XII. Temperance

CHAPTER XII. TEMPERANCE. § 173. Such ethical, or rather. pro-ethical, sentiments .. as attach to temperance, have primarily, like sundry of the associated pro-ethical sentiInents, religious origins. As sho,vn in The Principles of Sociology, § 140, the bearing of hunger becomes in many cases a virtue, because it is a sequence of leaving food for the ancestor, and, at a later stage, sacrificing food to the god. Where food is not abundant, relinquishments of it. involve either absolute fastings or stinted meals; and hence there arises an association in thought between n10deration in eating and a subordination which is either religious or quasi-religious. Possibly in some cases a kindred restraint is put on the drinking of liquors which are used as libations, since the quantities required for these also, restrict the quantities remaining for the sacrificers. If, as often happens, there is at every meal a throwing, aside of drink, as well as .:food, for the invisible beings around, it tends to become an hnplication that .. one who exceeds so far .as to become intoxicated, has disregarded these invisible beings, and is therefore to be blamed. It is true that, as we shall presently see, other ideas sometimes lead to· contrary beliefs . and sentiInents; but it· is possible that there may from this cause have originated the divine reprobation which is in some cases alleged.

Since the above paragraphs·were written, I have found 436 THE INDUOTIONS OF ETHIOS. clear proof that the suspicion they express is well founded. FrOln a people alnongwhom ancestor-worship, and the habitual sacrificing to ancestors, have been through all known ages zealously carried on, we get evidence that n1oderation in both food and drink, pushed even to asceticisnl, is a consequence of regard for the dead, to whom oblations are constantly made. Said Oonfucius: "He who aims to be a man of complete virtue, in his food does not seek to gratify his appetite." Here we have the virtue enunciated apart from its cause. But Confucius also said :-" I can find no flaw in the character of 1....-11. He·· used himself coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost filial· piety towards the· spirits. His ordinary ·gar Inentswere poor, but he displayed the utlnost elegance· in his sacrificial cap and apron." Here we have the virtue presented in connexion with religious duty: the last being the cause, the· first the consequence.

Considered apart from supposed religious sanction, the virtue of temperance can of course have no other sanction than utility, as determined by experience. The observed beneficial effects of moderation and the observed detrimental effects of excess, form the bases for judgments, and the accompanying feelings. Rational ideas concerning temperance-especially temper ance in food-cannot be formed until we have glanced at those variations in the physiological requirements, entailed by variations in surrounding circumstances. § 174. What would al110ng ourselves be condemned as ,disgusting gluttony, is, under the· conditions to which certain raceso£' men are exposed, quite normal and indeed necessary. Where the habitat is such as at one time to supply very little food and at another time food in great abundance, survival depends on the ability to consume immense quantities "rhen the opportunities occur. A good instance is furnished by Sir George Grey's account TEMPERANCE. 43,7 of the orgies which follow the stranding of a whale in Australia.

"By and bye othernativesc~me>gaily trooping in from all quarters: by night they dance and sing, (:t;n<lbydaythey eat and sleep, and for days this revelry continues unchecked,until they at last fairly eat their way into the whale, and you seethem climbing in and about the stinking carcase choosing tit-bits ..... they remain by"tllecarcase for many days,rubbed from head to foot with stinking blubber, gorged to repletion wtth putrid meat . . .' When they at last quit their fea.st,they carry off as muchas they can stagger under." Living as the Australians do in a barren country, and often 'half' ·starved,·'thoseof· their' number 'who could not fnlI,Y' "utilize &n occasion like this would be the ,first to die duringtilnes of famine. Proof that this is the true inter pretatio Il, is furnished by, Christison'~. account ofa tribe of central Queensland. They. are great eaters "only at first; but when they h~ve, become used to rations and regular meals,including., bread or damper, they" are very mode:r:ate eaters, perhaps more Inoderate than Europeans."

In other cases what seems to us extreme and almost incredible excess, is .due ito'" the physiological .necessity for, producing heatiu' climates where the losso£ heat is very great. Hence. theexp]anatiollof the following story. '+PromKooilittiukL1.earnt a new Eskimaux luxury: hBhadeaten until he was, drunk,and >eyery"moment fell asleep, with· a flushed and· burning face, and his mouth open: by his side sat Arnalooa [his wife]. who was attending her cooking pot, and at short intervals awakened her spouse, ill order to cram as Jlluchas was possible of a large piece of half-boiled flesh into his mouth. with the assistance of her forefinger, and having filled it quite full,cut off the morsel c1oseto his lips. Thi$ he slowlychewed, and as soon as a small -vacancybeGameperceptible. this was filled again by a lump of raw blubber. During this operation the happy man moved no part of him but his jaws, not even opening" his eyes; but his extrenle satisfaction was occasionally shown by amostelC-pressivegrutlt,wheneverhe enjoyed sufficient room for the passage of sound."

Another case, equally astonishing,. '-c.omes from, .,. Northern Asia. Mr. Oochranesays :The Y"akutiand T.ongousi are ,great gluttons. ," I gave the child [a boy about five years olel]·a candle made of the most impure tallow, a second, and athird,-and all were devoured with avidity. The steersman then gave him several pounds of sour frozen butter; this also he immediately consumed;, 438 THE INDUOTIONS OF ETHIOS. lastly, a large piece of yellow soap; all went the same road . . . In fact, there is nothing in the way of fish or meat, from whatever animal, however putrid or unwholesome, but they will devour with impunity, and the quantity only varies from what they have, to what they can get. I have repeatedly seen a Yakut or a Tongouse devour forty pounds of meat in a day." The following testimony of Capt. Wrangell shows the physiological results of this enormous consurnption. " Even in Siberia, the J akuti are called ironmen, and I suppose that there are not any other people in the world who endure cold and hunger as they do. I have seen them frequently in the severe cold of this country, and when the fire had long been extinguished, and the light jacket had slipped off their shoulders, sleeping quietly, completely exposed to the heavens, with scarcely any clothing on, and their bodies covered with a thick coat of rime."

And now observe the remarkable and significant fact that where surv~val primarily depends on this ability to eat and digest enormous quantities of food, this ability acquires an ethical or pro-ethical sanction. According to Erman, a Yakut adage says :-" To eat much meat and to grow fat upon it, is the highest destiny of men." § 175. Passing froln this extreme instance of the "vay in "vhich the necessities of life generate corresponding ideas of right and ,vrong, and coming to the ordinary cases rneeting us in temperate and tropical climates, where son1e thing like an ethical sanction, as we ordinarily understand it, comes into play; we find no connexions between teln perancein food and other traits, unless it be a general asso ciation of gluttony ''lith degradation. Even· this qualified generalization may be held doubtful. Cook described the Tahitians as each consuming a "pro digious" quantity of food. Yet they were physically a fine race, intellectually superior to many, and, though licentious, were deBcribed by him as having sundry charac teristics to be adlnired. Conversely, the Arabs are rela ti vely abstemious in both food and drink. But while in their sexual relations they are about as low as the Tahitians, since they are continually changing wives, and say of thelnselves-" Dogs are better than we are," they are TEMPERANCE. 439 little to be adnlired in an:y. respect: being fanatically .revengeful and regarding skilful robbery as a qualification for marriage: At the same time that the unci vilized at large present no definite relations bet"reen temperance or intemperance in food and their other traits, they display .little or no senti ment in respect of one or the other which can be called ethical. Save in the above l~emarkable proverb y'uoted from the Yakuts, opinion on this Inatter has not taken shape among them., In some ancient semi-civilized societies, however, there had arisen' the consciousness that excess in food is wrong.

Iuthe Code of Manu it is written:" For gluttony is hat.eful, injures health, l\tIaylead to death, and surely'bars the road To holy merit and celestial bliss." The fact that in parts of the ¥ahabharata "heavenly blessedness" is described as without any kind of "sensual 'gratification," inlplies reprobation of excess in eating. This is of course implied ,also in the ascetic life on which the Indian sages insisted.' The Hebrews, too, displa.yed this con sciousness: there was occasional advocacy of abstemiousness, as shown in the proverb:"Be not among wine bibbers: among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." (Prov. xxiii, 20-1.) By the Egyptians· gluttony ,vas recognizedasa vice, but was nevertheless deliberately practised. On the one hand, excess in food was set down among th~ forty-two chief sins of the Egyptians, while on the other handAt their "banquets the Egyptians do not seem to have been very moderate.

. Herodotus tells us (ii.78) that a small wooden image of a mummy W3S . carried round at their entertainments with the exhortion, ' Look on this, drink and be merry. When dead, thou wilt be as this is!' This admoni tion was not without its results. In the pictures on monuments we find not only men, but women, throwing up the ~urfeit of food and wine." But the general aspect of the evidence seems to imply that with the rise of settled societies,and with the generalizing 440 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. of experiences, there arose a utilitarian condemnation of excess in food. § 176. Excess in drinking·. isa phrase which, though applicable to drinking of unfermented liquors in injurious quantities, yet practically applies to liquors which are either fermented, and therefore intoxicating, or are otherwise intoxicating. Opinion concerning the. taking of them is determined nlainlyby recognition of the effects they pro duce - regarded here with approbation and therewith reprobation.

It is a mistake to suppose that the state of intoxication is everywhere condemned. Whether produced by alcohol or by other agent, it has been in early times lauded, and' still is so in some places. An interpretation is suggested by the remark of an Arafura, 'who, ,vhen belief in the Christian God was commended to him, and he was told that God is everywhere present, said :-" Then this God is certainly in your arrack, for I never feel happier than when I have drunk plenty of it." The idea thus\ implied \vasdistinctly and perpetually expressed by the ancient Indians in their praises of soma-drinking. The god Soma was supposed to be present in the juice of the plant called soma; intoxication resulted from being possessed by him; and the exalted state desired, produced, and gloried in, ,vas a state of religious blessedness : the gods themselves being supposed· to be thus. inspired by the god Soma. Says }'Iax Miiller :lVladakyut=such "a state of intoxication as was not incompatible with the character of the ancient gods.... We have no poetical word to ex press a high state of mental exeitementproduced by drinking theintoxi eating juice of the Soma or other plants, which has not something oppro brious mixed up with it, while in ancient times that state of excitement was celebrated. as a· blessing of the gods, as not unworthy of the gods themselves, nay as a r,tate in which both the warrior and the poet would perform their highest achievements."

So, too, by·· the Greeks it ,vas pelieved that the god TEMPER:A.NOE~"·' 441 Dionysus' 'was present 'in wine,and that" the Bacchic excitement," with ..'its accompanying . prophetic .power, was due to possessi~nbyhim. Hence there arose a religious sanction for drunkenness, as shown in the orgies. . Nor are'we'without cases in' ourOWIl tinles. The Dahomans, according to Burton, deem it a "duty to the gods to be drunk ;" 'arid the Ainos 'sanctify their intoxicationurider "the fiction of 'drinking to the gods: '" "the more sake the Ainos drink the more devout they are, and tIle better pleased are the gods.'.' Kindred idefl,s and sentiments exist in..Polynesia, in .connection with the. taking' of the intoxi eating ava, kava, .or yaqona. In Fiji the preparation and drinking ,.• ·are accompanied by .,prayers to the gols and chants, and participation in the ceremonies is regarded as honourable.

Evidently then, drunkenness, instead of having in all cases religious ,condemnation, has in some cases religious sanction; and thus comes to have a pro-ethical sentiment justifyiLg' it. This 'is very well shown by theA-inos, who refuse to associate with those who will not drink. § 177.;Either with, .or without this kind of sanction, inteln perance, under.,oneor.other form, is widely spread among the inferior races. Of the Kalmucks, PalIas·teHsusthat·· they are intern: perate iIi eating ·.and.•drinkingwhen. they have ·the chance. "The festivities 'of'theKhonds," '·says.Oarnpbell,"usually terrninatein universal drunkenness.',' Brett '. writes that the drunkenness of the natives of Guiana takes the shape of ":fearful excess at intervals." And we read of the existing Guatemalans th~t" the' greatest happiness of these people'consistsin drunkenness, . produced by the excessive 1lSe" of . .. ,chicha." These last testinlonies respecting American .' peoples at •....the present day, . recall kindred testimonies respecting > ancient American peoples.

Garcilasso says of· the' Peruvians:-"-" They . brought liquor 442 THE INDUOTIONS OF ETHIOS. in great quantity,. for this was one of the most prevalent vices alnong the Indians." Of the Yucatanese, Landa says: -" The Indians "rere very debauched, Jtnd often got drunk;" "the women got intoxicated at the banquets, but by themselves." And Sahagun writes of the Mexicans that" They said that the bad effects of drunkenness were produced by one of the gods of wine. Hence it appears that they did not consider as a sin what they had done while being drunk." But internperance is by no means universal among the uncivilized and selni-civilized :.sobriety being shown by some of the utterly primitive as well as by SOlne of the consider ably adyanced. Of the Veddahs we read :-" They do not sl11oke, and are very temperate, drinking water only." Says Campbell:" Fond of fermented and spirituous liquors, the Lepchas are nevertheless not given to drunkenness."

Of the SUluatran of the interior, only partially vitiated by contact with the Malays, Marsden tell~ us :-" He is temper ate and sober, being equally abstemious in Ineat and drink." Africa, too, supplies instances. ,. The Foolas and l\'Iandingos very strictly abstain from fermented liquors, and from spirits, which they hold in such abhorrence. that if a single drop were to fall upon a clean garment, it would be rendered unfit to wear until washed." And Waitz makes the general reluark that"Except where they have had much intercourse with whites the Negroes, cannot be accused of being specially addicted to intoxicating liquors." This last stateIuent, reminding us of the delnoralization which Europeans everywhere produce in the native races wholu they pretend to civilize, and reminding us more especially of the disastrous' effects which follow the supply ing of them with whisky or rum, shows how cautious ,ve Blust be in our inferences respecting the relations bet,veen drinking habits and social states. It is clear that in sonle cases, as in that of the Veddahs, sobriety may result from lack of intoxicants, and that in other cases insobriety does TEMPERANCE. 443 not naturally belong to the type or the tribe, but has been imported.

§ 178. Perhaps among European peoples, with their long histories, we may with most chance of success seek for such relation as exists between sobriety and social conditions. This relation seems but indefinite at best. Brutal as was their social system, the Spartans were ascetic in their regimen; and relnembering the .lessons which drunken helots were made to inculcate, it is clear that originally the Spartans reprobated drunkenness and were ordinarily sober. Meanwhile the Athenians, lunch more civilized as" they were in their social .state, and far superior in culture, were by no means so sober. Sonle scanty testimonies imply that among the European peoples ,vho at that time were socially organized in but low degrees, excesses in drinking were frequent. Of the early Gauls Diodorus says :-" They are so exceedingly given to ,vine, that they guzzle it down as'soon as it is imported by the merchant." And describing the primitive Germans~ Tacitus tells us that" to pass an entire day and night in drinking disgraces no one." Of course not much has·come down to us respecting men's drinking habits during "the dark ages;" but the prevalence of intemperance may be inferred from such indications as we Lavee One of the excesses occurring in the Merovingian .. period was that Bishop Eonius fell down drunk at mass; and we are told of .

Oharlemagne that he was temperate: the implication being that temperance was sOlnething exceptional. Of France it may be remarked that even ,vhen intoxication was not pro duced, wine was taken in great excess during many later centuries. Montaigne, while saying that drunkenness was less than when h~ was a boy, tells us that:"I have seen a gre.at lord of my time .•. who without setting himself to't, and after his ordinary rate of drinking at meals, swallowed down not mUGh less than fi~'e quarts of wine."

444 THE INDUCTIONS. OF ETHICS. Evidently, frOlTI' the days of Montaigne down to those of the modern French, the Inajority of whom water their ordinary weak wine, the decrease of intelnperance 'has been Inarked. And among ourselves there has. taken place, though vvith much irregularity, a kindred change. From old English and Danish times, when there was drunkenness among monks as well as others, down through the times of the N orlnans, ,,,ho soon became as intelnperate as those they had subjugated, and down through subsequent cen turies, the excesses in drinks of the less potent kinds wer-e great and general. At thebegin~ing of the last century, ,vhen the consumption of spirits increased greatly, rising to nearly a gallon per head of the population annually, and producing scenes such as Hogarth depicted in his "Gin Lane," there· came the .remedial Gin Act; which, however, was soon repealed after having done mischief. Then during the rest of the century, while "drunkenness was the comlllon vice of the middle and lower orders," wealthier people indulged so largely in wine for their entertainments, as not unfrequently to impoverish themsel ves.

§ 179. Evidently the relations between drinking habits and kinds of social life are· obscure. We cannot, as the teetotalers 'vvould like,· assert a regular proportion between telnperance and civilization, or between intemperance and moral degradation at large. Says Surgeon-Gen. Balfour - "Half of the Asiatic races ---: Arab, Persian, lIindu, Burman, Malay, Sialuese ... are abstinents;" and. yet no one will contend that, either in social type or social conduct, these races are superior to the races of. Europe ,vho areanythil1g but abstinents. Within Europe itself differences teach us the same lesson. Sober Turkey is not so high in its social life as whisky-drinking Scotland. Nor, on comparing Italy and Germany, do we see that along with the contrast between the small pota~ionsof the one, TEMPERANCE. 445 and' thegreat~ >potatienso[ the.other, there goes contrast between their >IDoraLstatesot the kind that might be looked for ....'" Putting 7 0n the ,one hand the Bedouin, who, habitual' robber as he is and ',. displayingnul11erous, vices, nevertheless ,drinks no '" ternlented liquors, and cries." Fie upon thee,.•drunkard ,.!" and .••.on 'the· other hand .the ,clever English, artisan, who ,occasionally drinks .to .excess (and the clever ones are most apt to do this) but who is o:£ten a good fellow iu other respects, we do not find any clear association between temperance and rectitude.

Some relation ''Ina y reasonab1y besl1pposedto exist between drunkenness and general wretchedness. Where the life is miserable there is a great tendency to drink, partly to get what .little momentary. pleasure. Dlaybe had, and ."partly·'to shut ·.o.ut•unhappy. thoughts,.'about. the. future. But if we recall, the drunkenness which prevailed among (;)l1f upper classes in the last century ,we cannot say that 'V\''1'etchedness,'"or' at.· allY Tate•physical .wretchedness,' was' its excuse. Ennui, "too, seems often an assignable cause, and •. may.have. produced ',. the prevailing inebriety· througho~t Europe ine~rlydays, when there was difficulty in passing thetiInenot occupied in fighting or hunting. Yet we .find various peoples whose lives are monotonousenongh, butwhQ do not drink. Manifestly various :influences co-operate ; .and it appears that the results 0:£ theluare too irregular to be generalized.

§180. But we.are.'chiefiycQIlCernedwith temperance and intern perance :asethically regarded., That intemperance, whether in fQod •. ordrink,iscondemnedby the, ethical sentiment proper, which refers, :not to. the extrinsic but to the intrinsic effects, as injurious :alike .to hody, and mind, goes without saying. BatH is . otherwise with .. the pro: ethical sentiment ..'.' Wehave '. mtitnycases showing that there comes. either approbation ·,or reprobation· of· intemperance) according to the .religious idea~~l) dsocialhabits. , 446 THE INDUCTIONS OF ETHICS. Already we have seen that intoxication may be sanctified by certain theological'"beliefs; and here we have to note that prevailing excess in drinking, and the current opinion which grows up along with it, may result in a social sanction. One of the uncivilized races shows us that a habit of taking a toxic agent may, where it is general, generate for itself not only a justification but something more. Says Yule of the Kasias:"In the people perhaps the first thing that strikes a stranger, is their extreme addiction to chewing pawn, and their utter disregard of the traces which its use leaves on their teeth and lips. Indeed they pride themselves on this, sayin~ that' Dogs and Bengalees have white teeth.'"

In records of ancient civilized races we find evidence of a kindred pride in excesses. Apart from its religious sanction,· the drunken elevation which followed soma drinking was gloried in by the Indian rishi; and aIIlong a neighbouring people, alcoholic excess was by SOine thought the reverse of disgraceful, as ~itness the epitaph of Darius Hystaspes, saying that he was a great conqueror and a great drinker, and as witness the self-commendation of Cyrus, who "in his epistle to the Spartans says, that in many other things he was more fit than his brother to be a king, and chiefly because he could bear abundance of wine." But modern Europe has yielded the clearest proofs that prevailing inebriety may generate a sentiment which justifies inebriety. 1'he drinking usages in Germany in past times, and do"wn to the present time among students, show that· along with an inordinate desire for fermented liquor, and the scarcely credible ability to absorb it, there had grown up a contelnpt for those who fell much below the average drinking capacity, and a glory in being able to drink the largest quantity in the shortest time. Among ourselves, too, in the last century, kindred ideas and £eel~ ings prevailed. The saying that-" It is a poor heart that never rejoices" was used as a justification for excess. The taking of salt to produce thirst, the use of wine-glasses which TEMPERANOE. 447 would not stand, and the exhortation "N0 heel-taps,"

clearly showed the disapproval of moderation which went along ,vith applause for the "three-bottle" luan. There are some still living who have taken part in orgies at which after .locking the door and placing a Durn ber of bottles of wine on the sideboard, the host announced that they had to be emptied before rising: the refusal to take the required share causing reprobation.* _ But while, in past generations, there was thus a certain pro-ethical sentiment upholding internperance, in o~r own generation temperance is upheld both by the ethical senti ment, and by a pro-ethical sentiment. Not only is drinking to excess universally reprobated, and to have been intoxicated even once leaves' a stain on a man's reputation, but we have no,,, a large class by whom even moderate drinking is con demned. While in America water is the universal beverage at meals an~ the taking of wine is regarded as' scarcely re spectable.

* 'rhe late Mr. John Ball, F.R.S., brought up in the neighbourhood of Belfast, was, when young, though nominally a Catholic, intimate with a wealthy family of Protestants, at the head of which was an old gentleman looked up to with reverence -by his descendants. 1\'11'. Ball told me that this patriarch took a fancy to him; and one day, when leaving the room after dinner, led him aside and patting him on the shoulder said-" My good young friend, I want. to talk to you about your wine. You don't drink enough. Now take my advic_e-make your head while you are young, and then you will be able to drink like a gentleman al~ your life." 80 \ . CHAPTER XIII. CHASTITY. § 181. Before we can understand fully the ethical aspects of chastity, we IllUst study its biological and sociological sanctions. Conduciveness to welfare, individual or social or both, being the ultimate criterion of evolutionary ethics, the demand for chastity has to be sought in its effects under given conditions.