yet who would preach it as a truth 
 To those that eddy round and round ? 
 
 ' Hold thou the good ; define it well ; 
 For fear divine philosophy 
 Should push beyond her mark, and be 
 Procuress to the lords of hell ! " 
 
 Tennyson — In Memoriam, 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MOEAL DIATHESES. 
 
 In medical language, " diatheses " are constitutional 
 conditions which predispose to various diseases ; 
 thus, we speak of the rheumatic, the gouty, the 
 consumptive, diathesis. It will be found that in 
 moral pathology parallel conditions exist ; as ex- 
 amples of which we may mention the emotional 
 diathesis, the sensual diathesis, etc. In other 
 words, there are various " moral temperaments," 
 of whose nature and tendencies we must take 
 account if we wish to form a really true idea of 
 moral disease. Some of these we must consider in 
 detail. 
 
 The Irritable Diathesis. — There are many most 
 estimable people who are spoiled by the one char- 
 acteristic of bad temper. If offended, they either 
 sulk or they break out into violent passions ; and 
 in this state they are really not masters of them- 
 selves. That " anger is short madness " is physio- 
 logically true, for the main characteristic of 
 
 49 D 
 
50 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 madness is loss of self-control, and this is exactly 
 what is the matter with people in a passion. All 
 considerations of reason, of logic, are thrown to 
 the winds ; the impulse of the moment is blindly 
 followed ; and words are said, actions are done, 
 which may do the gravest harm ; yet, while the 
 person in a passion knows this, he is powerless to 
 act otherwise. This condition must, of course, be 
 regarded as a disease ; indeed, it is not only a 
 moral, it is also a physical disease. The physical 
 counterpart to it is a nervous system which reacts 
 immediately to outside influences ; the restraining 
 influence of deliberate thought is absent. In early 
 life this tendency can be overcome, and in later 
 life it can be diminished, by self-restraint. But if 
 such self-restraint be not exercised the power of 
 restraint becomes gradually less and less. The 
 natural result in extreme cases is simply madness. 
 Carpenter says, in his " Mental Physiology," that 
 the superintendent of the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum 
 informed him that two-thirds of the female lunatics 
 in that institution found their way there through 
 habitual indulgence in an originally bad temper. 
 Bad temper is not commonly reckoned among the 
 cardinal vices ; but this is certain, that few faults 
 have a worse influence on other people. It is 
 a chronic moral disease, and is therefore always 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. Jl 
 
 serious. Like other chronic diseases, one of its 
 main dangers is this, that it may lead, through 
 acts of violence, to all kinds of other disasters. In 
 extreme cases it has been responsible for murders ; 
 but in many less serious directions its effects are 
 also disastrous. Life-long enmities, bitter strifes, 
 the severing of friendships, have arisen at times 
 from an outburst of temper ; whilst less prominent 
 but even more enduring harm has been done by 
 repeated cruel and cutting words. It is therefore 
 of the utmost importance that persons afflicted 
 "with this complaint should realise something of 
 its possible results. 
 
 At the same time it is advisable that we reflect, 
 from time to time, that this condition may arise 
 from causes which demand almost as much pity 
 as blame. Many people are hasty, irritable, as the 
 result of chronic ill-health ; whilst with others the 
 cause may lie in constant worry, overwork, and 
 the pressure of arduous and unfavourable condi- 
 tions of life. With others, again, it is a legacy 
 derived by inheritance from their parents. But 
 while we should be ready to make all possible ex- 
 cuses for such a habit of mind, it should ever be 
 remembered how serious the consequences of this 
 habit may be. For persons who have the irritable 
 diathesis, the proper course is, obviously, not to 
 
52 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 excuse themselves on the ground of their infirmi- 
 ties, but to make up their minds that they -will 
 overcome it. We shall have more to say on this 
 subject when we come to consider it in more 
 detail. 
 
 The Sensual Diathesis. — This, like the preced- 
 ing, depends largely on the want of self-control. 
 But it is in other directions that this want of self- 
 control is felt. Here the gratification of the senses 
 makes a constant demand on the person's nature, 
 and it has, like the other, a physiological basis. 
 Such physiological basis is, as may be expected, 
 very complex. The various senses in these cases 
 react readilj' to impressions from without ; it may 
 be the sense of taste for food or drinks ; or it may 
 be the sexual sense ; whilst the mental attitude 
 towards sensations so derived must be taken into 
 account. One feature of this mental attitude is a 
 more or less constant " craving " for sense-excite- 
 ment ; so that the three prominent features of this 
 diathesis on the physical side are, — the constancy 
 of the craving ; the inability to repress the crav- 
 ing ; and the want of control of the degree in 
 which the craving is indulged. Hereditary causes 
 play a large part in the production of the sensual 
 diathesis ; whilst it has the further characteristic 
 of being essentially progressive. That is to say, 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. 53 
 
 every indulgence paves the way for further in- 
 dulgence. 
 
 In some cases it may take other directions than 
 those spoken of above ; it may take the form of a 
 craving for pleasure, leading principally to a frivo- 
 lous view of life, and the neglect of serious and 
 steady work. 
 
 Its effects are disastrous, not so much to other 
 people (as in the case of the irritable diathesis) as 
 to the individual concerned. It brings in its train 
 a general blunting of the moral sense, and the loss 
 of self-respect ; and, as was pointed out in an 
 earlier chapter, the loss of self-respect means the 
 loss of one of the strongest safeguards against 
 moral disease. At the same time, its secondary 
 effects are bad for other people, for society is so 
 co-ordinated that if one member suffer others must 
 also suffer in some degree. It must be remem- 
 bered that I am not now considering the effects of 
 isolated sins of self-indulgence, in whatever form ; 
 the effect of such is often most disastrous to other 
 people. These will have to be discussed later. At 
 present I am concerned only with diathesis, that 
 is, with the general tendency to a particular class 
 of faults and vices; and speaking from this point of 
 view, the evil consequences of the sensual diathesis 
 fall principally on the person suffering from it. 
 
54 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 The distinction in this respect between the 
 sensual and the irritable diathesis is well-marked ; 
 the former is essentially subjective ; it can be 
 active, without involving other people in any way. 
 On the other hand, the irritable diathesis is mainly 
 objective, for it is in the man's relations to other 
 people that his irritability is shown. When he is 
 alone his irritability is only potential ; it is not 
 active. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to seek to excuse 
 acts of sensuality ; but in regarding the matter 
 philosophically and critically, it should be re- 
 membered that the person with a sensual diathesis 
 is considerably handicapped in the moral race ; 
 nor should his continual efforts to overcome his 
 "besetting sin" be overlooked, when he is being 
 judged. 
 
 The Emotional Diathesis. — The craving for emo- 
 tional excitement, the undue exercise of emotional 
 activity, and a tendency to act upon the impulse 
 of the moment — these are the characteristics of 
 the emotional diathesis. It is fostered by the 
 reading of sensational novels, especially at the 
 time when the emotional nature is developing, 
 that is, in youth. It causes an unhealthy view 
 of life and its duties ; the unostentatious perform- 
 ance of the daily work has no attractions ; instead, 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. SS 
 
 life becomes a dreamy vision of air-castles, full 
 of picturesque situations in which the dreamer 
 always figures as the hero of a romance. It is due 
 to over-Ktimulation of the emotional side of the 
 mind, at the expense of the practical and the 
 reflective faculties ; whilst on the moral side there 
 is distortion. Thus an elopement which has 
 nothing rational to recommend it is invested with 
 the alluring colours of a sacrifice made at the call 
 of love ; a life of piracy and brigandage appears 
 in the guise of a noble knight-errantry. From 
 this condition to the delusions of undoubted in- 
 sanity is sometimes only a short step. But the 
 issue takes sometimes a quite diflferent direction; 
 and the dreamer may awake to the sober realities 
 of life, alone, without resources, without a training 
 that will serve even to earn the daily bread ; and 
 sometimes with a sense of having been betrayed. 
 This is the kind of man who acquires the reputa- 
 tion of being " no man's enemy but his own " ; 
 never pausing to consider, the momentary emotion 
 holds supreme sway, and he acts on every impulse 
 that arises. Blown about by every wind of 
 opinion and of feeling, his life is a perpetual 
 vacillation ; unstable as water, he effects no lasting 
 good. Instability of thought involves instability 
 of conduct also, whilst his friends frame for him 
 
56 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 the feeble excuse that " he means well." Analys- 
 ing, as in the case of other diatheses, the relative 
 harm which such a constitution does to its owner 
 and to other people, it is evident that the 
 former greatly preponderates. At the same time 
 it is always a loss to society to have a useless and 
 blundering member. On society, therefore, a duty 
 devolves, to check the development of this dia- 
 thesis. Few other diatheses yield so readily to 
 proper treatment at the proper time. 
 
 The Indolent Diathesis. — This temperament has 
 reference to action rather than to feeling, although 
 in its production feeling also has a share. When 
 one has a feeling of bien-aise, of comfort in the 
 condition of the moment, it is natural that one 
 should not wish to change the condition ; in this 
 there is nothing pathological. It becomes patho- 
 logical, unhealthy, when the sense of bodily 
 comfort is allowed to cause neglect of the call of 
 duty. Furthermore, duty may call to other 
 activities than the bodily. It may demand 
 thought, mental and moral effort, for these are 
 essential to growth and to usefulness. To such 
 calls the man of indolent diathesis pays no heed, 
 but "stagnates in the weeds of sloth." He does 
 not very often " do the things which he ought not 
 to do," for that would involve trouble ; his moral 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. 57 
 
 obliquity consists in "leaving undone the things 
 which he ought to have done." We may em- 
 phasize, in passing, the distinction between the 
 lazy man and the idle man. The former has work 
 to do which he neglects ; he is of the indolent 
 diathesis. But the idle man has not work to do, 
 and, if we may credit the fathers of a former age, 
 the devil finds some for him, not of the best. Of 
 course the two conditions may exist together ; by 
 reason of continued inactivity, the lazy man may 
 bring himself to the condition of idleness — of 
 having no work to do ; and he may pass on to the 
 third stage, viz., incapacity for work. Evidently 
 we have to do here with a process of degeneration, 
 leading to the production of that anomalous blot 
 upon society, the parasite. Parasites are of various 
 kinds; we have, for example, the religious, the 
 intellectual, and the social parasite. The degenera- 
 tive process is the same in all three. The religious 
 parasite has been described by Professor Drummond 
 in his " Natural Law in the Spiritual World " in 
 such a graphic manner, and in such graceful 
 language, that I should like to advise my readers to 
 study it. It does not fall within the scope of the 
 present work, which has to do rather with the 
 social and the moral side of the matter. 
 
 Like those of any other unhealthy moral 
 
S8 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 temperament, the man with the indolent diathesis 
 has at first a call upon our pity. But the remedy 
 lies so largely in his own hands, especially at first, 
 that if he allows himself to degenerate into an 
 invertebrate parasite, he is not entitled to much 
 besides blame. In the earlier stages of degenera- 
 tion he is useless, but comparatively harmless ; 
 later, owing to the disuse and dulling of the moral 
 sense, he may also do harm, by his bad example, 
 by hindering the work of others, and by the 
 readiness with which he transgresses the moral 
 law. Though arising from a different cause, the 
 effects are very similar to those described as re- 
 sulting from the diathesis which we have to 
 consider next. 
 
 The Morally Obtuse Diathesis. — There are some 
 persons with a moral sense so keen that any de- 
 parture, however slight, from the moral law fills 
 them with a remorse which gives them no peace. 
 There are others, on the contrary, of a morally ob- 
 tuse diathesis, to whom the distinctions between 
 right and wrong are but slight ; a wrong action 
 causes them but little trouble, and they pass on 
 serenely from one wrong to another. The condition 
 is parallel to that which is found in the medical 
 world, of people who never feel deeply on any- 
 thing, to whom even bodily pain is not as painful 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. 59 
 
 as to other people. Such a diathesis, in the moral 
 as in the physical sphere, marks a low stage of 
 development. The harmful effects of this tempera- 
 ment may be many and great ; because, whenever 
 temptation comes, the probability is that the per- 
 son will yield. A distinction must be drawn 
 between those who, knowing well the difference 
 between good and evil, yield through weakness of 
 will, and those who sin through ignorance. To 
 the latter the question often does not even occur 
 whether a thing is right or wrong ; they only dis- 
 cover that it is wrong when they begin to suffer 
 from the consequences of it. Their stock answer 
 to reproofs is, " I did not think." Like the person 
 of weak intellect, they often call for more pity than 
 blame, on the part of those who are trying to judge 
 of their motives. Just as there are gradations from 
 the condition of intellectual weakness to that of 
 idiocy, so many degrees of moral obtuseness are 
 found. Its most pronounced types are the simple- 
 minded people who are employed as tools, as " cat's 
 paws," by the unscrupulous. A watchful society, 
 anxious to preserve its members from harm, will 
 often have to pay special attention to this very 
 point ; and keep a sharp look-out on unscrupulous 
 plotters, to save the simple-minded from their 
 hands. It is well also to remember that obtuseness 
 
6o MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 may sometimes be feigned, as a mere artifice, by 
 people who are really quite capable of discerning 
 moral evil, and of seeing the results of it. But in 
 cases where this diathesis really exists, it must be 
 treated with a certain gentle consideration, and 
 remedied, as far as may be, by education. 
 
 The Hyper-sensitive Diathesis. — This is the op- 
 posite of the preceding. Some may say, "But surely 
 it is impossible to be too sensitive on moral matters ! " 
 On the contrary, there is such a thing as moral 
 hypersesthesia. In medical language we call a 
 person " hypersesthetic " who feels all ordinary 
 conditions much too keenly ; with such a person 
 an ordinary touch, an ordinary brightness of light, 
 may be absolutely painful. Clearly, such a con- 
 dition is detrimental to a healthy life ; it really 
 amounts to disease. 
 
 Moral hypereesthesia, also, may amount to dis- 
 ease. Such a person will work himself up into a 
 fever of anxiety and self-reproach over, it may be, 
 a mere hasty word, already forgotten by the per- 
 son to whom it is addressed. Under the influence 
 of certain kinds of religious teaching, the hyper- 
 jBsthetic man may torture himself continually with 
 the apprehension that he has committed " the un- 
 pardonable sin " ; or that he has " fallen from 
 grace." He is apt to waste his time and strength 
 
MORAL DIATHESES. 6 1 
 
 deploring the consequences of a wrong act, when 
 he would be much better employed in making 
 amends for the same, simply resolving to be more 
 on his guard on a future occasion. The ultimate 
 result of this diathesis is a condition of moral 
 hypochondriasis. If any argument were necessary 
 to prove that this is a diseased moral condition, I 
 should simply point to the large part which it 
 plays in filling our lunatic asylums. Moral hyper- 
 sesthesia is in its essence too introspective: the 
 sufferer dwells as morbidly on the working of his 
 inner moral nature as the confirmed dyspeptic dwells 
 on that of his stomach. As one might expect, it is 
 found more often among women than among men ; 
 for, broadly speaking, women are naturally more 
 morally sensitive than men. Although this dia- 
 thesis may underlie the whole of an individual's 
 life, it is apt to show itself more markedly in 
 youth and in old age than in middle life. In 
 youth its effects are perhaps the most serious, 
 especially at the time when manhood and woman- 
 hood are developing out of childhood. Under its 
 influence many things, in themselves of little im- 
 portance, arising out of the unfolding of physical 
 powers, are magnified till they assume exorbitant 
 dimensions; and, with the help of ignorance, the 
 mind passes into an utterly disquiet condition, 
 
62 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 which may undermine the health and unfit for 
 work. It is then that the harpies who prey upon 
 the fears and ignorance of the young reap their 
 harvest ; it is then that unscrupulous confessors 
 may obtain and hold an unwarrantable sway over 
 the young mind. Briefly, this is the happy hunt- 
 ing-ground for quacks of all descriptions. Further, 
 the moral hypersesthetic and the moral hypo- 
 chondriac are apt to lose, in greater or less degree, 
 the self-respect and the self-confidence which are 
 so necessary to a righteous and a useful life. The 
 harmful effects of this diathesis expend themselves 
 almost entirely on the individual concerned. It is 
 quite clear that such a disposition requires to be 
 guarded and guided with the utmost care. The 
 dispelling of ignorance and superstition will be one 
 of the main duties of the moral physician. He 
 will not try to lower ideals of right ; but he wiU 
 point out that to fall short of such ideals is no 
 reason for despair. 
 
 " What keeps a spirit wholly true 
 To that ideal which it bears 1 
 What record 1 Not the stainless years 
 That breathed beneath the Syrian blue. 
 
 " Then fret not, like an idle girl, 
 That life is dashed with flecks of sin. 
 Abide. Thy wealth is gathered in 
 When Time hath sundered shell from pearl." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 EGOISM. 
 
 When thinking over the subject of diatheses, I in- 
 cluded among them, at first, the "egoistic diathesis." 
 But it soon became evident that in " Egoism " we 
 have to deal with something of a diff'erent nature. 
 If the dispositions to particular classes of ofiences, 
 considered in the preceding chapter, are analogous 
 to diatheses in the medical world, such as the 
 tubercular, the rheumatic, and the neurotic dia- 
 theses, then may egoism be compared to that heri- 
 tage of liability to all kinds of ill which " flesh " 
 has received from generations gone by. In general, 
 egoism is the root of all evil. The few exceptions 
 may be compared to those accidental injuries in 
 daily life which no diathesis can prepare us to 
 expect, or lead us to prepare for. Egoism is an 
 underlying condition of all the moral diatheses 
 previously desciibed. But, besides, it can, when 
 unduly developed, give rise to its own particular 
 train of moral complaints, and greater and lesser 
 
 63 
 
64 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 degrees of ill-health. This dual characteristic gives 
 it a special importance, and I shall now proceed to 
 its separate consideration. 
 
 In discussing the nature o£ moral disease, I said 
 that most sins are the negative aspect of certain 
 qualities of which the positive aspect are virtues. 
 This holds good of egoism. The positive or healthy 
 side of egoism demands a few words ; so that we 
 have to consider in succession three grades or 
 degrees of egoism : — 
 
 1. Egoism rightly developed ; a factor for good. 
 
 2. The egoism that underlies various forms of 
 moral disease. 
 
 3. Egoism of unhealthy tumour-like growth, 
 overshadowing the whole life. 
 
 That egoism may be right and essential to moral 
 health is perhaps a doctrine opposed to the view 
 which some take, that the first step towards 
 righteousness is "self-annihilation." Nevertheless, I 
 hold the doctrine true. It is but a low ideal that 
 a man's life should be a negation of wrong ; let it 
 rather be an affirmation of right. Self-annihilation 
 may result in a life that is " not wrong " ; self-pre- 
 servation and the use of self for noble ends, will 
 produce a life of positive right. This is the more 
 
EGOISM. 65 
 
 difBcult path ; it involves continuous effort and 
 strife, with an ever-accompanying liabihty to 
 failure and defeat. But it is also the path of 
 achievement, of true moral health. The " self " 
 must be kept well in hand ; it must not be master, 
 but servant. But, as a servant, there is none 
 better. All good work, socially, intellectually, 
 morally, depends on self-reliance ; it requires 
 courage, patience, determination ; ambition and 
 enthusiasm (of the quiet sort) are its very atmos- 
 phere. And all these virtues are essentially 
 egoistic. But their egoism is subordinated to 
 higher aims. The pioneers of progress have ever 
 been strong, self-sufficient men ; they have had the 
 conviction that their course (or cause) was right ; 
 by the sheer force of individuality they have often 
 overcome obstacles and opposition ; and the secret 
 of their success was egoism consecrated to a noble 
 work. In such consecration egoism finds its ab- 
 solution, nay, its transformation into one of the 
 highest virtues. We need not dwell on this ; the 
 essence of the whole matter can be very shortly 
 stated: self as an end and aim is unhealthy egoism ; 
 self as a means to others' good is the most en- 
 lightened altruism. 
 
 Egoism in the second degree underlies, as I have 
 said, all the unhealthy moral diatheses previously 
 
66 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 considered; but it does more. It leads to all kinds 
 of impulsive wrong actions, by which I mean 
 actions to which there is no special natural predis- 
 position. The impulses to self-gratification spring 
 from numerous sources, ranging from the lowest to 
 the highest elements of man's nature. On the 
 lowest level we find the gratification of the physi- 
 cal senses ; passing upwards, there is a whole series 
 of emotions ready to be ministered to ; even the 
 highest emotions, the religious, may call for and 
 receive unhealthy stimulus. Still higher, in the 
 intellectual planes of thought, cravings solicit in- 
 dulgence : cravings for admiration, fame, social 
 distinction, riches or power. In all these forms 
 self-gratification for self's sake is unhealthy, and 
 the means employed for this purpose are very apt 
 to pass from those which are, in themselves, right, 
 to those which are intrinsically and in every way 
 wrong. Consider it well. There is no wrong done 
 to our fellow-man that has not its origin in some 
 efibrt for self -gratification, just as there is no 
 wrong self-inflicted that has not a similar origin. 
 I have not enumerated the moral diseases which so 
 arise ; to do so would be to pass under review all 
 the diseases in our moral nosology or nomenclature 
 of disease. In many the underlying selfishness is 
 not at first apparent, but a very brief consideration 
 
EGOISM. 67 
 
 will make it clear. For instance, cruelty is funda- 
 mentally due to a wish to gratify a sense of enjoy- 
 ment of physical power ; the thirst for revenge, or 
 for triumph over an enemy's defeat may be super- 
 added ; whilst in lower natures there is probably 
 a sense of brutality as real as that of hunger, which 
 at times demands satisfaction. Of any other 
 wrong act we might make a similar analysis ; nor 
 is it a matter of surprise that, with our so complex 
 nature, the motives of self -gratification should be 
 also frequently complex. In the case of the 
 majority of wrong actions the selfishness to which 
 they are due comes out perfectly clearly, for 
 example, in miserliness and in vanity; indeed, 
 these come to be regarded simply as varying mani- 
 festations of egoism. 
 
 We pass on now to the consideration of the 
 third degree of egoism, when it saturates a man's 
 whole life, and entitles him to be regarded as, 
 above all, an egoist. 
 
 It must not be supposed that everybody can 
 become a true egoist. Certain qualifications are 
 necessary, for an egoist subsists on self-esteem and 
 on the praise of others. There must be, therefore, 
 something estimable about him, something praise- 
 worthy. A good physique and personal beauty are, 
 if not essential, yet very valuable. The egoist will 
 
68 Moral Pathology. 
 
 not necessarily take credit to himself for these 
 possessions, but they will enable him to compare 
 himself favourably with those round about him, 
 and will certainly win for him a certain admiration. 
 He must have mental qualities which will cause 
 him to shine in an average society, and secure for 
 him a succession of triumphs. And lastly, in his 
 moral relations, though he may not have much 
 intrinsic moral worth, there must be a good ap- 
 pearance before the world. These are the in- 
 gredients out of which the egoistic character is 
 built up. If a man does not possess qualities up 
 to, or even above, the average, be will soon find, 
 whatever his own opinion of himself, that he is 
 not appreciated, that he is overshone by others. 
 Such a lesson in humility strikes at the very roots 
 of egoism. If his personal vanity is very strong, 
 the egoist may dwell chiefly on his superior points^ 
 and persuade himself that qualities in which he 
 does not excel are scarcely worth the having. 
 But this is not generally the case with the first- 
 class egoist, for he is sensitive, even morbidly 
 hyper-sensitive, and shrivels under derision and 
 evident contempt. Clearly then, the egoist is, as a 
 rule, an otherwise admirable character, marred by 
 his egoism. To those who see into and through 
 him, the admirable qualities may not appeal ; these 
 
EGOISM. 69 
 
 are forgotten, overshadowed by the obtrusive 
 capital I. But the moral philosopher and physician, 
 who is trying to survey impartially this patient's 
 case, must recognise his good as well as his bad 
 points. 
 
 The egoist's attitude is one of self-worship. 
 When alone, he bows before this shrine, burning 
 the incense of an approving and appreciative con- 
 science. ' In other people he sees the same image. 
 He does not read and understand his friends. He 
 sees in them but the reflection of himself. He does 
 not love, but he loves to be loved. 
 
 His actions are framed by his attitude. The 
 test of any moral question is not. Is it right ? 
 but, Will it appear right ? He is generous and 
 kind, according to his means, not for the love of 
 doing good, but because happy, contented faces are 
 necessary to his peace of mind, and he loves to be 
 styled a benefactor. His private life is correct, 
 because any other course would be undignified, and 
 would involve unpleasant feelings. Like the old 
 Pharisees, who partook largely of his nature, the 
 " outside of the cup and platter " is always pre- 
 sentable ; it is in the realms of motive that he is 
 so diseased. If the matter ended here, he would 
 probably do no great harm, and could only be 
 regarded with mingled pity and contempt. But 
 
70 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 it is the fate of egoism to be found out and ex- 
 posed ; and in the efforts to ward off this exposure 
 the egoist, having no true moral sense to guide 
 him, gradually sinks into debasement. His very 
 endowments pave the way to self -discovery ; and 
 then the hypocrisy, at first unconscious, becomes 
 conscious and scheming. In the feverish effort to 
 patch up a fading reputation and maintain a certain 
 outward appearance of worth, he sinks more and 
 more in the sloughs of meanness and depravity, 
 until, baffled and desperate, he loses the last traces 
 of self-respect, and becomes a manifest moral 
 wreck. Happy for him if in this headlong down- 
 ward course he has not compromised himself in the 
 eyes of the law, and can simply sink into obscurity ; 
 but probabilities are against him. If he can but 
 bury himself in this obscurity, his salvation may 
 there begin. Alone and forsaken, he may see the 
 secret of his failure. Starting afresh, upon a basis 
 of humility, the elements of worth which con- 
 tributed to his downfall will help to raise him 
 again, and he may prove, 
 
 " That men may rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 Yet even in view of such a happy consummation, 
 how 'can we do other than regret, on the lowest 
 
EGOISM. 71 
 
 grounds, the waste of power and usefulness in such 
 a life ? The good ultimately achieved, when com- 
 pared with the initial possibilities, appears as 
 failure. Besides which, there remains to be taken 
 into account all the harm done to others in the 
 process. With great weight, therefore, conies the 
 old injunction which goes to the very root of the 
 whole matter, " Let no man think of himself more 
 highly than he ought to think." 
 
 The type of " the egoist " is well known, but no- 
 where has it been presented more powerfully, more 
 convincingly, in all its phases, than in Mr. Mere- 
 dith's book of that name ; nowhere has its inevit- 
 able consummation been traced more faithfully, 
 and I feel I cannot more fittingly close this chapter 
 than by referring to it such of my readers as have 
 not yet become acquainted with it. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 DIAGNOSIS, 
 
 A physician's first duty towards a patient is to 
 arrive at a diagnosis of the ailment from which 
 that patient is suffering. He has to discover what 
 actually is the matter, not simply what seems to 
 he the matter. Thus the complaint is, for instance, 
 headache ; but this is only a symptom, a conse- 
 quence of something else ; we will suppose, for 
 example, indigestion. If he tries to cure the head- 
 ache, without finding out that it is due to indigestion, 
 he will very probably fail. Consequently much of 
 his success depends upon his skill in diagnosis. In 
 the case of moral disease a proper diagnosis is 
 equally important. 
 
 Many people boast of their ability to read char- 
 acter by "first impressions." The boast is not, 
 however, of much value. I much prefer the atti- 
 tude of the man or woman who reserves judgment. 
 
 True, first impressions may be, and often are, 
 72 
 
DIAGNOSIS. 73 
 
 correct ; just as a physician may at once form a 
 correct opinion, from a superficial glance, that a 
 person has heart-disease, or is paralysed ; just as a 
 surgeon also may give one look and rightly suppose 
 that a man has a broken leg. But in these things 
 there is no great merit, and, indeed, even these first 
 impressions are not always right. Similarly, if a 
 man is seen swaying across the pavement and heard 
 talking incoherently, it may fairly be assumed that 
 he is tipsy; but the inference that he is a drunkard 
 may be quite wrong. And the more complex a 
 man's mental and moral nature is, the less is it 
 likely that any person, however sagacious, will 
 form a correct first impression about him. The ad- 
 monition not to judge by appearances is much 
 more widely known than practised ; and hence 
 much injustice. So I lay stress on the maxim, 
 " Suspend judgment." 
 
 Evidently the diagnosis of moral disease is not 
 a matter that concerns the moral physician alone. 
 It is not everyone's duty to treat moral disease ; 
 but all must of necessity form opinions respecting 
 the character of people they meet in the daily life. 
 And not only for the sake of justice to the persons 
 criticised, but also for the sake of the welfare and 
 peace of mind of the critics, I repeat and urge, 
 " Suspend judgment." 
 
74 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 How is the diagnosis of a person's moral condi- 
 tion to be made ? In the first place, we shall have 
 some facts before us, as to something done or said ; 
 that is to say, some wrong action either spoken or 
 done. Supposing this to be a lie or a theft, we are 
 not to conclude at once that the person is untruth- 
 ful or dishonest ; we must ascertain what was the 
 cause of the wrong. We must, in short, inquire 
 concerning the motive, and this may itself have 
 been either good or bad. If the motive was good, 
 this does not make the action right ; but it will 
 show us something more of the person's moral con- 
 dition, and we may find that ignorance is partly 
 responsible. Or, if the motive was bad, it will 
 again give a clue to character; for instance, the 
 wrong may have been prompted by cowardice or 
 revenge. Working backwards still, we may dis- 
 cover some antecedent wrong which led to the one 
 we know of. The lie may have arisen from a 
 cowardly fear of the exposure of an act of excess 
 or brutality ; the theft may have been a form of 
 revenge for a reproof on account of laziness. We 
 thus discover that the lie is really an outcome of a 
 sensual or irritable diathesis ; an indolent diathesis 
 may have formed the basis of the theft. The diag- 
 nosis in the first case will be " sensuality or bad 
 temper, prompting, through cowardice, an impulsive 
 
DIAGNOSIS. 75 
 
 act, namely a lie " ; in the second case, " laziness 
 leading incidentally to malice, with theft as an ex- 
 pression of that malice." If the person is to be 
 taken in hand for treatment, the original wrong is 
 that which really calls for attention. 
 
 The above is a comparatively simple and straight- 
 forward case for diagnosis ; in other cases the com- 
 plexity of motives and a long chain of wrong 
 actions may make diagnosis difficult. We shall 
 then require something more to enable us to come 
 to a conclusion, namely the person's previous 
 history. To obtain this we must proceed carefully. 
 The first requisite is to feel and show sympathy. 
 If you can convince a wrong-doer that you are 
 really concerned about him, and wish to help him, 
 he will as a rule, if he feels he can trust you, reveal 
 himself to you without much reserve. Now, to 
 obtain a patient's confidence not only greatly assists 
 in forming a diagnosis, it goes a long way towards 
 successful treatment. 
 
 On the other hand, a cold superiority, not un- 
 mingled with contempt, is the surest way to close 
 and seal up a person's heart. Contempt, indeed, 
 should never have any place ; it is only in dealing 
 with blind egoism that it has any value at all, and 
 not always then. The earnest helper of the morally 
 sick will be too noble and too conscious of his own 
 
•j6 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 shortcomings to despise the fallen; like King 
 Arthur, of whom Guinevere said, 
 
 " but he never mocks, 
 For mockery is the fume of little hearts." 
 
 The dominating feeling must ever be pity ; not of 
 the condescending, but of the sympathetic kind. 
 Scorn and sarcasm are occasionally effective in 
 dealing with arrogant self-sufficiency ; yet even 
 here, be it remembered, that the arrogance and 
 defiance may be the recoil of a sensitive spirit 
 against a cruel touch or heartless word. But when 
 face to face with one smarting under the pangs of 
 an inward remorse, and perhaps also of much 
 mental and physical suffering caused by previous 
 transgression, an unsympathetic assumption of con- 
 temptuous superiority is as cruel and as out of 
 place as would be the action of a surgeon who 
 should needlessly probe and tear open a tender 
 wound requiring only soothing oil and healing 
 balm. 
 
 I have felt it necessary to define, at some length, 
 the mental attitude to be adopted by one who 
 wishes to inquire into the past history of a moral 
 patient ; for I have seen much harm done by the 
 official and officious heaping up of anathemas and 
 heartless texts upon the heads of those who were 
 
DIAGNOSIS. 77 
 
 suffering acutely in spirit, mind and body, from 
 their previous transgressions. 
 
 The information derived from the past history is 
 often invaluable ; it may show a deficient or dis- 
 torted training ; it may reveal a long series of 
 disappointments and discouragements which have 
 led up to the present condition. It may show that 
 the very start in life, in the form of inherited 
 tendencies and early associations, has been of the 
 nature of a serious handicap. Obviously in form- 
 ing a judgment these things must be taken into 
 account, just as they must largely influence the 
 line of treatment adopted. 
 
 We shall learn also, by a careful diagnosis, 
 whether the patient is suffering from an acute or 
 a chronic disease ; in other words, whether the 
 wrong action we are considering is a part and 
 parcel of the whole tenor of the person's moral life, 
 or whether it is to be regarded as an isolated in- 
 cident, for which a knowledge of the person's char- 
 acter would not have prepared us, and which is not 
 specially likely to recur. This has a direct bear- 
 ing on the subject of prognosis to be dealt with in 
 the next chapter, under which head we shall also 
 have to consider the relative gravity and import of 
 acute and chronic moral diseases. Here I content 
 myself with saying that it is by a man's average 
 
78 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 moral tone that we must judge of his health, and 
 not by his acute attacks of disease at rare intervals. 
 It may at times happen that a knowledge of the 
 past history and the present condition of the 
 patient will not allow us to come to a definite con- 
 clusion about him; just as in the early stages of 
 certain fevers it is impossible to say what kind of 
 fever we have to deal with. We must then be 
 prepared to wait for future developments. It 
 sometimes requires a little moral courage to say, 
 " I do not know what is the matter ; I must wait 
 and see." But the honesty of this course will 
 always be appreciated by those whose appreciation 
 is of value. The conclusion I urge is, therefore, 
 still this, "Suspend judgment." 
 
 It is well that the possible fallacies in forming 
 conclusions be borne always in mind. A natural 
 reserve or shyness leads many people to give un- 
 consciously an unfavourable appearance to their 
 actions ; it may produce a manner that is gauche, 
 abrupt, rude, casual, flippant, or inane. On the 
 contrary, the manner may give a much better im- 
 pression than the actual character warrants. A 
 man's account of his own virtues is not always to 
 be trusted ; and when a man contends largely and 
 loudly for " principles," it is well to consider how 
 far his " interests " are involved. Further, the 
 
DIAGNOSIS. ^9 
 
 manner may be consciously assumed, to veil that 
 which is behind ; in this case the best side is gener- 
 ally placed outermost, as the best apples in a barrel 
 are placed at the top. But not always. Thus, 
 Browning, 
 
 " Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself ? 
 
 Do I live in a house you would like to see ? 
 Is it scant of gear, has it store of pelf ? 
 ' Unlock my heart with a sonnet key ? ' 
 
 " Invite the world, as my betters have done ? 
 ' Take notice : this building remains on view, 
 Its suites of reception every one, 
 
 Its private apartment and bedroom, too ; 
 
 " ' For a ticket, apply to the Publisher.' 
 
 No ; thanking the public I must decline. 
 A peep through my window, if folk prefer ; 
 
 But, please you, no foot over threshold of mine." 
 
 Another fallacy arises sometimes from the sur- 
 roundings in which a person is first seen, and 
 which may have the effect of bringing out his 
 worst or his best points, as the case may be. A 
 merchant's true character is not often seen on 
 'Change j nor a preacher's in the pulpit ; nor any 
 ordinary person's when out in society. To form a 
 true estimate of a man, and a correct diagnosis of 
 his moral condition, apart from such revelation of 
 himself as he may voluntarily make, he must be 
 
8o MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 seen under varying conditions, and chiefly in his 
 own home, when restraints and appearances are in 
 some measure at least laid aside. Even the physical 
 appearance of a person cannot be truly estimated 
 on the stage, in the ball-room, or even in the street. 
 If the discernment of anyone's faculties and 
 qualities, physical and mental, is difficult and liable 
 to fallacies, can it be wondered at that the diagnosis 
 of the most complex part of him, his moral health, 
 is also a difficult and delicate matter ? On all 
 grounds I reiterate and emphasize the burden of 
 this chapter, " Suspend judgment." 
 
CHAPTER X, 
 
 PROGNOSIS. 
 
 By " prognosis " we understand the forecast of the 
 course and result of a disease from which a person 
 is suffering. To the patient the question, Shall I 
 recover ? is of vital interest ; to his friends it is 
 almost equally important. Such a forecast will 
 depend upon the gravity of the disease itself, and 
 upon the severity of the attack in the case under 
 consideration ; it will be influenced further by the 
 patient's constitution and previous mode of life. 
 All this applies equally to the prognosis of moral 
 disease. 
 
 Speaking broadly, acute physical diseases are 
 serious in proportion as they may load to an 
 immediate fatal issue ; whilst in chronic complaints 
 a pei'manent invalidism is chiefly to be feared, with 
 the liability to further attacks. In the case of 
 moral disease, the parallel fortunately fails in one 
 respect : no acute attack is grave enough to lead to 
 
 8l F 
 
82 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 moral death. Whether such a thing as moral death 
 exists, may be a matter of opinion. Within the 
 range of this present physical life, I believe there 
 is no moral death, although we may see cases of 
 coma, or profound insensibility, closely resembling 
 it. And where suph coma exists, it has always 
 come on as a sequel of chronic, never of acute, 
 disease. So also, acute moral disorders may leave 
 a person weak ; but it is the chronic conditions, 
 the unhealthy diatheses, which leave him crippled, 
 disfigured, or partly paralysed. It may therefore 
 be stated generally, that unhealthy moral diatheses 
 are ever more serious than acute disorders. 
 
 When I say " more serious," I mean as regards 
 the person's condition, not as regards his reputa- 
 tion. A single lapse into intemperance, a single 
 violation of the law of chastity, will generally do 
 more to tarnish a person's reputation, however fair 
 his moral life may otherwise be, than a life-long 
 exhibition of bad temper. This is the judgment 
 of society ; and it is a false judgment. For the 
 one is caused by a temporary, whilst the other is 
 due to a permanent, loss of self-control as regards 
 the fault concerned. And if the two conditions be 
 compared according to their bad eflfect upon other 
 people, the chronic disease is again much the more 
 serious. The single fall, moreover, is likely to lead 
 
PROGNOSIS. 83 
 
 to that " godly sorrow which leads to repentance " 
 and to reformation ; whilst the bad-tempered man 
 thinks (if he thinks at all) that it is a small thing, 
 "a little failing," of which indeed he may be 
 rather proud. For most people are rather tender 
 towards their little failings, as being characteristic 
 of themselves. The result is that our chronic 
 invalid is seldom remorseful ; he may feel a passing 
 regret, but it is not of such a kind as to lead to 
 reform. What I have said of these two types, one 
 an acute disorder and the other a chronic disease, 
 applies generally ; and a man who has stolen a loaf 
 of bread may be more morally healthy than the 
 magistrate who sentences him to a month's im- 
 prisonment. This, I repeat, may not be the verdict 
 of society ; but society does not lay claim to any 
 special knowledge of moral disease. 
 
 The gravity of an unhealthy diathesis depends, 
 therefore, on the greater liability of its possessor to 
 repeated outbreaks of disease ; and by a natural 
 physiological law, every attack paves the way for 
 its successor ; whilst a progressive weakening or 
 or even paralysis of the moral sense results. 
 
 It is, however, true of acute moral disorders 
 also, that the second fall is easier than the first ; 
 and by repetition chronic disease may result. A 
 man who has had an attack of rheumatic fever may 
 
84 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 never have another ; on the other hand, if con- 
 ditions be favourable, one attack may follow the 
 other till he becomes a rheumatic cripple. So also 
 a man who has been once tipsy may remain sober 
 ever after ; or he may become afflicted with the 
 sensual diathesis. Some diseases, such as ague, 
 render sufferers from them specially liable to 
 recurrence ; and there is a similar diversity among 
 moral diseases in their tendency to become chronic. 
 These considerations must be borne in mind in 
 forming a prognosis in any individual case. 
 
 I said that the prognosis will be influenced by 
 the patient's constitution and previous mode of 
 life. Thus a man of good average moral tone is 
 less likely to suffer permanent harm from any par- 
 ticular wrong action than a man who is not accus- 
 tomed to self-control. So, also, a man of education 
 and refined sensibilities will feel more humiliated 
 by an exhibition of intemperance than one of 
 grosser mould ; and by this very humiliation will 
 be in some measure fortified against a repetition 
 of his error. If, then, we meet with the disease in 
 a chronic form affecting such an one, our prognosis 
 will be correspondingly grave, because we shall see 
 greater evidence of moral degradation. This con- 
 sideration applies also in judging of the gravity of 
 an isolated act of wrong ; for whilst an unpremedi- 
 
PROGNOSIS. 8S 
 
 tated error, on the part of one whose previous 
 moral health was good, is likely to be followed by 
 contrition, and is consequently less serious, a de- 
 liberate act, on the other hand, is serious in pro- 
 portion to the person's knowledge of right and 
 capacity to do the right. But sins that are due to 
 ignorance lead one to form a favourable prognosis. 
 
 There are also degrees of wrong. An outburst 
 of temper is not, in itself, so grave as a theft ; a 
 forgery is not so serious as a murder. This kind 
 of distinction is in a measure recognised by the 
 law ; and the severity of its punishments varies 
 accordingly. Revenge intended is not so wrong as 
 revenge achieved, for motive ia not the only test of 
 wrong; and any evil that has reached the stage 
 of thought only, whether it be a lie, a robbery, an 
 excess, an unkindness or any other evil, does not 
 mark and scar the moral nature as does such a 
 thought translated into action, nor does it pave the 
 way, as does the latter, for a repetition of a similar 
 offence. 
 
 Briefly, we may sum up, that no case of moral 
 disease is ever to be regarded as hopeless ; and in 
 making a prognosis or forecast of the result, based 
 on the gravity of the disorder, we must take into 
 account its nature, whether acute or chronic, its 
 intrinsic seriousness, the degree of falling short of 
 
B6 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 the individual's own standard, the danger to others, 
 and the previous history o£ the patient, in so far 
 as this affords indications of his average moral 
 tone. 
 
 Finally, however grave the case may appear, it is 
 the duty of the moral physician to always adopt a 
 hopeful attitude in the presence of the patient. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 
 
 In this chapter I propose to discuss the influence 
 upon moral disease of certain conditions of life ; 
 for whilst selfishness may be said to be the im- 
 mediate cause of all sin, there are circumstances 
 which will often determine the nature of the wrong 
 done in any particular case. 
 
 The factors whose influence requires special 
 study are : hereditj'', age, sex, education, social 
 position, opportunity, condition of mind, and con- 
 dition of body. 
 
 Heredity. — That this plays a leading part in 
 the development of some forms of moral ill- 
 health is a fact well known ; but we must at the 
 outset draw a certain distinction. Inasmuch as 
 children are, in the great majority of instances, 
 brought up in the home of their parents, qualities 
 which are due to heredity are apt to be confused 
 with those which are really due to early surround- 
 ings. This will cause us to make some deduction 
 
 87 
 
88 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 from the influence of heredity. But after the 
 deduction has been madethere remains a residue; and 
 this view is confirmed by the consideration of those 
 cases where children have been separated from 
 their parents at a very early age, and yet show 
 qualities characteristic of their parents. 
 
 Sometimes the inheritance takes the form of a 
 direct tendency to a particular vice, and we may 
 then regard it as a case of transmission of the cor- 
 responding moral diathesis. The period at which 
 this diathesis becomes manifest will in part depend 
 on the time of development of the bodily, mental, 
 or emotional faculties with which the kind of 
 wrong is specially associated ; or it may be preco- 
 cious, or delayed, according as the diathesis is 
 transmitted in its full vigour, or is tending to be- 
 come weaker in successive generations. The 
 general rule, however, is that the inherited char- 
 acteristic appears at about the same age as it 
 appeared in the parent ; in this respect it accords 
 with a prevalent law of heredity. 
 
 It may be that whilst the diathesis is the same 
 in parent and child, its particular form varies. 
 Thus, the sensual diathesis may appear as lust in 
 the one, and as intemperance in the other ; or the 
 indolent diathesis, revealed in the parent by a 
 foolish indulgence, may take the direction, in the 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 89 
 
 chil(l, of physical laziness. Or the inheritance may 
 consist, not of a specific moral diathesis, but of a 
 mental or bodily weakness, pre-disposing to moral 
 disease by deficiency of will-power, or by a want of 
 physical vigour. 
 
 For the student of moral pathology there are 
 two corollaries to be drawn from the influence of 
 heredity. Firstly, that he should recognise the 
 extent to which this influence handicaps its sub- 
 ject in the battle with the wrong, whereby a due 
 leniency will be exercised in forming judgment. 
 Secondly, that he recognise the serious responsi- 
 bility, for himself and for others, of handing down 
 an unhealthy tendency to the generations that 
 are to come after. 
 
 Age. — The influence of age is so obvious that I 
 need not dwell on it at any great length. As I 
 have said before, an individual's possibilities for 
 evil are proportionate to his bodily, mental, and 
 emotional powers. In youth, sins are often im- 
 pulsive, the result of want of control arising from 
 undeveloped or insufficient reflection. Greed, un- 
 controlled temper, destructiveness, thoughtless 
 cruelty, deception due to fear, and mean, petty 
 wrongs, are those we expect to find in the child as in 
 the barbarian. On the other hand, in the adult we 
 find more especially sins of excess, deliberate and 
 
90 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 calculated wrongs, studied deceit, systematic fraud, 
 and the egoism that depends on intellectual develop- 
 ment. If we find an adult sinning in a foolish, 
 childish way, with little apparent object, and be- 
 traying a contemptible littleness, we regard it with 
 a certain surprise, and put it down to a lack of 
 sense ; on the contrary, if we see a child precociously 
 sinful, hardened in lying, deliberate and cunning in 
 planning and executing wickedness, we feel a certain 
 horror and shock, as at something unnatural ; and 
 consider, very properly, that the youthfulness of 
 the offender renders the matter more serious, and 
 the prognosis more grave. 
 
 Sex. — The difference in the evil moral tendencies 
 of men and women is largely due to the influence of 
 long custom upon their habits and pursuits. To 
 eliminate this influence, and determine the effect of 
 sex itself is a very diflScult matter, because the 
 secondary inherited characteristics that have be- 
 come grafted on to the male and female moral 
 types have become so inextricably woven in with 
 the innate characteristics that their differentiation 
 is now hardly possible. Probably the only way to 
 trace these innate moral factors would be to study 
 them in the beings that show the dawnings of the 
 moral sense, namely the higher domestic animals 
 and the lowest savages. Of course, between these 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 9 1 
 
 two there is an unbridgeable hiatus. The study of 
 them does not, however, give much more informa- 
 tion than this : that fundamentally the male sex 
 is associated with activity, and the female with 
 passivity. To enter into the evidence for this view 
 would take me out of my present subject, and I will 
 content myself with referring such of my readers 
 as may be interested in the matter to a work in the 
 Contemporary Science Series, entitled " The Evolu- 
 tion of Sex," by Geddes and Thomson. Mean- 
 while, if this view is correct, as I assume it to 
 be, the moral tendencies due to sex will be of 
 the corresponding type. Those associated with 
 passivity will be mostly negative ; whence I con- 
 clude that the influence of the female sex is in the 
 direction of deficiency of positive moral vigour. 
 Moral tendencies associated with activity, on the 
 other hand, err in the direction of excess ; and it 
 will be found that the male sex predisposes to excess 
 of various kinds. I shall leave the question stated 
 in these general terms, and pass on to consider the 
 influence upon morals of sex, as modified by tradi- 
 tion and custom. 
 
 Man has arrogated to himself rule and supremacy. 
 This leads to egoism, which is found more often and 
 more conspicuously in men than in women. Custom 
 and tradition, on men's authoritj'', have said that it 
 
92 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 is less disgraceful for men than for women to be 
 intemperate and lustful; the result is self- 
 indulgence, as a male characteristic. From of 
 old, the brunt of conflict in war and commerce 
 has fallen upon men ; this has developed hard- 
 ness, violence, and the tarnishing of the code of 
 commercial morality. So also selfishness in its 
 grosser forms belongs to the male nature. 
 
 Women have been confined in narrower circles, 
 and the efiect has been a deficiency of breadth and 
 generosity. Being rendered, by their position, 
 unable to attain their ends by strength and direct- 
 ness, they have developed the faculties of intrigue 
 and subterfuge. Concealment and deceit are more 
 conspicuous in the female moral nature. 
 
 It must, however, be remembered that the 
 influence of sex is only in the direction of an 
 additional tendency to certain forms of moral 
 obliquity ; neither sex has a monopoly of any 
 individual moral disorder. 
 
 Education. — To suppose that the better educated 
 man is necessarily the better moral character would 
 be a great mistake. True, education ought to, and 
 does, increase possibilities for good ; but, as I have 
 said before, greater capacity for good involves 
 greater capacity for evil also. And so, other things 
 being equal, the average moral tone of the gentle- 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 93 
 
 man, and that of the boor, are also equal ; and this 
 because moral health is a relative matter, depending 
 on the standard to which a man is qualified by his 
 education and other circumstances to attain. 
 
 The moral diseases to which the uneducated man 
 is specially liable are largely such as are due to 
 ignorance and want of refinement. The very 
 vulgarity of some sins will help to save the cultured 
 man from committing them. On the other hand, 
 want of knowledge will prevent the ignorant man 
 from falling into certain other sins. 
 
 The intrinsic character of the sins of the two 
 types of men may be the same ; the form, or mode 
 of manifestation of them, will differ. Both may be 
 cruel. In the lower type this may take the direc- 
 tion of wife-beating, in the higher, of refined 
 persecution. Both may be dishonest. The lower 
 type of man commits burglary, while the higher 
 forges cheques. 
 
 The two types are subject to the same moral dia- 
 theses, but the resulting diseases take a different 
 course, just as the poison of consumption may 
 attack the lungs in one person, the joints in another, 
 and the brain in a third. 
 
 And so, the more removed a person's moral dis- 
 orders are from his own type the more serious they 
 are, as a rule. Thus, if a man of birth and educa- 
 
94 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 tion is guilty of gross brutality, or if an ignorant 
 man shows special ingenuity in defrauding, the 
 prognosis is more grave in each case. 
 
 Similar considerations to those based on educa- 
 tion apply to the comparison between the sins of 
 civilised and barbarian people. The Englishman is 
 not necessarily more moral, on the average, than 
 the African bushman, but his sins are more refined. 
 But there is no doubt that the best civilised man is 
 better, morally, than the best barbarian, not because 
 he obeys his conscience more rigidly, but because 
 his moral code is higher. And this is true also of 
 the educated man, as compared with the uneducated. 
 Two artists may work equally conscientiously, but 
 the work produced by the genius is better than 
 that of the mediocre man. The conclusion is, 
 therefore, absolutely in favour of education and 
 culture, for, at the risk of greater responsibility, the 
 greater possibilities of good are secured. Far better 
 the earnest, upward striving towards the heights of 
 moral excellence, though with slips and falls by the 
 way, than the passive vegetating on the lowlands 
 of moral mediocrity, or the dead sea level of moral 
 inferiority. 
 
 Social Position and Occupation. — These bring in 
 their train moral differences corresponding to those 
 due to education, and with them may be considered 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 95 
 
 the influence respectively of riches and of poverty, 
 each of which has its special temptations. 
 
 A man's daily work not infrequently favours a 
 tendency to moral disorders of special kinds. The 
 workman paid by time is liable to indolence ; the 
 cashier to dishonesty ; the priest to spiritual pride ; 
 the artist to emotional excesses ; the oflacial, speak- 
 ing generally, to bribery. If proof were needed, it 
 would be found in the special regard in which are 
 held the industrious workman, the honest cashier, 
 the humble priest, the temperate artist, and the im- 
 partial oflacial. Indeed, the calling in life that has 
 not its particular temptations would probably be 
 difficult to find. As I have said before, a predis- 
 position to a moral disorder, due to external circum- 
 stances, is not to be regarded as an excuse for such 
 a disorder ; but in diagnosis, prognosis, and treat- 
 ment, these special difficulties must be taken into 
 account, and the efforts put forth against them 
 must be recognised. 
 
 In other cases, an occupation leads to moral 
 disease, not directly, but by reaction. All essenti- 
 ally monotonous occupations come under this 
 description, especially if the hours of work are long ; 
 and the danger is much increased by the absence of 
 healthy interests outside the working groove. Ee- 
 actionary moral disorders often take the form of 
 
96 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 intemperance and debauchery, and in this way we 
 explain the prevalence of these diseases among 
 sailors, soldiers, and others. 
 
 Many cases of mischief, unruliness, and disorder 
 among school-children, and especially schoolboys, 
 are of the nature of reaction ; and here be it noted 
 that such reaction is more common among active 
 natures, and so it prevails more among boys than 
 among girls. 
 
 When labourers have been toiling sixty-six hours 
 in the week, it is not very surprising that many of 
 them pass Saturday night and Sunday in a condi- 
 tion of intoxication. Tailors often work fourteen 
 or fifteen hours a day for three or four days in the 
 week. The reaction comes, and it is a well-known 
 complaint of master-tailors that their men cannot 
 be depended upon for the rest of the time. 
 
 Want of work has also its own sequence of moral 
 disorders. Idleness, waste of time, frivolity, gossip, 
 are among the less serious. Idleness, combined 
 with wealth, is the great incentive to all the society 
 sins, which wreck homes and characters, and supply 
 sensational scandal for a sensation-loving public. 
 
 The special sins to which wealth and poverty 
 predispose are too well known to require enumerat- 
 ing. Far back in the patriarchal days, Agur, the 
 son of Jakeh, prayed, " Two things have I asked of 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 97 
 
 thee; deny me them not before I die: give me 
 neither poverty nor riches ; feed me with the bread 
 of my portion, lest I be full, and deny thee, and 
 say. Who is the Lord ? or lest I be poor, and steal, 
 and use profanely the name of my God." 
 
 Opportunity. — According to the sum total of the 
 circumstances in which two people are placed will 
 the average standard of their moral health be. In 
 many cases, virtue (in respect to any particular 
 fault) is due to the absence of temptation. We 
 have illustration of this when people of previously 
 good repute, and restricted experience, are trans- 
 ferred to an environment of temptation, and 
 straightway yield. True, we find pure, true lives 
 passed in the midst of temptation, as we find the 
 reverse ; but, still, in average cases, the difference 
 between two men or two women, the one of good 
 and the other of ill repute, is often a matter of 
 circumstance, and nothing more. Reflection on 
 these things will often lead us to moderate both our 
 self-appreciation and our censure of others. 
 
 A moral disorder is of course aggravated when 
 there has been no special temptation to it, when 
 the opportunity has been sought instead of being 
 met with unsought in the course of the daily life. 
 One ground of the condemnation of the man who 
 stole the one ewe-lamb of his poor neighbour was 
 
98 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 that he had lambs of his own in plenty. The rich 
 lady who pleads " kleptomania " when convicted of 
 stealing a piece of silk is more blameworthy than 
 the poor vagrant who has stolen a loaf of bread, 
 although the latter may receive a more stringent 
 sentence. 
 
 For purposes of diagnosis, and treatment, this 
 question of opportunity must be carefully considered 
 by the moral physician, and for purposes of self- 
 examination, by all. Its influence was known of 
 old ; it was recognised in the petition, " Lead us 
 not into temptation." Indeed, there is perhaps no 
 single factor that is of greater importance in the 
 causation of moral disease. 
 
 "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds 
 Makes ill deeds done." 
 
 The condition of the mind and body is of such im- 
 portance that I shall reserve the consideration of 
 its influence for the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE — (Continued). 
 
 The Influence of Bodily and Mental Conditions. 
 
 I HAVE already spoken of the dependence of moral 
 health upon the health of body and mind ; indeed, 
 this is the foundation on which the whole of our 
 considerations on the subject of moral pathology 
 have been based. Here we must look into the 
 matter in somewhat greater detail. 
 
 I may be met at the outset with this objection : 
 that many instances have been known in which 
 physical invalids have given to the world an ex- 
 ample of pure and useful lives. Now it may be at 
 once granted that many people with shattered 
 health and with mental powers not of the strongest 
 have led lives much more healthy, morally, than 
 some of their neighbours, whose bodily and mental 
 condition was perfectly sound. But the point for 
 us to consider is this : whether, if these invalids 
 (in body or mind) had been physically and mentally 
 
 99 
 
lOO MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 robust, their moral health would not also have 
 been of a more vigorous type ; and I think it may 
 be maintained that this would have been the case. 
 Have not the best of such people had weak points 
 in their character, properly accounted for by their 
 bodily or mental weakness ? This will be admitted 
 by all. Consequently tbe general statement holds 
 true, that with people of average type, their moral 
 condition will be closely related to their condition 
 of body and mind. I am not comparing one ex- 
 ceptional delicate person with another exceptional 
 healthy one. I am rather comparing, in the case 
 of any ordinary person, the moral tone of such an 
 one when he is healthy with his moral tone when 
 he is unhealthy. 
 
 The effect of bodily ill-health is to disturb the 
 normal mental and moral powers. A man who is 
 writhing in acute pain is incapable of connected 
 thought and calm reasoning ; his judgment has its 
 balance disturbed ; and his moral sense is cor- 
 respondingly affected. As a rule, a certain irrita- 
 bility is developed, and self-control is weakened. 
 Examples of this are frequent. Even the compara- 
 tively mild discomfort of moderate hunger is enough 
 to alter the disposition in most cases ; so that by 
 common consent we refrain from appealing to a 
 person's good-nature or generosity at such a time. 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. lOI 
 
 And in the presence of pain, the irritability is pro- 
 portionately greater. When a woman is tormented 
 with neuralgia or a " splitting headache " ; when a 
 man is in the throes of an attack of gout or rheuma- 
 tism, irritability is expected and condoned. " You 
 must not mind what he says ; he is not feeling 
 well ! " How often have we heard this phrase, and 
 used it ourselves ! 
 
 Bodily discomfort may have the same effect as 
 actual pain. We do not expect cheerfulness and 
 good temper from a chronic dyspeptic ; our very 
 name " melancholy " (black bile), implies the influ- 
 ence of such disturbances on the mind. Nor is 
 irritability the only result of pain and discomfort ; 
 selfishness is engendered, and consideration for 
 others sinks into the background. A peevish 
 person is generally selfish and inconsiderate ; and 
 as a rule some defective bodily condition underlies 
 the whole disposition. 
 
 There are many conditions of ill-health where 
 there is no actual or tangible pain or discomfort; 
 but the ill-defined malaise is quite enough to dis- 
 turb the normal moral relations. Women especi- 
 ally are sufferers from this ; and I may here remark 
 that under such circumstances they have usually 
 more self-control than men. Their more delicate 
 organisation is more readily thrown out of gear ; 
 
I02 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 but their constitutional patience or passivity comes 
 to their relief. With many people changes in 
 atmospheric conditions act similarly, producing a 
 condition of nervous restlessness, of depression, and 
 of irritability. Nor is this to be wondered at ; on 
 the delicate protoplasm of many plants, sunlight 
 and shade, heat and cold, dryness and moisture, 
 have a direct effect ; and in our so complex organiza- 
 tion the influence of these forces may be equally 
 keenly felt. 
 
 The influence of bodily ill-health is not limited to 
 the directions above-described. When more pro- 
 longed it gives rise to indifference, in which condi- 
 tion the sharp boundary lines of right and wrong 
 are apt to become blurred. The moral rein is held 
 slackly, and deviations to right and left are more 
 easy, and also more frequent. With certain kinds 
 of disease the moral sense becomes not only 
 blunted but distorted, ' instances of which are 
 familiar to medical men. Indifference, moreover, 
 may pass on into disheartening and despair ; and 
 then crimes of all possible kinds and of all magni- 
 tudes may be committed. Suicide is but one of 
 them. 
 
 The effect of bodily ill-health is thus primarily 
 on the disposition, passing through the whole 
 gamut of possibilities from peevishness and mor- 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 103 
 
 oseness to moral insensibility, despair and de- 
 pravity. 
 
 The influence of the condition of the mind has 
 also a wide range. From the above considerations 
 it will be seen that the varying mental conditions 
 are often secondary, depending primarily on ill- 
 health of body. But there is another set of mental 
 conditions to be reviewed, depending little if at all 
 on the bodily health ; and among these we find, 
 standing in the front rank, the influence of the 
 emotions. 
 
 It is well known to medical men that in the 
 graver forms of epilepsy the severe attacks are 
 often followed by a peculiar mental condition in 
 which the suflFerer is not responsible for his actions ; 
 and that these actions may take a violent form, 
 even to homicide. A parallel condition follows 
 many emotional storms ; the sufferer may have 
 neither knowledge of nor control over his actions* 
 The nature of such actions will depend in part on 
 the nature of the emotional disturbance. Thus 
 after great anger (rightly described as short mad- 
 ness) deeds of violence may be committed, as they 
 may also during the attack of anger. In this way 
 many private and public tragedies have originated. 
 When anger has been associated with the smart of 
 injustice, or of injury (deserved or not), we have 
 
104 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 the mood in which revenge is born ; and the nature 
 of such revenge will depend on the character of the 
 injured person and the extent of the injury : one 
 will meditate violence, even to murder; another 
 will craftily plot and scheme till his oppressor fall 
 in other ways. Disappointment has its own brood 
 of evils that follow in its train. Hardness and 
 cynicism are among the foremost ; and if self- 
 respect has been wounded, there is every prospect 
 of some stages of moral degradation. It is thus 
 that intemperance, prodigality and profligacy some- 
 times begin ; and they may go to extremes ; while 
 in other cases where the moral constitution is 
 strong the man may pick up again the reins which 
 he had allowed to hang loose on the neck of his 
 impulses, and the downward course is stayed. 
 These remarks apply also to disappointment in 
 love, especially when the love has been of the 
 §goistic and passionate type fostered by sensational 
 reading. For disappointed passion does not com- 
 monly react towards asceticism ; it rather becomes 
 transformed in other directions. Even among 
 higher natures, the heart that has been prepared 
 for a great passion tends to expend its gathered 
 energy upon other objects, rather than become self- 
 contained and encysted. It does not require a very 
 extended acquaintance with the world to enable 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. lOS 
 
 one to recognise many illustrations of this; the 
 annals of humanity abound with records of moral 
 disorders arising from these disappointments. 
 
 Ambition is not simply an emotion ; it is in large 
 part an intellectual attitude ; but it is leavened 
 with emotion ; and it has its own tendencies to 
 moral disease ; notably unscrupulousness. Ambi- 
 tion is like a snowball in a snowy field ; it grows 
 and gathers momentum in proportion as it is fed. 
 In its progress, right often becomes overshadowed 
 by expediency ; and expediency becomes less and 
 less discriminating. The end that is justified by 
 the means is apt to be served by means foul as well 
 as fair. As the revolving sphere grows larger, it 
 requires larger and larger obstacles to arrest its 
 progress ; it commonly arrives sooner or later upon 
 a slope where it is precipitated to its own destruc- 
 tion. 
 
 Emotions of the better class are not without 
 their dangers ; we may instance " revivalism." 
 When impulses to good are planted upon the forc- 
 ing-bed of revivalism, they are apt to outgrow their 
 strength ; and they either die of exhaustion, lead- 
 ing to " back-sliding " ; or, instead of yielding the 
 fruits of noble action they may produce nothing 
 but leaves of " professions," or in some cases the 
 noxious blooms of pharisaical hypocrisy. 
 
I06 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 Emotions of healthy happiness, and of " love that 
 finds its earthly close," have commonly no bad 
 result; except that if too intense, their subjects 
 may experience a temporary exhaustion. 
 
 Emotions of fatigue due to long and unsuccessful 
 strife, physical or mental, are generally associated 
 with depression. In the condition of moral languor 
 which supervenes, the voice of the tempter may 
 have an alluring force full of danger. The desire 
 to float without effort on the stream of necessity 
 has some of the deadly fascination which allures to 
 a fatal sleep people exposed to long and intense 
 cold. The condition is specially dangerous in those 
 of an energetic and ardent disposition. Mr. Mere- 
 dith describes it in his graphic way : " She was 
 faint with strife and dejected, a condition in the 
 young when their imaginative energies hold revel 
 uncontrolled, and are projectively desperate." We 
 may illustrate it further by the words of the mur- 
 derers in Macbeth^ where some possible effects of 
 misfortune are depicted : — 
 
 " Fi/rst Murderer. I am one, my liege, 
 
 Whom the vile blows and buffets of the world 
 Have so incens'd that I am reckless what 
 I do, to spite the world. 
 
 " Second Mii/rderer. And I another 
 
 So weary with disasters, tugg'd with fortune. 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 107 
 
 That I would set my life on any chance, 
 To mend it, or be rid on't." 
 
 But besides these powerful emotions, with their 
 conspicuous possibilities for evil, we have other 
 mental conditions whose influence is not so deep- 
 seated, though it may be more enduring. I refer 
 to the influence of " moods." Moods are of various 
 origin, some bodily, some mental. As a rule their 
 production is independent of will, and even of con- 
 sciousness. Once recognised in one's self they ought 
 to be summarily dealt with. But they often arise, 
 I say, unconsciously. A meal undigested, a close 
 atmosphere, a change of weather, an apprehension 
 of evil to come, a nameless, vague malaise of mind 
 or body, any of these may result in a certain mood, 
 and sometimes the origin is still more obscure. 
 Moods contest with the will the direction of 
 actions. For will itself is the guide, not the source 
 of action. The source lies deeper, dependent often- 
 times on impressions received at an earlier date. 
 Consequently when direct purpose or will is in 
 abeyance it falls to the lot of the mood to direct, 
 or at least to influence, action. 
 
 Moods of depression have unhealthy tendencies ; 
 the reverse commonly holds true of moods of 
 exaltation. Fretfulness, irritability, a facility for 
 
I08 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 quarrelling and wounding, these are the most 
 frequent fruits of unhealthy moods. At other 
 times the mood is itself one of suppressed irrita- 
 bility ; then a slight or even trivial cause may be 
 enough to cause an explosion in violence of word 
 or deed. The mood of indifference, of apathy, 
 resulting from defeat after effort is apt to prepare 
 the way for an outburst of . recklessness which may 
 take on riotous forms. 
 
 Moods gather strength and persistency by indul- 
 gence ; to some natures especially such indulgence 
 becomes a kind of moral intoxication, just as a 
 morbid pleasure is derived from indulging in grief. 
 Hence in recurrent and prolonged moods there is 
 danger to be apprehended ; they may pass over by 
 insensible gradation into one or other type of un- 
 healthy moral diathesis. Further, moods cannot 
 as a rule last long, or recur frequently, without 
 consciousness of them ; their encouragement is 
 then due to a type of egoism, and the individual 
 who excuses his actions on the score of his moods 
 is an egoist. Moods may fittingly be compared to 
 evil thoughts ; says Milton : — 
 
 " Evil into the mind of God or man 
 May come and go, so unapproved, and leave 
 No spot or blame behind." 
 
THE CAUSATION OF MORAL DISEASE. 1 09 
 
 But moods, like evil thoughts, once recognised 
 and allowed to remain, leave a spot and invite 
 blame. As in the case of other influences tending 
 to moral disorder, the attitude must vary, accord- 
 ing as we are considering them in ourselves or in 
 others. In speaking to one's own heart the in- 
 fluence must not be regarded as an excuse, but 
 when regarding it in others, it must be allowed as 
 an extenuating circumstance. It is, indeed, a safe 
 general rule, to judge one's own actions with rigour, 
 and the actions of others with charity. Especially 
 does this attitude become the moral physician. 
 
 Other influences, more strictly mental, have an 
 effect upon moral action. Mental pre-occupation, 
 worry, anxiety, may have the effect of depressing 
 moods ; in any case they tend to blunt the keen- 
 ness of moral discrimination. For, in mental pro- 
 cesses, two absorbing interests cannot equally and 
 efficiently occupy the attention ; one must take a 
 secondary place. A passionate lover of music may 
 become practically deaf to the sound of his favour- 
 ite symphony, may even feel it vaguely as an 
 irritating noise, if strongly pre-occupied with some 
 weighty matter; and this subordination of one 
 interest to another is the more marked the greater 
 the individual's power of concentration. 
 
 There are, of course, some moral actions to which 
 
no MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 the individual's nature is so attuned, which have, 
 in fact, become by habit so much a part of him, 
 that they are performed unconsciously whilst 
 attention is fixed elsewhere ; as the accomplished 
 pianist may correctly play a difficult piece whilst 
 engaged in serious conversation on another topic. 
 But other moral actions require careful attention, 
 and demand a disengaged mind, otherwise the 
 result may be a moral blunder, &faux-pas. 
 
 Briefly, the matter may be formulated thus : 
 that mental or bodily disturbance disqualifies 
 more or less for forming moral judgments; and- 
 interferes with the action of the Will. In this way 
 many moral disorders are to be, not excused, 
 but explained. 
 
 Lest my considerations of the causation of moral 
 disease as dwelt upon in these two chapters should 
 seem in any way tinged with fatalism, I close this 
 chapter with the remark, that once such influences 
 come within the range of consciousness I have 
 entire faith in the guiding power of will and of con- 
 science. In these matters also, 
 
 ' Man is man, and master of his fate." 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 SELFISHNESS. 
 
 A DISTINCTION must be drawn between egoism and 
 selfishness. The former is the constant and often 
 almost unconscious pursuit of selfish ends ; and 
 when such pursuit is conscious, it is essentially cal- 
 culating. Selfishness is a grosser and less diplo- 
 matic vice ; it seeks simply present satisfaction. 
 The cause of selfishness is often a deficiency of 
 moral education, especially in the direction of self- 
 control. The primitive instincts of human nature 
 are towards self-gratification, using the word in a 
 comprehensive sense, and when the satisfying of 
 these instincts involves no injury to oneself or to 
 others, the gratification is right. But the person 
 unaccustomed to self-control makes no distinction ; 
 if he dimly realises a sense of obligation, this is so 
 evanescent as to exercise no check on his actions. 
 In other cases, selfishness is the outcome of mere 
 
 thoughtlessness; very often, if the person concerned 
 III 
 
112 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 were to pause to reflect on the efiFects of his sel- 
 fishness, he would act otherwise. Considered 
 broadly, selfishness is the result and the indication 
 of a low type of moral development. It is true, 
 selfishness is the most universal of faults ; but it 
 presents very varying degrees, so that one man 
 acts selfishly occasionally, and it may be in small 
 matters ; whilst in the case of another man, his 
 outward life may be a succession of selfish actions, 
 some small and some great. The first man is 
 generally sensible of his errors, and grieves over 
 them ; the second experiences only occasional and 
 transient regrets. 
 
 Further, selfishness is a matter of motive as well 
 as of action. Some people of selfish disposition 
 appear better than they are, because their sur- 
 roundings restrict their indulgence ; whilst others, 
 free to follow their bent, and perhaps accustomed 
 by their training to be waited upon and to think 
 only of themselves, often act selfishly without any 
 intention of doing so. 
 
 Selfishness is in every way harmful. It may 
 cause much suffering to other people; it injures the 
 person's own character, by weakening his power of 
 resisting evil, and sooner or later it blights the re- 
 putation. A selfish man may be feared and obeyed; 
 he is never loved or honoured. Even if he achieves 
 
SELFISHNESS. II3 
 
 worldly success, he is likely to enjoy it but little ; 
 and he passes away, 
 
 " Unwept, unhonoured, and unsung." 
 
 Selfishness is a protean form of moral disorder ; 
 it comes out in every department of life and con- 
 duct, and affects all sorts and conditions of men, 
 marring all life's beauty, and turning all its sweet- 
 ness sour. It is often in small things that its 
 effects are most unpleasantly shown. To live with 
 a selfish person is a continual misery. 
 
 It would be impossible to give a catalogue of 
 selfish actions; but it will be instructive to consider 
 in outline some of the ways in which selfishness 
 may mould the character. 
 
 Not uncommonly it produces an arrogant, over- 
 bearing manner, exercised especially towards in- 
 feriors in wealth or station. This is one of the 
 most contemptible of its forms, because the points 
 of superiority do not in any way depend upon in- 
 trinsic worth. Strip the man of his accidental 
 wealth and position, and he is probably a pitiable 
 enough object. The grades of arrogance range 
 from simple superciliousness to offensive discourtesy. 
 Or the mood may be one of conceit and vanity, 
 born perhaps of another factor for which the in- 
 
114 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 dividual can claim no merit, such as personal beauty 
 or talent. A small modicum of conceit is not much 
 drawback ; its total deficiency is often coupled 
 with dullness and an absence of enthusiasm ; but 
 this is very dififerent from foppishness and idle 
 time-wasting vanity. 
 
 Another mood born of selfishness is obstinacy, 
 negative like that of the proverbial mule, or posi- 
 tive in self-assertion. It takes several forms ; some- 
 times a dogged resistance without adequate reason; 
 sometimes unwillingness to yield to conclusive ar- 
 gument ; sometimes the objectionable attitude con- 
 veyed in the phrase, " I have said it, and that is 
 enough." The rare art of gracefully and sincerely 
 acknowledging wrong or defeat is not possessed by 
 these people. 
 
 The self -feeling may expand into another mood, 
 namely pharisaism. This is generally due to ill- 
 directed religious influences of a narrow kind, 
 coupled with ignorance, or at least want of thought. 
 Reflection would soon convince the sufi^erers from 
 this disorder of the supreme impertinence of arro- 
 gating to themselves an especial interest in the 
 sight of an over-ruling Deity ; it would cause them 
 to realise the dependence of their supposed superi- 
 ority on circumstance and opportunity ; and it 
 \^-ould show them that, compared with the lofty 
 
SELFISHNESS. II5 
 
 standard of absolute perfection, even the outward 
 difference between the Pharisee and the publican 
 is so small as to be a negligeable quantity. It 
 must be remembered, however, that the Pharisee 
 has commonly many good points, overshadowed by 
 his very pharisaism. Thus his moral standard is, 
 as a rule, high ; and he tries to live up to it. He 
 is earnest in his life, and often does much good. 
 But the good is continually discounted by his 
 anxiety to let his right hand know what his left 
 hand is doing. 
 
 In considering the causes of selfishness, it must 
 be remembered that physical infirmity often plays 
 a large part. Confirmed sufferers and invalids are 
 apt, from the nature of the case, to become selfish. 
 They are greatly dependent on other people ; and 
 their suffering constantly draws their attention to 
 their own condition. Clearly they are entitled to 
 some pity as well as blame. Fortunately for the 
 credit of our humanity, however, it often happens 
 that sufferers set an example of patience and un- 
 selfishness ; and this example has a most healthy 
 tonic effect on those of robust constitution who are 
 selfish through thoughtlessness. 
 
 Selfishness is to be ranked among progressive 
 moral disorders ; if neglected, it goes from bad 
 to worse. For the cure of selfishness there 
 
Il6 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 are two prescriptions : self-control and care for 
 others. 
 
 If self-control be taught and exercised from the 
 beginning, the manifestations of selfishness will be 
 much restrained, and its harmful effects avoided. 
 But it does not follow that the innate spirit of 
 selfishness will be rooted out ; for this something 
 more is wanted. In the presence of any special 
 temptation to selfishness, self-control is also urgently 
 required ; and the more it has been practised 
 previously, the easier will it be. Consequently, 
 there is a certain utility in the cultivation of the 
 spirit of self-restraint and self-sacrifice ; the man 
 who has done this has his impulses well in hand ; 
 he is master of himself, and can draw rein at the 
 proper moment. But it must be pointed out that 
 this alone has some counter-balancing disadvan- 
 tages. In the first place, undue self-restraint has a 
 narrowing effect upon character ; and an example 
 of this is supplied by the spirit of the old puritans. 
 Their moral life was correct; but, on the whole, 
 they were not lovable. In the second place, self- 
 control when pursued too exclusively develops 
 justice at the expense of mercy ; and the subject of 
 it is apt to become harsh, unsj'^mpathetic and un- 
 charitable in his attitude towards the faults of 
 others. In the third place, in a nature of the 
 
SELFISHNESS. tl^; 
 
 emotionally religious type, religious egoism is 
 fostered ; and in this case the platform of selfish- 
 ness is changed, whilst the selfishness itself remains. 
 We then have the type of man who forsakes the 
 world and its interests, its joys and its sorrows, to 
 " work out his own salvation in fear and tremb- 
 ling " ; the one absorbing question in his mind is not, 
 " What good can I do ? " but " What must I do to 
 be saved ? " The egoism and the unreasonableness 
 of this position require no demonstration. 
 
 Self-control is then, in its way, good and 
 necessary ; yet is there a more excellent way, 
 namely, altruism — the care for others. This prin- 
 ciple is of special use in dealing with the general 
 and underlying spirit of selfishness. The best way 
 to conquer selfishness is to leave the question of 
 self alone, as a secondary matter ; to not even 
 consider, primarily, how this self can be improved 
 If attention be strongly directed to the wants, the 
 rights, the interests of other people, selfishness will 
 become weaker, and even die a natural death. 
 Many people are selfish simply because they have 
 no other motive, no other object to live for. 
 Supply the motive for unselfishness, provide an 
 outside object on which interest may be directed, 
 and the battle is already over. Even in the 
 immediate presence of temptation, while exercise of 
 
IlS MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 self-control is a shield, the thought, " How does this 
 affect other people ? " becomes a strong weapon of 
 attack, and the probabilities of victory are at once 
 increased. It is in some cases good that self should 
 be annihilated ; an enemy is thus put hors de 
 combat; but it is better still that this enemy be 
 won over as an ally ; that the self be employed to 
 help in the conflict, as a servant ministering to the 
 effort to help others. Of course, when rightly 
 understood, this is the simp]e meaning of self- 
 control ; but too often self-control is interpreted as 
 self-destruction, self-sacrifice. Self-sacrifice itself 
 is good, and is called for when the contest of 
 interests is between those of self and those of 
 others ; but when self-sacrifice is aimed at simply 
 as a general means of overcoming selfish tendencies, 
 it is not good, and that for two reasons. Firstly, it 
 is a waste of power ; secondly, it is'generally futile. 
 I say it is a waste of power ; if we have to deal 
 with a force of any kind that may be destructive, 
 such as fire or water, it is much better to turn it 
 into channels of usefulness than to aim simply at 
 its harmless dissipation. It is also often futile, as 
 the late James Hinton pointed out when speaking 
 of the penance of the old monastic system. The 
 devotees said, Let us subdue and destroy self by the 
 denial of pleasure. Too often the pleasure in life 
 
SELFISHNESS. 119 
 
 was destroyed, while the self remained to harass 
 them. They would have found a much shorter 
 and more effective method by going into the world 
 and ministering to its suflFerers, instead of retiring 
 into caves and monasteries to fast and to scourge 
 themselves. 
 
 True altruism then aims first at securing the 
 well-being of others ; and for this purpose it 
 employs self-control, not simply with the object of 
 " crucifying the flesh," but as a means to a higher 
 end, the employment of self, namely, as a servant 
 in the ministry of good. 
 
 In this way shall selfishness be overcome. 
 
CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 INDOLENCE. 
 
 Indolence is largely dependent on physical con- 
 ditions ; and this dependence is more easily seen 
 than is the case with the majority of moral dis- 
 orders. Some people are naturally energetic ; their 
 reflexes are prompt, and they are quick in move- 
 ment as well as in thought ; whilst inactivity is 
 utterly distasteful. On the contrary, some people 
 are naturally slow or even apathetic ; they are 
 leisurely in their actions, and deliberate in their 
 thoughts. If imaginative, they are often dreamy ; 
 if otherwise, they are simply listless. So far we 
 have to deal simply with physical qualities ; it is 
 probable that the deeply-seated chemical changes 
 that take place in the body-cells, especially the 
 nerve-cells, are correspondingly slow. And while 
 there may be considerable bodily strength, there is 
 but little agility. These people are not of the stuff 
 of which athletes are made. To complete the 
 picture, we iind that these people are often stout 
 
INDOLENCE. 121 
 
 and good-natured; they are not readily harassed 
 and worried, but "take life as it comes," in a 
 phlegmatic if not in a philosophical manner. 
 
 Evidently there are some good points about such 
 a character; but there is much risk of evil de- 
 velopments. For life is not a mere vegetative 
 existence, to be passed in drifting, dreamless or 
 even dreamful ease. Activity and work are de- 
 manded of every one. 
 
 Indolence leads to many faults. In childhood it 
 causes personal untidiness and slovenliness. And 
 though this may be partly overcome when amour- 
 propre awakens, in the days of puberty, the traces 
 of untidiness are generally left in the surroundings 
 and in work. Untidiness even affects thought, so 
 that a person thus affected thinks disconnectedly, 
 spasmodically. There is no proper orderly sequence 
 in his ideas, and his actions suffer correspondingly. 
 Further, the work of an indolent person is not 
 thorough ; if he is compelled by circumstances to 
 do work of some kind, it is apt to be scamped and 
 superficial. The best example of this is seen in 
 the work of an indolent servant. Dust is left in 
 corners and crevices, and in all places that do not 
 at once attract attention ; vessels are wiped instead 
 of washed ; rubbish is allowed to accumulate in 
 cupboards and dark places. There results, in fact, 
 
122 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 dishonesty in work. Among the indolent poor, a 
 smart dress covers underclothing that is ragged and 
 dirty ; the outside of the house is presentable ; the 
 inside reeks with litter and dirt. And without 
 cleanliness there is no godliness. 
 
 Indolence leads also to incompleteness and to 
 want of continuity. A score of things are begun ; 
 not one is finished. Clearly no good work can re- 
 sult from this. A young man starts in some kind 
 of business ; in six months he tires and does some- 
 thing else. He is dismissed from one situation for 
 unpunctuality, from another for untidiness, from a 
 third for carelessness, until he finds himself " out 
 of the running," in the ranks of the unemployed. 
 Once there, a wide field of opportunities for evil 
 opens out before him. 
 
 In the beginning, indolence is unconscious ; it is 
 simply a natural bent. But soon duties of different 
 kinds call to effort ; when this call is unheeded, 
 the wrong begins, because the call cannot be 
 neglected unconsciously. It is a form of self- 
 indulgence; that which is easy and pleasant is 
 allowed to take the place of that which is right, 
 and the onset of moral degeneration has been 
 reached. Many are saved from this by the neces- 
 sity of earning their daily bread. When this 
 necessity does not exist indolence leads by easy and 
 
INDOLENCE 123 
 
 rapid stages to vice. For by indulgence, self-con- 
 trol is weakened; and the call of duty is unheeded 
 when the call of pleasure is also heard. In many 
 cases the final stage is that of sensuality. 
 
 To a man or woman in early life no more perilous 
 doctrine can be taught than this, that there is no 
 need to work. It is not necessary to urge those 
 who are well-to-do to enter into competition with 
 those who must work for their living ; apart from 
 this there are many directions in which activity 
 can be usefully employed lor the benefit of the 
 State and of society. In philanthropic efforts 
 there is unbounded scope for those who have money 
 and leisure. Knowledge and culture are open to 
 all ; and no man who so enriches liimself im- 
 poverishes his neighbour. At present work is still 
 regarded as degrading by a pseudo-aristocracy, and 
 especially manual work. The example travels 
 down through all classes of society. The aristocrat 
 who has nothing at all to do looks down on the 
 man with a profession, the professional man looks 
 down on the " man of business," the " man of busi- 
 ness " in turn despises the tradesman, and the 
 tradesman will not associate with the artisan. 
 
 One result is this, that those who have received 
 a smattering of education such as their fathers and 
 mothers did not possess, regard manual work with 
 
124 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 contempt ; the man who would have been an ex- 
 cellent artisan becomes a bad clerk ; the girl with 
 qualities to make a first-class domestic servant 
 prefers to be a third-rate shop girl. The education 
 of the " masses," which should be of priceless value 
 to the nation as a whole, making a man a better 
 farm labourer, and a girl a more competent dairy- 
 maid, tends to disturb, if not overturn, the whole 
 condition of society, and the secret of the whole 
 thing is the contempt for humble labour. In this 
 matter, the indolent rich, who are the original 
 offenders, become the ultimate sufferers, whilst 
 almost all classes sufier in some degree. 
 
 But this is not a treatise on sociology, and I 
 must keep to my subject of indolence as a moral 
 disorder. Like so many other moral disorders, it 
 is progressive. Its cure is comparatively easy in 
 the early stages; later it is practically incurable. 
 Consequently, treatment must be begun, as a rule, 
 in early life. But before considering the subject 
 of treatment, I must make a passing reference to 
 that variety of indolence which is apt to come on, 
 in adult life, in a nature originally energetic. De- 
 pressing influences, in general, may lead to this kind 
 of indolence. Failure, disappointment, ill-health, 
 have sometimes this effect. For a time there is no 
 motive for effort, no inspiration to action. Or it 
 
INDOLENCE. I2S 
 
 may be simply the reaction from excessive work, 
 a reaction which is beneficial. The idleness due to 
 disinclination for work which follows the passing 
 of an arduous examination is a good illustration. 
 But indolence that is produced by these causes is 
 essentially evanescent ; the nature's elasticity 
 asserts itself after a time. It is only when the 
 circumstances of depression are enduring that the 
 indolence may become chronic. We need not, 
 therefore, dwell upon it at greater length. 
 
 The treatment of indolence consists essentially 
 in supplying a motive for activity ; and in propor- 
 tion as this motive is enduring will the cure 
 efiected be permanent. The best motive to supply 
 is the idea, when early implanted, that work is in 
 itself honourable, and that the idle man, whatever 
 be his wealth or position, is a man to be despised. 
 If this thought take deep root, idleness is no longer 
 possible. One word as to the method of implant- 
 ing this idea in the young. The effort is likely to 
 be vain if the child does not also have plenty of 
 healthful pleasure and recreation ; the child who is 
 kept to long and arduous work is in danger of 
 reaction as soon as he has liberty. Another motive 
 for action is independence. This is honourable, 
 and is suflScient for many. If this motive does not 
 appeal, an effective one may be found in the de- 
 
126. MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 pendence of others, especially wife or children, 
 upon the individual's efforts. Ambition for fame, 
 position, wealth, or other success often forms a 
 powerful motive, but it is neither so lofty nor so 
 enduring as the preceding ones. I need not dwell 
 on the value of love as an incentive ; it has been 
 extolled in prose and in verse, and with a worthy 
 object it is all-powerful. Passing downwards in 
 our review of motives, we come to those that have 
 to be emploj'ed with natures deficient in the higher 
 aims and ideals ; such are the fear of disgrace or 
 punishment, the censure of the world, and the 
 terrors of the law. On the lowest physical level 
 we have to fall back upon the risk to personal 
 safety, and hunger. According to the type of 
 person to be dealt with must the appeal be made, 
 remembering this, that with every individual the 
 highest responsive elements in his nature are to be 
 played upon at first. A lower motive should never 
 be urged when a higher is effectual. 
 
 The motive of conscientiousness is fundamentally' 
 the first one named, combined with the motive of 
 love. So also the religious motive is really a com- 
 bination of these two. Once a start is made, the 
 cure of indolence is hopeful, even in later life ; for 
 the happiness derived from work is soon found to 
 be one of the most substantial and enduring of the 
 
INDOLENCE. \2^ 
 
 forms of happiness, and idleness comes to be 
 associated, as it should be normally, with wretched- 
 ness. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DISHONESTY. 
 
 Dishonesty is primarily due to arrested moral 
 development. It is in this manner tbat it appears 
 in childhood. As a rule, a child is dishonest be- 
 cause it does not know better, or because the broad 
 distinctions between right and wrong are not 
 clearly defined. In many of the criminal class 
 dishonesty in later years remains as a partial result 
 of want of development. So also, among many 
 savage tribes, dishonesty is not considered in any 
 way wrong ; on the contrary, it is often admired as 
 an indication of sharpness and cleverness. 
 
 It appears that these primitive ideas have largely 
 found their way into our modern commercial 
 system, so that " commercial morality " has come to 
 be a satirical term, indicating a kind of dishonesty 
 of this sort : " The perpetrator of such dishonesty 
 shall thereby reap to himself advantage, at the ex- 
 pense of another man, but lie shall not expose him- 
 self to detection, nor to the clutches of the law." 
 128 
 
DISHONESTY. 1 29 
 
 With these provisos the commercial conscience is 
 salved, and cheating, roguery, nay, actual theft, 
 come in for tbeir due share of admiration, as in- 
 dicating " a keen eye to business " in a smart man. 
 The dupe does not always share in the admiration, 
 except in so far as he therefrom learns a lesson, 
 which enables him to dupe somebody else. The 
 alternative method of succeeding in commerce is 
 by extra hard work, patience, and the seizing of 
 proper opportunities. But this method is more 
 arduous, and does not readily commend itself to the 
 majority. There are many who, outside their 
 business relations, are men of high moral code, 
 whilst in those relations they are, plainly speaking, 
 dishonest. If passingly rebuked by their own 
 conscience, or by some other person, the answer is 
 ready : " It is the dupe's look-out, not mine." The 
 idea that a man is morally bound to consider the 
 interests of those with whom he has dealings, and 
 to assist the weak in obtaining just and fair treat- 
 ment, does not apparently enter into the average 
 commercial mind, and if it were suggested to such 
 a man he would probably reply, " The struggle is 
 keen, each man fighting for his own hand ; I must 
 push my way up." And he forgets, or does not 
 know, that, however keen the struggle, no man has 
 a right to rise by treading on the neck of another, 
 
I30 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 or to advance by pushing his neighbour back. 
 The dishonesty that brings the culprit into the 
 police-courts, for burglary, picking pockets, shop- 
 lifting, or forgery, is as mere dust in the balance 
 when compared, in its magnitude, with commercial 
 immoralit3'. 
 
 Whilst dishonesty is primarily due to arrested 
 moral development, there are other and more 
 significant factors in its later stages. Among these 
 factors, selfishness, avarice, and ambition, play a 
 leading part. Hereby is engendered also the 
 feverish desire to get rich in the shortest time, and 
 with the smallest effort. Betting, gambling, specu- 
 lating, these are the principal directions in which 
 this desire acts. Here again an important fact is 
 ignored, namely, that every accession of wealth that 
 is independent of production implies proportionate 
 loss to someone else. I am not, of course, speaking 
 of legacies, which are in a different category. 
 
 The forms of dishonesty of which the law takes 
 cognizance are so obvious that nothing here need 
 be said of them except this : that the moral 
 physician is called upon to discriminate between 
 those acts which result from dishonesty, as such, 
 and those which are due to other moral disorders, 
 for which some extenuating reason may or may not 
 be properly found. 
 
DISHONESTY. 131 
 
 But dishonesty does not consist solely in taking 
 what is not one's own. It may extend to speech, to 
 judgments, and to other actions. 
 
 Untruth is dishonesty, whether it takes the form 
 of the words of a lie, or of an action calculated to 
 deceive. The notions of many people about untruth 
 are absolutely childish. For the essence of untruth 
 is the conveying of a wrong impression, and the 
 gravity of the offence is in no way lessened when 
 the wrong impression is conveyed by a partial 
 truth, by an action without words, or by silence. 
 So also an actual mis-statement in words may in 
 reality be the truth, because the idea conveyed is 
 true. It is, therefore, the duty of one who wishes 
 to be truthful to consider, not so much what his 
 words or actions mean to himself, as what idea they 
 will convey to his hearer. If I say, " The sun rose 
 at five this morning," this is actually a mis-state- 
 ment, but it conveys a definite and correct idea, and 
 my statement is therefore true. A good deal of jug- 
 gling with words is sometimes indulged in, in order 
 to give a mistaken impression, whilst the words 
 themselves are correct. This is, of course, dishonesty. 
 
 Dishonesty in judgments means injustice. It 
 may affect no one but the person concerned, but all 
 the same it is a moral blot. Owing to the want of 
 sufficient knowledge, justice is often not possible; 
 
132 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 but when bias, indolence or personal comfort 
 is allowed to interfere in the settling of the claims 
 of two persons, or of two opinions, injustice is com- 
 mitted, and the individual is convicted of dishonesty. 
 Many people are in greater or less degree dishonest 
 in their opinions, either because an inquiry into the 
 claims of some contrary opinion would involve ex- 
 ertion, or because holding an opposite opinion would 
 be against their interests or inclinations. The 
 process of stifling mental inquiry upon subjects 
 social, political, scientific, or religious, is dishonest. 
 Of this the man who is naturally truthful will not 
 be guilty. The effective sifting of evidence, in the 
 search for truth, implies, no doubt, mental qualities 
 of a certain order, but the most modest intellect 
 may be honest in listening to both sides of a ques- 
 tion, and in refusing to allow matters to be settled 
 by prejudice or personal interest. Even if the type 
 of mental development is so low that only one im- 
 pression can be retained at a time, and the faculty 
 of judgment is almost in abeyance, there is still no 
 excuse for dishonesty, unless, indeed, a plea of 
 idiocy or insanity can be substantiated. 
 
 Broadly speaking, the two great causes of dis- 
 honesty are ignorance and selfishness. 
 
 The treatment of dishonesty, to be effectual, 
 must go to the root of the matter. Much is to be 
 
DISHONESTY. 133 
 
 done, in the direction of prevention, by proper edu- 
 cation. A thorough grounding in unselfishness is 
 in itself almost sufficient, for it will do away with 
 all dishonesty except such as may result from 
 ignorance. But the possibility of the latter must 
 be prevented also by instruction. The essential 
 idea to implant in the mind is the necessity of 
 honesty in thought and motive ; as the Psalmist 
 said, " Thou requirest truth in the inward parts." 
 Beside which, I may again quote the great drama- 
 tist's injunction, " This, above all, to thine own self 
 be true." The intrinsic love of fair-play, of justice 
 in the abstract, is one which, to take root, must be 
 planted early, and exposed to the sunshine of 
 example. For in later life it cannot be inculcated 
 by ordinary incentives, whether religious or utili- 
 tarian. At any stage the grosser manifestations of 
 dishonesty, such as lying, stealing, forgery, etc., can 
 be checked ; the law steps in, assisted by motives 
 of policy and expediency, to do this. But there 
 will still be wanting that grand characteristic of 
 truthfulness which is perhaps the most noble of 
 all single virtues: which works for good in pro- 
 ducing trustworthiness, constancy, the courage of 
 convictions at the expense of personal advantages, 
 " the love of truth, and all that makes a man : " 
 and which is, indeed, man's chief patent of nobility. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 TEMPER. 
 
 The diseases discussed in the three foregoing 
 chapters are largely due, in the first instance, to 
 incomplete moral development. Those described 
 in this and the following chapter have the common 
 characteristic of being due to want of self-control, 
 but the results of this lack are sufficiently different 
 to warrant their consideration under separate 
 headings. 
 
 Physiologically speaking, temper is due to a too 
 rapid reflex or response to external impressions ; 
 and it will generally be found that people of a 
 quick (rather than a surly) temper are also quick 
 and active in most things. In itself this quickness, 
 this rapid reaction, is an advantage, and leads to 
 promptitude of action and " presence of mind " ; 
 but that it may be useful to its possessor, and to 
 the community, it must be tutored and placed 
 under certain restraints. This is the function of 
 134 
 
TEMPER. 135 
 
 education and civilisation. The boy, like the 
 savage, is apt to make prompt retaliation of blow 
 for blow ; but a man, especially a civilised man, is 
 expected to allow reflection and reason to intervene 
 between an in-coming impression and an out-going 
 action. Otherwise, he is acting, to this extent, as a 
 child or a barbarian. 
 
 An outburst of temper is physically a waste of 
 energy. It is sometimes pleaded that violence, in 
 word or action, is a relief, a safety-valve, for feel- 
 ings which, if pent-up, would be harmful ; but for 
 this there is really no foundation ; for an outlet 
 may generally be found in other and more useful 
 directions. An analogy will help us. If a large 
 quantity of water be carried to the top of a high 
 tower, it will, in that position, possess a certain 
 amount of energy which, as long as it is not used, 
 is called potential. Once this is released, it is what 
 scientists call kinetic or active, and it may become 
 either constructive or destructive ; that is, it may, 
 on the one hand, do useful mechanical work, or it 
 may, on the other hand, if poured down at random, 
 cause damage. 
 
 The feelings when worked upon may also be said 
 to possess potential energy ; and in providing an 
 outlet for them, their manifestation may be "de- 
 structive " in the form of oaths and imprecations. 
 
136 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 of slamming doors, striking blows, or other acts of 
 violence ; or, on the other hand, they may be turned 
 to useful purpose if only self-control keep them 
 latent long enough. If evidence of these state- 
 ments be required, it will be found in the fact that 
 any great outbreak of temper is physically and 
 mentally exhausting, whilst the man who, though 
 incensed and irritated, retains his self-control, re- 
 tains also an increased strength of purpose and 
 physical capacity for endurance or for action, as 
 the case may require. Indulgence in temper is 
 therefore a waste of energy. And just as lazy 
 people are said to give themselves eventually the 
 most work, so also impulsive people are constantly 
 having to recover lost ground by their recurring 
 regrets, while they exclaim with Aufidius, "My 
 rage is gone, and I am struck with sorrow." Action 
 in haste often causes repentance at leisure. 
 
 The destructive influences of bad temper have 
 been referred to in speaking of the " irritable 
 diathesis " ; and this destructiveness is partly due 
 to the fact that the man in a temper has lost all 
 sense of proportion; he is, for the time being, insane. 
 Like the madman, he knows that his actions are 
 wrong ; like the madman also, he has not the powei 
 to act otherwise. His self-control is lost. The 
 capacity to restrain wrath within such bounds 
 
TEMPER. 137 
 
 that it bears a just proportion to the exciting cause, 
 IS that which distinguishes a righteous indignation, 
 a just anger, from unrighteous passion. 
 
 Indulgence in temper involves always loss of 
 dignity, and in this way also it does harm. For 
 the man himself this means a certain forfeiting of 
 self-respect ; and for other people, it means the 
 diminution of their respect and of his authority. 
 Few things weaken discipline so much as mani- 
 festations of temper on the part of superiors ; and 
 among equals the calm man gains an advantage 
 proportionate to the loss sustained by his passion- 
 ate opponent. Barrie well says, "Temper is a 
 weapon which we hold by the blade." 
 
 We must recall what has been said above with 
 reference to the influence upon temper of unfavour- 
 able bodily and mental conditions ; not, as I have 
 urged before, for purposes of self-excuse, but in 
 order to be just in our judgments. A moment's 
 reflection on the part of one who is suffering from 
 the results of another's bad temper will often 
 ward off the hasty wrathful answer, and lead 
 to the kind word which so often disarms anger 
 and shortens strife. Doubtless, the grace of 
 humility and of unselfishness is very necessary 
 for this course of action ; but it is the imperative 
 duty of everyone who wishes to go through life 
 
138 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 making rough and crooked places smooth and 
 plain. 
 
 When a person who has been brought up without 
 self-control begins to recognise the seriousness of 
 temper, and to exert restraint upon it, the effects 
 are often seen, at first, in the checking of violent 
 actions. At this stage speech may still be hasty 
 and provocative. It is well, therefore, to recognise 
 the signs of commencing improvement, and to en- 
 courage the effort rather than unduly censure its 
 incompleteness. Temper is a more or less chronic 
 complaint ; and it will be idle to expect a sudden 
 and permanent cure. Not even the most powerful 
 incentives, such as "religious conversion," will effect 
 this ; and I have seen much moral harm done by 
 the want of recognition of the first stages of im- 
 provement. In dealing with bodily disease, the 
 physician must often watch carefully for the early 
 signs of improvement, as an indication that he is 
 to modify his line of treatment. If the severer 
 measures adopted, when the disease is at its height, 
 be persevered in after the turning-point has been 
 reached, they are likely to become a hindrance in- 
 stead of a help. What is the treatment to be 
 adopted in dealing with a moral patient suffering 
 from a bad temper ? The first thing is an attitude 
 of gentleness, without scorn, without retaliation. 
 
TEMPER. 139 
 
 To meet passion with passion will be as unfruitful 
 as it would be for the physician to treat a lunatic 
 by developing mania himself. 
 
 The best prescription to give to the patient is to 
 supply him with a motive for changing his con- 
 duct. The childishness, the futility of temper, 
 the loss of dignity and influence, may be pointed 
 out, together with the nobility derived from self- 
 control. The dangers to himself and to others of 
 giving way to passion may also be dwelt upon; and 
 the great lesson of unselfishness must be indirectly 
 taught and illustrated. The warning of Martin 
 Tupper is very applicable here : — 
 
 " Be sparing of advice in words ; but teach thy lesson by 
 example. 
 For the vanity of man may be wounded, and retort un- 
 kindly upon thee.'' 
 
 Of course, as in the case of all other moral dis- 
 orders, the great object to be aimed at is preven- 
 tion. 
 
 It is not a very difiicult matter to train a quick- 
 tempered child to self-control and unselfishness. 
 And once the lesson is learnt the results are likely 
 to be most promising. For, as happens with the 
 naturally self-willed child who has been trained, 
 we have a reserve force to fall back upon, whose 
 
140 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 influence will be for good. If I had to choose a 
 child for training, with the purpose of turning out 
 a character strong and true, and active for good, I 
 should not choose the eminently docile and amiable 
 child, wlio was never known to stir itself to do 
 wrong, but the child of quick disposition and 
 strong will, ready to get into mischief, and cunning 
 to devise it. For out of such ingredients the finest 
 characters may be produced. 
 
 The point I wish, above all, to emphasise is that 
 the two great qualities to be implanted are, unsel- 
 fishness and self-control ; these are the secrets of 
 a character composed of strength and " divine 
 gentleness." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 INTEMPERANCE. 
 
 Just as temper is due to want of control over 
 action and speech in presence of mental irritation, 
 so intemperance is due to a want of control over 
 desires for sensual stimulation. Intemperance 
 takes many forms ; the most notable objects of in- 
 dulgence are alcoholic drinks, foods, and drugs of 
 various kinds. 
 
 Over-indulgence in food, while due fundamen- 
 tally to the same principle as the others, yet falls 
 into a somewhat different category, because the 
 harmful effects are principally spent on the body, 
 and the bodily health suffers. Whilst in the case 
 of alcohol, and of some drugs such as opium, ether, 
 etc., the conspicuous results are mental and moral 
 disturbance. Over-eating is also, however, a moral 
 disorder, and so requires a few words. Sensuality 
 in eating has the effect of blunting moral per- 
 ceptions, and of predisposing to other forms of 
 141 
 
142 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 over-indulgence. It hinders the development of 
 the higher parts of a man's nature, and if this were 
 its only result, it would still stand condemned. 
 It favours indolence and leads to moral parasitism. 
 The obligation is laid upon all to make the most of 
 life, in the highest sense, and to resist all tendencies 
 to arrest of growth and degeneration. The right 
 course of action is perfectly clear and simple, and 
 is expressed in the ancient maxim, " Eat to live." 
 Plain living favours high thinking ; whilst there is 
 some truth in Dr. Johnson's remark, " The man 
 who drinks beer, thinks beer." The spirit of this 
 remark must, of course, be rightly apprehended. 
 The rational man will avoid unhealthy extremes 
 on either side, both excess and ascetic abstinence. 
 Fasting, in moderation, does but little harm ; but 
 the most healthy attitude to adopt is to consider 
 what course of life will best conduce to a proper 
 carrying out of one's allotted life-work. As a rulei 
 fasting, especially when extreme, is associated with 
 undue introspection, and so leads to one form of 
 egoism. A diet that is sufficiently full and gener- 
 ous favours moral, mental, and bodily vigour ; one 
 that is too spare fosters rathet the lean and 
 negative virtues. The key-note to the lives of 
 those who have accomplished the highest and best 
 work is moderation. Be it remembered that in- 
 
INTEMPERANCE. I43 
 
 dividual constitutions vary so much that no uni- 
 versal rule can be adoyited. One man tells me he 
 can work best and think clearest on a vegetarian 
 diet, drinking nothing but water; there is no 
 reason why he should do otherwise. Another re- 
 quires a mixed diet, with moderate quantities 
 of wine, spirits, or malted liquors ; let him also act 
 as is best for him ; nor need these two call each 
 other names because their habits are different. 
 When, however, we consider the question of in- 
 toxicating liquors, this fact must be borne in mind, 
 that the tendency to excess is greater than is the 
 case with food, and that the results of excess are 
 more serious, as regards both mind and morals. 
 
 Many things predispose to intemperance, such as 
 early vicious surroundings, an unduly rigid train- 
 ing (causing reaction), and depressing influences 
 generally. It is also favoured by the foolish idea 
 (not yet extinct) that alcoholic exhilaration is 
 essential to good fellowship and conviviality. 
 When the aristocracy of intellect replaces that of 
 the display of wealth in public esteem, it will be 
 recognised that good fellowship and social enjoy- 
 ment are favoured much more by culture and 
 interchange of thought than by the mere " pleasures 
 of the table." And I say this while recognising 
 fully how much the physical bien-aise that re- 
 
144 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 suits from proper food and drink contributes to 
 vivacity of thought and sparkling speech. Genial 
 table-talk depends much more, however, on the 
 previous culture and intellectual development of 
 the guests than on the quality of the repast. 
 
 The evil results of habitual intemperance are far 
 too well known to require so much as mention here. 
 The cardinal point which stands out conspicuously 
 is the degradation implied in the loss of self- 
 control. And this degradation remains whether 
 or not the intoxication is followed by acts of shame 
 or of violence, or by crime. That drunkenness is 
 degrading, that it is a disgrace, this is the import- 
 ant point on which stress should be laid in all 
 teaching on the subject. For the bad results that 
 may follow do not come directly under the 
 category of moral wrongs, and for this reason, that, 
 strictly speaking, the drunken man has no longer 
 any proper apprehension of the gravity of his 
 actions. That a man should consciously allow 
 himself to become temporarily insane, this is the 
 great disgrace of intemperance. To this is of 
 course added the fact that it is a disgrace as well 
 as a moral wrong for a man who is sane not to 
 exert control over his desires. If a drunken man 
 be held morally responsible for crimes he may 
 commit whilst in that condition, which is a view 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 145 
 
 that many may show good reasons for holding, 
 then every man who becomes intoxicated must be 
 held potentially guilty of breach of the whole 
 moral law, because once he is intoxicated he has 
 little or no power to restrain himself from commit- 
 ting the gravest crimes. When I say " potentially 
 gailty of breach of the whole moral law," I mean 
 that the drunkard has surrendered self-guidance 
 and may be considered responsible for any result 
 of such surrender that may happen to follow. But 
 the whole question is most complex. As George 
 Eliot says in " Adam Bede," — " The problem how 
 far a man is to be held responsible for the unfore- 
 seen consequences of his own deed, is one that 
 might well make us tremble to look into it. The 
 evil consequences that may lie folded in a single 
 act of selfish indulgence is a thought so awful that 
 it ought surely to awaken some feeling less pre- 
 sumptuous than a rash desire to punish." 
 
 The same considerations apply exactly to indul- 
 gence in opium, or any other of the now numerous 
 list of drugs to which people resort, with the mere 
 object of gratifying the senses and the emotions. 
 
 When indulgence has become habitual in any 
 stimulant or narcotic, the person passes over from 
 the condition of sanity to that of insanity ; this is 
 indicated by the terms dipso-mania, morphio-mania, 
 
 K 
 
146 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 etc., and the treatment required becomes medical 
 rather than moral. There are some people who 
 have, from their birth, the tendency to one or other 
 of these forms of insanity ; they should, from the 
 first, receive proper medical attention. But it is 
 not of these that I write ; these considerations on 
 moral pathology are intended rather for those who 
 are sane. 
 
 The overwhelming evil wrought by drunkenness 
 throughout the land, and among all classes of the 
 community, is well known, and all thoughtful 
 people concur in lamenting it and in wishing that 
 it might be checked. The question is. How ? By 
 total abstinence ? This does something ; it checks 
 symptoms. But it leaves untouched the funda^ 
 mental moral disorder, namel}'' sensuality and lack 
 of self-control. The only other evil that can com- 
 pare, in magnitude, with drunkenness is social 
 impurity. And how is this to be checked ? By 
 celibacy ? I think not. And total abstinence is 
 no more enjoined by nature in the one case than it 
 is in the other. 
 
 A Hungarian gentleman said to me one day : " I 
 cannot understand this total abstinence that you 
 have in England. When a man comes to me and 
 says. You must not get drunk, I consider it almost 
 insulting, as if he said. You must not steal. Why, 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 147 
 
 my mother taught me that it was disgraceful to do 
 either the one or the other ; and my respect for my 
 mother is enough to keep me in the right path." 
 And I thought this was very near the root of the 
 whole matter. If a child has been led to reverence 
 his parents, and has been taught by them to prac- 
 tise and admire moderation and self-control, he will 
 remain moderate ; if he has not been so taught, 
 temperance societies can not supply him with the 
 training necessary, and when he mixes with the 
 world, it will not make much ultimate difference to 
 his actions whether he has belonged to a Band of 
 Hope or not. How often do we hear of those who 
 have repeatedly signed the pledge, and as often 
 given way again to intemperance ? Be it noted tliat 
 I am in no wise pleading against temperance 
 societies and total abstinence ; they fulfil a certain 
 function and have their place; indeed, in that place 
 they are indispensable. But it is a great error to 
 suppose that they are the panacea for intemper- 
 ance ; they do not go far enough ; they do not 
 supply the place of proper teaching and training ; 
 they touch only the fringe of the question. I do 
 not care to enter the arena of controversy, where 
 epithets are freely exchanged between opposing 
 sides, and one champion is called an amiable fanatic 
 and the other a selfish sensualist. I would rather 
 
148 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 preach, adapting Danton's motto, De Vaudace, de 
 I'audace, et encore de Vaudace : Self-control, and 
 more self-control, and again, self-control. 
 
 The question of a national beverage is, no' doubt, 
 important. In all countries drunkenness is found ; 
 but I fear I must admit that it is more prevalent 
 in Great Britain than in most other civilised 
 countries ; and from the light wines of France and 
 the light beers of Germany we might perhaps learn 
 a useful lesson. 
 
 Drunkenness is commonly regarded as being 
 more repulsive in a woman than in a man. What 
 is the result ? That whilst the proportion of total 
 abstainers is not markedly greater among women, 
 intemperance is decidedly less common. And, es- 
 pecially in the middle and upper classes, when a 
 woman drinks she more often does so in private. 
 The moral is clear. Let public opinion be trained 
 to regard drunkenness as equally repulsive and dis- 
 graceful among men. 
 
 Probably no amount of argument will succeed in 
 removing alcoholic drinks from the category of 
 " diet,'' and placing them in that of " drugs." But 
 opium and associated articles fall clearly into the 
 class of drugs, at least in the view of Western 
 nations. Orientals might perhaps have something 
 to say on the other side, but we need not consider 
 
INTEMPERANCE. 149 
 
 the arguments here. The rule may be safely laid 
 down that these drugs should not be taken except 
 in illness and under medical advice. 
 
 The question of sexual sin cannot be passed over 
 entirely without mention ; but I do not consider 
 that this is the place to discuss it fully. A few 
 words must suiEce. 
 
 It may be broadly stated that nature absolutely 
 vindicates chastity, and that any other course is 
 thickly beset with penalties. The dictum of many 
 ages has been, " One law for the man, another, for 
 the woman." The dictum has been made by 
 society, and nature does not support it, except in 
 so far as the greater penalties fall upon women. 
 
 It would be Utopian to expect that this vice 
 should be entirely eradicated, but much, at least, 
 might be accomplished in this direction if public 
 opinion became more healthy, and if it were tacitly 
 understood that every wife expected her husband 
 to come to her as pure as he expects her to come 
 to him. 
 
 For the individual, the remedy is the same as for 
 other forms of intemperance, self-control and the 
 realisation of the disgrace of self-indulgence. What- 
 ever weakens the one or fosters the other is to be 
 condemned ; and in this condemnation I would 
 include much of the " realism " of the present day. 
 
ISO MORAL PATHOLOGY, 
 
 It achieves no good, but does a certain amount 
 of harm. A healthy view of the matter is that 
 taken by Carlyle ("Sartor Eesartus," p. 134) in 
 speaking of the virtue of silence: "Bees will not 
 work except in darkness ; thought will not work 
 except in silence ; neither will virtue work except 
 in secrecy. Let not thy left hand know what thy 
 right hand doeth ; neither shalt thou prate, even 
 to thy own heart, of ' those secrets known to all.' 
 Is not shame the soil of all virtue, of all good 
 manners, and good morals ? Like other plants, 
 virtue will not grow unless its root be hidden, 
 buried from the eye of the sun. Let the sun shine 
 on it, nay, do but look at it privily thyself, the root 
 withers, and no flower will glad thee. Oh, my 
 friends, when we view the fair, clustering flowers 
 that over- wreathe, for example, the marriage bower, 
 and encircle man's life with the fragrance and hues 
 of Heaven, what hand will not smite the foul 
 plunderer that grubs them up by the roots, and 
 with grinning, grunting satisfaction shows us the 
 dung they flourish in ! " 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 MORAL HYPOCHONDRIASIS. 
 
 A HYPOCHONDRIAC is one who is in a continual 
 state of anxiety about his health ; and in moral 
 pathology a parallel condition is found. A delicate 
 and sensitive conscience is one of the most valuable 
 gifts a man can possess ; but it may become dis- 
 torted, by the help of a faulty education, till it be- 
 comes a tormentor rather than a guide and monitor. 
 Let me, in a few words, describe the moral hypo- 
 chondriac. He is in the first place endowed, as a 
 rule, with what I have called the hyper-sensitive 
 diathesis ; trivial errors are magnified to the 
 dimensions of serious moral wrongs. Every act is 
 followed by after-questionings ; even when he has 
 done his best under any particular circumstances, 
 he is apt to analyse and dissect both his motives 
 and his actions, until he is driven to conclude that 
 he is in a very bad moral condition. He frequently 
 takes stock of himself to see whether he is " growing 
 
152 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 in grace," or " back-sliding." The realisation of his 
 short-comings plunges him into a chronic gloom, in 
 which mood he is greatly disposed to talk disparag- 
 ingly of himself to all who will listen to him. He 
 comes to take a kind of sombre pride in describing 
 himself as a poor miserable sinner, a weak vessel ; 
 whilst often he is harassed and tortured by the 
 fear that he has " committed the unpardonable sin." 
 What such " unpardonable sin " may be, he often 
 has no idea. He is very apt to incur ridicule, but 
 in reality his condition is serious, and demands pity. 
 
 The condition is brought about in great measure 
 by religious practices of the highly emotional and 
 sensational type ; he has been taught that all 
 earthly interests and pursuits are to be laid aside, 
 so that he can devote all his care and thought to 
 " working out his own salvation." 
 
 The foundation of ordinary hypochondriasis is 
 often dyspepsia ; and a kind of moral dyspepsia is 
 not without its share of responsibility for the con- 
 dition we are considering. When a mind of limited 
 capacity feeds largely and voraciously on ill-assorted 
 moral and theological truths, these are not likely to 
 be properly digested. The indigestion is shown 
 by the formulas that are not understood, but are 
 swallowed whole; by the technical theological 
 terms that are used, without an idea as to their true 
 
MORAL HYPOCHONDRIASIS. 153 
 
 meaning. Religious simplicity and sincerity have 
 been lost sight of in high-sounding phrases, complex 
 ceremonials, and emotional stimulation. We find, 
 on the contrary, that those who are accustomed to 
 a plain simplicity of worship, such as the Friends, 
 seldom exhibit the condition of moral hypochon- 
 driasis ; nor is it often found among those whose 
 minds are sufBcieutly developed and cultivated to 
 understand the complexities of the higher theology. 
 Like all other moral disorders, moral hypochon- 
 driasis has harmful effects, which are exerted in 
 several directions. Firstly, on the hypochondriac 
 himself. Owing to his incessant self-examination 
 and self-contemplation, he is unfitted to perform 
 his proper work in the world, in considering the 
 wants of others and in ministering to their needs. 
 The active side of his moral nature atrophies from 
 disuse. Moreover, hypochondriasis and pharisaism 
 often go curiously hand in hand. While he is 
 lamenting his own deficiency in grace, he has still 
 leisure to contemplate the faults of others, and to 
 find solace in the reflection that, at least, he is not 
 so bad as " yonder publican." His mental health 
 also is likely to suffer ; and it is largely from the 
 ranks of moral hypochondriacs that lunatic asylums 
 are recruited, with cases of "religious mania." 
 Secondly, there are to be considered harmful 
 
154 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 effects on other people. All who come in contact 
 with such an individual suffer a depressing influ- 
 ence. A sense of repulsion and a spirit of opposi- 
 tion are developed, which are very apt to foster, 
 by reaction, either excess or a morally obtuse dia- 
 thesis. Thirdly, there results harm to the cause 
 with which the moral hypochondriac is associated ; 
 and this is always a pity, because even the faulty 
 system which has produced him has yet its good 
 points. 
 
 Moral hypochondriasis is found more often 
 among women than among men. Women are 
 naturally more religious, especially are they more 
 emotionally religious ; whilst at the same time they 
 are not, intellectually, so well-balanced. The 
 numerous exceptions to this do not invalidate the 
 general statement. 
 
 The treatment of this disorder consists, prin- 
 cipally, in the substitution of healthy for unhealthy 
 moral and religious teaching. The latter should 
 be, to use Oliver Wendell Holmes' expression, 
 "depolarised," that is, the set phrases in which 
 religious teaching is often framed should be laid 
 aside, and the truths expressed in simple modern 
 terms, so that their spirit can be understood. 
 During many centuries simple religious truths 
 have become so overlaid with tradition and 
 
MORAL HYPOCHONDRIASIS. I?S 
 
 interpretation that in many cases their original 
 form has been lost. 
 
 Moreover, the moral hypochondriac should be 
 taught, if he is not too far diseased, that efforts to 
 secure the well-being of others are of infinitely 
 greater value and importance than doctoring one's 
 own soul. Let him cease to think pre-eminently 
 of his own salvation. The risk, after serving 
 others, of becoming one's-self a " castaway " is 
 exceedingly small ; and if he devotes himself to 
 the service of the social, physical, and moral health 
 of those with whom he has to do, his own moral 
 health may be safely allowed to take care of itself. 
 This is the meaning of a phrase often misinter- 
 preted, " Be not righteous overmuch." Of altruistic 
 righteousness it is impossible to have too much ; 
 of egoistic righteousness it is quite possible. 
 Lastly, all sensational literature is bad, and is to 
 be avoided, whether the sensationalism be religious, 
 emotional, or sensual. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORAL DISEASE — THE FOR- 
 GIVENESS OF SINS. 
 
 In medical language, the sequelae of disease are the 
 unhealthy conditions which sometimes follow when 
 the disease itself has got better, just as floods that 
 have subsided leave behind them mud and refuse ; 
 and in the sphere of morals there are corresponding 
 conditions. Doubtless, all diseases, whether physi- 
 cal or moral, do not leave visible traces ; but many 
 do, and in some cases the traces exist, though not 
 readily seen. 
 
 Perhaps the most general effect of moral disease 
 is a certain dulling of the keenness of the moral 
 sense. Just as the sense of taste may be rendered 
 delicate by proper training and practice — as we see 
 in the case of tea and wine tasters — and blunted 
 by coarse food and dietary excess, so also the moral 
 sense, when properly treated, becomes highly sensi- 
 tive and discriminating, whilst if continually 
 156 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORAL DISEASE. IS7 
 
 thwarted or neglected, it loses some of its virtue ; 
 but the sensitiveness may be largely or entirely 
 restored, if the disease has not gone too far. 
 
 A second general effect is that every sin makes it 
 easier to sin a second time in the same way. This 
 is simply the result of the principle of habit, which 
 enters so largely into our bodily and mental consti- 
 tution. Every time an infant makes a step in 
 learning to walk, subsequent steps are easier. 
 Every time a verse of poetry is repeated, its reten- 
 tion in the memory is facilitated. There is hardly 
 an action, bodily or mental, which is not an illus- 
 tration of this principle. // rCest que le premier pas 
 qui co'dbte. 
 
 A third general effect is that moral disease of 
 one kind often paves the way for other disorders. 
 This also has its parallel in the medical world. A 
 man who is " run down " in health by overwork, 
 anxiety, or bad surroundings, is more likely to be 
 attacked by diseases of different kinds than one 
 who is quite robust. Especially do many sins lead 
 to lying. Says the Autocrat, " Sin has many tools, 
 but a lie is the handle which fits them all." Intem- 
 perance leads to many other forms of sin by a 
 direct cut. Temper leads to violence of different 
 kinds in speech and action. Many of the results 
 of moral disease have been referred to in discuss- 
 
IS8 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 ing individual disorders, and underlying them all 
 is the weakening of self-control. For resistance to 
 temptation depends in large measure on the convic- 
 tion that resistance is possible ; it may be said to 
 depend, in fact, on the " shield of faith." Once 
 this has been beaten by a doubt which has pene- 
 trated, it is weakened. A parallel may be drawn 
 here also. Once a person has been hypnotised, he 
 can be hypnotised again fairly easily, for evidently 
 he cannot thereafter persuade himself that he is 
 insusceptible to hypnotism. But I must here state 
 my conviction, and insist upon it, that the man who 
 has already yielded to temptation, even repeatedly, 
 has still the power of resistance, if only he have a 
 strong enough motive for it. Whatever be the 
 motive, whether religion, the desire for a good 
 reputation, or self-respect, if it be only strong 
 enough, temptation will be resisted. 
 
 The last general effect of moral disease, and 
 perhaps the most important, is the loss of self- 
 respect. Just as the sick person who is fully con- 
 vinced that he cannot recover, seriously handicaps, 
 or even effectually baffles his physician, so the man 
 who has lost self-respect is the most difficult to 
 reclaim. He may even have ceased to wish to 
 improve, and his case is then nearly hopeless. Yet 
 is it not quite hopeless ; the sympathetic spirit 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORAL DISEASE. Igp 
 
 will find in him some better feelings, and bring 
 these to the light to warm him again Math hope ; 
 he may be made to feel that others respect him 
 more than he respects himself; thus may his 
 motive for right be revived. The essence of the 
 matter is contained in the figurative language of a 
 popular hymn : — 
 
 " Deep in the human hearb, crushed by the tempter, 
 Feelings lie buried which grace can restore ; 
 Touched by a loving hand, wakened by kindness, 
 Chords that were broken may vibrate once more." 
 
 Contrariwise, the quickest way to make a man 
 an incurable is to show that you despise him. 
 " Give a dog a bad name, and hang him." 
 
 The moral invalid in whom the first and last of 
 these sequelse, blunting of the moral sense and the 
 loss of self-respect, have developed, is, indeed, in a 
 grave condition. I should hesitate very much 
 before pronouncing anyone to be " incurable," but 
 if there are moral incurables, they are found in 
 this class. By degrees the oft-repeated vices lead, 
 through stages of moral anaesthesia, to insensibility. 
 From a condition in which the feeble moral sense 
 can still be roused, the patient may pass on to one 
 in which there is apparently no response at all to 
 appeals to his higher nature, and there may be said 
 
l60 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 to supervene a kind of moral coma. This is the 
 spiritual death. This may perhaps occasionally 
 happen, but let the moral physician beware of ever 
 becoming the prophet of evil. We may fitly here 
 apply the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes : — " A 
 physician is not, at least ought not to be, an 
 executioner, and a sentence of death on his face is 
 as bad as a warrant for execution signed by the 
 governor. As a general rule, no man has a right 
 to tell another by word or look that he is going to 
 die. It may be necessary in some extreme cases, 
 but, as a rule, it is the last extreme of impertinence 
 which one human being can offer to another. 
 'You have killed me,' said a patient once to a 
 physician, who had rashly told him he was incur- 
 able. He ought to have lived six months, but he 
 was dead in six weeks." Moreover, spiritual death 
 is defeated by faith. If a moral invalid believes 
 himself to be curable, he is curable. 
 
 Many moral disorders are not followed by the 
 serious sequelae that we have been discussing, but 
 they, nevertheless, leave " moral scars." Some 
 scars are glorious, but these are inglorious, for 
 they speak not of victory, but of defeat in the 
 moral conflict. Many scars are of the nature of 
 painful memories ; every person who has reached 
 mature life has some such. They are kept as far 
 
THE CONSEQUENCES OF MORAL DISEASE. l6l 
 
 as possible in the mind's deepest recesses, where 
 they may lie forgotten for years : but the touching 
 of a very small link in the chain of associations 
 suffices to project them into the foreground of con- 
 sciousness, and the "backward fancy wakes the 
 old bitterness again." In other cases the scars are 
 ever present; the scar of dishonesty is thus ex- 
 pressed by Bernard Shaw : " The liar's punishment 
 is not in the least that he is not believed, but that 
 he cannot believe anyone else." ^ This is a truth of 
 a wide application ; the sensualist has lost faith in 
 purity, the selfish man in disinterestedness, and the 
 more a man sins, the less faith has he in humanity. 
 For this reason the cynic is to be neither com- 
 mended nor imitated ; if his own moral health be 
 good, a man cannot be truly cynical. 
 
 In harmony with the interdependence of body, 
 mind, and morals, we find that many sequelse of 
 moral disease take the form of mental and bodily 
 ill-health. Intemperance in all its forms is the 
 most destructive of the latter, whilst it also affects 
 the mental powers. Dishonesty undermines the 
 judgment: indolence dissipates energy: temper un- 
 settles the mind, and by the weakening of self- 
 control may lead to the verge of insanity. In 
 
 ^ " Quintessence of Ibsenism," p. 3. 
 
l62 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 short, just as I began this book by insisting on the 
 dependence of the moral condition on mental and 
 bodily health, so now I must emphasize the de- 
 pendence of these for their continuance on moral 
 health. An old man who has spent his best years 
 in wrong-doing seldom, if ever, has much mental 
 capacity or good bodily health. I shall not, of 
 course, be understood to say that ill-health, bodily 
 or mental, in old age, indicates a wicked life. 
 There are many other influences at work. 
 
 Further, the harmful effects of moral disease on 
 mind and body are by no means necessarily de- 
 ferred till the time of old age ; on the contrary, 
 too many men have had their health in middle age 
 and even in early manhood undermined by moral 
 disorders in their youth. 
 
 I must here say a few words about the " forgive- 
 ness of sins." Forgiveness of sins means the re- 
 mission of the penalties of such sins by one who 
 has been injured, and who has the power to en- 
 force or remit the penalty. No forgiveness can 
 make a guilty person not guilty, but forgiveness 
 implies that such guilt is no longer remembered, 
 or that it is no longer remembered with a view 
 to punishment. As a rule the expression, " I for- 
 give, but I cannot forget," is absolutely meaning- 
 less. 
 
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 1 63 
 
 The forgiveness of sins is sometimes spoken of 
 as if all the consequences and penalties of sin could 
 thereby be repealed. This is an error. "Nature 
 does not forgive." Transgression of natural laws 
 brings inevitable punishment ; and transgression 
 of moral laws forms no exception. Forgiveness 
 may eliminate the punishments decreed by moral 
 codes, and by national laws ; it cannot prevent the 
 natural penalties. No forgiveness, human or 
 divine, can prevent a man from having a headache 
 the morning after a night of debauch, or remove 
 the remorse which follows a sudden act of violence ; 
 if it could produce these results, it would be un- 
 desirable, just as much as it would be undesirable 
 that no pain should result from a burn. These 
 penalties are our safe-guards, our danger-signals. 
 If a striking and terrible example of the evils of 
 this kind of forgiveness be required, it will be 
 found in the moral degradation brought about, in 
 earlier days, by the sale of " indulgences." Any 
 system which will allow a man who has acted dis- 
 honestly or selfishly to drug his conscience with 
 a feeling that regret is unnecessary because he is 
 forgiven, is in its essence false. Of course, remorse 
 and regret may be disproportionate to the fault 
 and should then be checked, especially when they 
 take up time and thought that might be given to 
 
1 64 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 reparation and reform. This extreme has been 
 discussed in speaking of moral hypochondriasis. 
 But when regret is proportionate to the fault, it 
 is very undesirable to try to remove it. 
 
 For there is one sure and certain kind of forgive- 
 ness of sins, and it consists precisely in this, in 
 repentance and reform. For these ward off the 
 sequelae of moral disease of which I have spoken 
 in the beginning of this chapter, namely, the 
 blunting of the moral sense, the predisposition to 
 a repetition of the fault or to the commission of 
 others, and the loss of self-respect. In other words, 
 repentance leads to, and reform is actually, cure. 
 It is by repentance and reform that a nian " works 
 out his own salvation," and without them there is 
 no forgiveness. 
 
 Further, be it remembered that Nature's penalties 
 are not always in strict proportion to the gravity 
 of the offence, at least as we understand such pro- 
 portion. Some have appeared to remain free of 
 penalty, and have thereby been encouraged to con- 
 tinue in wrong-doing. Was not the faith of the 
 Psalmist in the stability of moral order shaken for 
 a time because he saw " the wicked flourish like a 
 green bay tree " ? But Nature neither hastens nor 
 delays, and sooner or later the natural retribution 
 comes. Others, on the other hand, have found the 
 
THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 16$ 
 
 mental smart and it may be the bodily pain unduly 
 severe, and have thought, " My punishment is 
 greater than I can bear." Let these endure in 
 patience, for how shall they know how to adjust 
 the punishment to the fault ? And by the way of 
 repentance and reform they also will find healing. 
 I will close this chapter by pointing out an im- 
 portant respect in which all analogy between 
 bodily and moral disease fails. The natural end of 
 bodily disease is ultimately death, even though long 
 periods of health intervene. The natural end of 
 moral disease is not spiritual death, but recovery 
 and life ; at least, as far as sight can carry us 
 towards the verge of the unknown. So the proper 
 attitude of the individual and the race is hope, 
 and the imitation of the spirit of 
 
 " One who never turned his back, but marched breast for- 
 ward, 
 
 Never doubted clouds would break, 
 Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would 
 
 triumph. 
 Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, 
 Sleep to wake." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 TREATMENT. 
 
 The great aim and end of medicine is to cure 
 disease ; and all other studies in pathology and 
 diagnosis are subsidiary to this final purpose. And 
 so it is also in the matter of moral disease. My 
 aim in the foregoing chapters has been to so in- 
 vestigate the nature and conditions of origin of 
 moral disorder as to obtain a more intelligent 
 insight into the means of remedying them. Some- 
 thing has already been said about this in dealing 
 with the principal types of moral ill-health ; and 
 here the question will be summarised and treated on 
 somewhat general principles. 
 
 Prevention is the great object to be kept con- 
 stantly in view. Life is a complex association of 
 habits, and, in the first instance, it is as easy to 
 form good habits as bad ones. Whereas every 
 habit once formed becomes secondarily a part of 
 one's nature, and alteration is then often diflBcult. 
 
 Two things especially the child should learn: on 
 i66 
 
TREATMENT. 1 67 
 
 the subjective side, self-respect; and on the objective 
 side, consideration for others. Self-respect leads 
 to the primary virtues of strength (including self- 
 control), purity and truthfulness. Consideration 
 for others produces the fourth primary virtue, 
 unselfishness. 
 
 The duty of teaching these things belongs, by 
 divine right, to parents, and cannot be deputed to 
 any one besides. The charge given to Teufels- 
 drockh's foster-parents in " Sartor Resartus " is 
 the same which is given, whether or not they hear 
 it or heed it, to all parents : " Good Christian 
 people, here lies for you an invaluable loan ; take 
 all heed thereof ; in all carefulness employ it ; 
 with high recompense or else with heavy penalty 
 will it one day be required back." And so, amid 
 the many heart-searchings and questionings which 
 must occupy the thoughts of all right-minded 
 people when the days of love and courtship are 
 about to merge into the larger and fuller life of 
 love and marriage, this question should be pro- 
 minent, asked in truth and purity. If children 
 are born to us, are we capable of meeting the 
 sacred responsibility of training them ? Unfortun- 
 ately, children are too often regarded prospectively 
 as accidental or necessary evils, unpleasantly com- 
 plicating a drama of romantic passion intended for 
 
1 68 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 two actors only ! What wonder that such children, 
 if they escape the manifold dangers of infancy, 
 often develop into moral invalids or something 
 worse ? It is hardly necessary to point out in how 
 large a measure healthy thoughts on this subject 
 would work for good in the great contest of purity 
 against intemperance. 
 
 I need not dwell further on the question of pre- 
 vention, but simply refer back to what has been 
 said in the chapters on moral hygiene. 
 
 Passing on to the subject of " cure," I will first 
 recapitulate a few general principles. 
 
 Patients require treating individually, not collec- 
 tively. General teaching in schools and pulpits has 
 its place, which is an important one. But this 
 alone will not suffice. Each individual has his own 
 characteristics, his special temperament, which 
 must be taken into account. For instance, A has 
 been dishonest. The question is not, What is the 
 proper moral treatment for thieves, or for liars? 
 but rather this. What treatment does A, who has 
 been dishonest, require ? What moral flaw in him 
 has led him into dishonesty ? In other words, we 
 must treat the patient, not the disease. By this 
 means we shall better find out what really is the 
 matter with our patient. The dishonesty may be 
 but a sym[itom of some more deep]y-seated_moral 
 
TREATMENT. 1 69 
 
 disorder. Has A told a lie, or committed a robbery, 
 because he is intrinsically dishonest ? or has it 
 been the result of moral cowardice, or of a passion 
 for gambling ? or was it under the pressure of 
 sudden temptation ? or of dire want ? Treatment 
 of symptoms may leave the original disease un- 
 touched. Briefly stated, treatment of symptoms 
 should be adopted only when nothing more radical 
 is possible. In some few cases, the disease itself 
 may be beyond cure, like a person far advanced in 
 consumption or cancer. It is then better to relieve 
 the symptoms, and prevent their recurrence, than 
 to do nothing. But how much better if the dis- 
 ease itself can be cured. 
 
 A few moral disorders are the result of ignorance. 
 In such cases a few explanations as to the nature 
 and consequences of the particular evil will greatly 
 help. But in most cases people do not act wrongly 
 because they know no better. Consequently, to 
 begin the treatment by a scolding, or by a long 
 homily, will often lessen the opportunity of cure, 
 by inducing in the patient an unfavourable frame 
 of mind. It is necessary first to gain a patient's 
 confidence by the manifestation of a real and 
 earnest sympathy. This is defeated by an ex- 
 ordium, beginning, " You are very wicked," " Your 
 action is disgraceful," " I can feel only contempt for 
 
170 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 your conduct," etc. " I am sorry for you," is gener- 
 ally much more appropriate. It shows that one is 
 prepared to admit that the motive has been better 
 than the deed. And, in general, it is wise to seek 
 out first the better points in the person's nature, to 
 draw them out and show the incompatibility of the 
 good and the evil. Many wrong-doers are hard- 
 ened by the feeling that their moral adviser sees 
 only their worse, and not their better side. But 
 once this better side has been recognised and ad- 
 mitted, it forms a firm basis, on which the methods 
 of cure can act, so as to build up again the fallen 
 side of the person's nature. Nothing is to be 
 gained by excusing, vindicating, or eupheraising, a 
 wrong action. Let that still stand out as wrong. 
 But let the patient feel that this wrong was un- 
 worthy of his better self, and that repentance and 
 reform place him again in a position in which he 
 is worthy of respect and entitled to self-respect. 
 Most people who have done wrong already feel 
 humiliated. To try to humiliate them further has 
 generally the effect of calling forth a spirit of 
 defiance, and a retort of " Mind your own business ; 
 what is it to you ? " If a man is disposed to humble 
 his brother, let him first go and cast out the beam 
 from his own eye, that he may see clearly to cast 
 out the mote from his brother's eye. A self-righte- 
 
TREATMENT. 17I 
 
 ous moral physician is much more fit to be treated 
 than to treat others. Let every moral student re- 
 member, therefore, that he has no right to trample 
 on a patient's self-respect. On the contrary, self- 
 respect is to be cared for. It corresponds to the 
 good constitution which will pull a patient through. 
 Because a man who is struck down by illness has 
 a vigorous constitution, shall you bleed and purge 
 him till he becomes weak ? The maxim, " Starve a 
 fever," has passed into the group of properly 
 obsolete traditions. 
 
 Sympathy constitutes the only warrant of autho- 
 rity for going to a moral invalid in order to cure 
 him. On any other pretext it is an act of gross 
 impertinence. No man has a mandate to go indis- 
 criminately among his fellows, pointing out their 
 moral failings ; and if he does so, he must not be 
 surprised if he meets with the response, " When I 
 ask for your advice, it will be time enough for you 
 to give it." 
 
 And now as to methods and measures of treat- 
 ment. If any mental or physical cause lies at the 
 root of the moral disorder, this must, as far as pos- 
 sible, be set right: the hungry must be fed, the 
 naked clothed, the sick healed. It was in this way 
 also that the Physician of Nazareth proceeded. If 
 the primary cause be moral, the first essential is 
 
172 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 that the patient regret his condition and desire to 
 be healed. This is the non-technical way of say- 
 ing he must repent. For this also we have old- 
 standing precedent. No man can be cured of 
 moral disease against his will ; for though legal or 
 social influences may prevent or check the manifes- 
 tation of symptoms, they can not alone touch the 
 disease itself. If the desire be absent, it must be 
 induced in the patient, by supplying him with a 
 motive. 
 
 Something has already been said on the subject 
 of motive, and here I must repeat that any average 
 man can resist any temptation, if only he have 
 strong enough motives for so doing. The funda- 
 mental motive is self-preservation. A man who 
 can be swayed by no higher motive will resist the 
 temptation to idleness in order to ward off starva- 
 tion. Self-preservation acts in many ways. Fear 
 of physical suffering, fear of mental trouble, fear of 
 public opinion, — these are some of its manifesta- 
 tions. They are among the lowest motives, and 
 they require to be brought into operation at times. 
 But it is a general rule that no lower motive should 
 be appealed to when there is a higher that will re- 
 spond. There is a higher order of motives than 
 the above still connected with self. Thus the love 
 of ease, the desire to succeed in acquiring position, 
 
TREATMENT. 173 
 
 wealth or fame, — these all have their value as 
 motives for upright conduct. But the morality 
 that results is a form without much vitality ; it is 
 composed largely of considerations of policy rather 
 than based upon integrity of purpose. 
 
 Next we come to the desire, in itself laudable, 
 for a good name and reputation. This motive is, 
 however, compatible with moral disorder of the 
 hypocritical kind ; it may be associated with the 
 article of faith that it is not wrong to sin, but it is 
 wrong to be found out. But when combined with 
 the next motive, it acts powerfully for good. The 
 Ijighest motive connected with self is self-respect ; 
 to this it is always right to appeal. It is not the 
 best, but it is good, and leads to moral stability. 
 
 We pass on to a higher and more worthy set of 
 motives, those, namely, which are connected with 
 the welfare of others. These have also their de- 
 grees. The desire to secure the mere physical 
 well-being of others stands lowest but it is often 
 intimately bound up with higher considerations, 
 such as love for those who are dependent on one. 
 Love is, of course, one of the best and most enduring 
 motives ; and, fortunately, it is one which may hold 
 throughout life. In the beginning there are 
 parents who -would be deeply grieved by moral 
 failings in their children ; then comes the love of 
 
174 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 brothers and sisters ; next, the love of friends, from 
 among whom may be singled out the one who, as 
 husband or wife, will have perhaps the strongest 
 influence of all. This, in turn, is completed by the 
 love for sons and daughters. Lastly, there is love 
 for " that eternal power, not ourselves, that works 
 for righteousness," named with reverence through 
 all times and in all places. 
 
 There yet remains for mention the motive which 
 forms the best basis for all others : the doing of the 
 right simply because it is right. While this abides, 
 other motives may fluctuate or fail, but the moral 
 health will remain. If this motive be deficient, 
 moral health is not secure ; because even love can 
 change. This motive is most likely to remain 
 through life when taught in early childhood ; it is 
 implanted with difficulty in later life, especially if 
 the guiding principle in early manhood has been 
 policy, or some other form of selfishness. 
 
 The moral physician must, therefore, in dealing 
 with a patient, mentally review the possible 
 motives from the highest downwards, and urge 
 them in turn ; even in the most diseased he will 
 find that some appeal is possible, that some motive 
 for good remains. By so doing, he will insure the 
 co-operation of the patient in his efforts to effect a 
 cure. 
 
TREATMENT. 1 75 
 
 He must next direct his attention to making it 
 easy for the moral invalid to do right and diflBcult 
 to do wrong. The force of habits and associations 
 is strong ; it must be overcome, as far as possible, 
 by removing the patient from temptation, and by 
 creating a new and healthy set of associations. 
 Some care is required for this. If a confirmed in- 
 valid be transferred direct to a penitentiary, and 
 surrounded by ceremonial moral restraints, he is 
 likelj' to derive but little good ; for it is impossible 
 that he should at once acquire a liking for these 
 things. The seclusion of the monastery, which 
 may have a strong charm for the devoutly-minded 
 man, will have none at all for the worldling who 
 has been suddenly pulled-up in his worldliness. . 
 
 Amid new associations, when this is possible, 
 and amid the old when a change is not possible, 
 the attention of the patient should next be occupied 
 by suitable activity for mind and hands. Work 
 is a moral safeguard, whose value it is hard to 
 over-estimate; whilst idleness opens the door at 
 once to all suggestions of wrong. For those who 
 are fit for it, culture has a special value. Litera- 
 ture, art, and music will often help to " set the 
 aflfections on things above," using this expression in 
 its widest sense. It must, of course, be remembered 
 that all that is called literature is not good ; sen- 
 
176 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 sationalism in all forms is to be avoided, for what- 
 ever is sensational tends to blur the sharp lines of 
 distinction between right and wrong, often casting 
 a glamour that is more dangerous than the most 
 open incitement to wrong. 
 
 Unnecessary and petty restrictions are to be 
 avoided ; they tend to chafe and to irritate, 
 and to defeat efforts for good by reaction as 
 soon as the curb is loosened. Between this and 
 unbridled license there is a wide and healthy 
 margin, within which pleasure may be allowed. 
 The greater a man's opportunities for healthy en- 
 joyment the less will be his desire for the morbid 
 kinds. The Roundhead Puritan favours by opposi- 
 tion the type of the Cavalier debauchee. 
 
 Of the curative value of punishment I shall say 
 but little. The question of punishment generally 
 is a very wide one ; but there are two main objects 
 of punishment: retribution and deterrence. The 
 law must fulfil the first function j but for us, as 
 individuals, retribution is no part of our duty. 
 Every infraction of moral law brings with it a cer- 
 tain retribution, sometimes greater, sometimes less, 
 in proportion to the fault. In loud tones Nature 
 proclaims, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay." And 
 in the ordinary course of things it would be highly 
 presumptuous on our part to pose as the high priests 
 
TREATMENT. 1 77 
 
 of Nature in executing the sentence. The deter- 
 rent value of punishment has two sides : first, the 
 warning to others, which does not come within the 
 scope of our subject; secondly, its effect in deter- 
 ring the offender from repeating his fault. And 
 this is obviously not so much a cure for the exist- 
 ing disease as a precautionary or hygienic measure 
 against its recurrence. 
 
 There is no single panacea or remedy that will 
 cure all forms of moral disorder. From time to 
 time some new mode of treatment is vaunted, and 
 institutions or societies are founded to work it. 
 In so far as they observe the fundamental rules of 
 treatment they are likely to succeed ; but not 
 otherwise. How many times in this century has 
 some patent drug been puffed for the healing of 
 bodily ailments ? And by virtue of faith in their 
 efficacy a number of cures have always at first 
 been effected. Then the novelty wears off, and the 
 charm somehow disappears. Why? Because the 
 drug itself did little or nothing ; the alteration of 
 the mode of life, combined with faith, was the 
 cause of the success. The parallel between moral 
 and physical treatment is here a close one. Many 
 of the would-be universal cures have been pro- 
 claimed in the name of religion, others in that of 
 philanthropy, some in that of utilitarianism. Some 
 
178 MORAL PATHOLOGY. 
 
 have been enforced by law, others applied by in- 
 dividuals. But the net result is summed up in 
 this : treatment, to be successful, must be applied 
 individually, in harmony with the laws of moral 
 health; it must consist of alteration in faulty 
 ways of life, both outwardly, and also by foster- 
 ing the impulse of a strong motive to do the right. 
 If these conditions be carried out, it matters 
 little what the external symbolism of the method 
 of cure may be ; this will simply depend on the 
 type of mind in the patient. Some respond readily 
 to emotional appeals : the penitent bench, the fiery 
 denunciation, the symbols of spiritual warfare. 
 To others these things are meaningless or repul- 
 sive ; but they are amenable to calm reasoning, to 
 appeals to their sympathy, or to the elevating in- 
 fluence of high ideals. Some are stirred powerfully 
 by human love, others by presentations of the 
 divine. The man of culture is swayed by abstract 
 ethical considerations, which have no force for the 
 simple labourer. The popular religion has, perhaps, 
 the widest sphere of influence ; yet this will not 
 reach all. Thus is it all-important that the moral 
 physician acquaint himself with all sorts and con- 
 ditions of men; that he may be able, like the 
 grand apostle of old, to " make himself all things 
 to all men, and by all means save some." The 
 
TREATMENT. 179 
 
 right must triumph, because wrong works out its 
 own undoing. The enthusiast who longs to see 
 the accomplishment of good in his own day, who 
 has not the patience of the husbandman in waiting 
 for the late ripening of the harvest, may be dis- 
 couraged ; so may also the patient toiler whose 
 duty carries him principally among the morally 
 sick, and who is, therefore, mainly impressed with 
 the evil there is in the world. But let the one and 
 the other cultivate faith, patience, and hope ; for 
 they will both recognise, if they look for it, the 
 large proportion of good in all men ; they will see 
 from time to time that through sin and suffering 
 comes salvation to the individual and to the race, 
 and they also will come to 
 
 " hold it truth with one who sings 
 To one clear harp in divers tones, 
 That men may rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things." 
 
 THK END. 
 
 Printed iy Cowan &= Co., Limited, Perth.