TEACHING TEMPERANCE IN PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS. 
Read in the Section on State Medicine, at the Forty-seventh Annual 
Meeting of the American Medical Association, held at 
Atlanta, Ga., May 6-8, 1896. 
BY CHAS. H. SHEPARD, M.D. 
BROOKLYN, N. Y. 
That the temperance problem is fraught with immi- 
nent consequences both to the present and future 
generations, none can deny. The educational method 
of dealing with the subject commands itself to all, 
for if it is studied from a purely scientific standpoint, 
then whatever advance is made will be permanent, 
and leave no room for an emotional reaction. 
The use of narcotics has become such an over- 
shadowing calamity that it behooves all to make dili- 
gent inquiry if perchance there may be some way of 
escape for our people. Not those who give way to 
such indulgences are to become the permanent inhab- 
itants of our land, for such conditions do but bring 
about an inferiority and degeneration that eventually 
and surely leads to extinction. We also well know 
that by studying and obeying the laws of life and 
health, the term is lengthened and its enjoyment 
enhanced. 
This is a subject that comes home to every man of 
family. All right-minded parents desire to give their 
children the best opportunities for the struggle of life, 
and even the most besotted are frequently known to 
make a great effort to have their children shielded 
from the effects of their misdoing. It is rarely that 
a father who uses tobacco desires his son to do the 
same. The young man who is to join in the struggle 2 
of! a boat race, or foot-ball game, knows that it is 
incumbent on him to conserve all his powers and not 
waste them on tobacco or alcohol, and he willingly 
denies himself to any extent for that purpose while in 
training, but when it concerns the race of his life, he 
too often becomes prodigal of his vital energies and 
makes fearful havoc of what he would give thousands 
to be possessed of in later years, simply because he is 
not conscious of the injury he is doing to himself. 
For this reason it is that the school years are the 
most important season of the child’s life, the forma- 
tive period, and if at that time basic truths can be 
inculcated, he will be more likely to avoid many 
errors and grow up to a more vigorous and useful 
manhood. 
We know that every great emergency brings a man 
to fill the gap. In this case it was a woman, Mrs. 
Mary B. Hunt, who has made it her life work to for- 
ward this object, traveling over a large part of the 
United States in its advocacy. Associated with her 
as an advisory board, are some of the noblest and 
ablest minds in the land. Through her persevering 
and unselfish efforts, all but five of the States in the 
Union have enacted laws requiring scientific temper- 
ance to be taught all the pupils in tlieir public schools. 
Canada has also listened to her voice, and enacted 
similar laws, and her influence has extended to several 
of the European governments, notably France, Eng- 
land and Russia. 
The saloon element in the cities of New York and 
Brooklyn is so dominating that it was not strange 
that a strong opposition was developed, and in some 
of the daily papers, ridicule was thrown upon the 
work. But no sane man will maintain that there is 
anything preposterous about the study of physiology. 
On the contrary, after mastering the “ three Rs ” 
there is no more important study in the curriculum, 
and the reporters who attempted to ridicule this study 
were never more mistaken, for it is a well-meant and 
well-digested plan, and has the sanction and support 3 
of some of the best and most self-sacrificing people 
in the land. It is as surely bound to succeed as the 
right is to come uppermost in the not very remote 
future. It is undoubtedly true that the temperance 
movement is to be promoted more thoroughly and 
rapidly by an educational course than in a prohibitive 
way, and it will be like “ kicking against the pricks ” 
to oppose the instruction of our children in the action 
of alcohol and other narcotics. 
If a child can be made to understand that the pur- 
pose of the stomach is the digestion of his food, and 
that by its thorough digestion, impeded by no irri- 
tating or debilitating element, the vigor of the system 
can only be maintained, and if it is shown that the 
use of alcohol impairs all the functions of the stomach 
and predisposes to disease, he will as much hesitate to 
use stimulants as he would to use arsenic or any other 
poison. 
Let any unprejudiced man who loves his race 
observe what a vast amount of effort is given to the 
production and use of alcoholic drinks; how it per- 
meates every class of society. So, also, the use of 
tobacco and other narcotics. Are we, as a people or 
nation, benefited by them, or are they a hindrance to 
our progress and development? The frequent death 
of a victim of the cigarette habit would argue that 
our children could easily find a more profitable field 
of effort. Many of the parents may be astonished 
when the children come home from school and tell 
what they have learned about the effects of the mod- 
erate use of alcohol and tobacco, but if it be true, we 
have not found it out any too soon. The books that 
have been compiled for use in the schools have had 
the revision of some of the ablest physicians in our 
land, and they will stand the test of scientific exam- 
ination. Dr. Crothers, the eminent specialist in ine- 
briety, says, “ I have spent some time on the school 
books mentioned, and I have not found errors or 
extravagant statements.” 
If the facts contained in these books are not adapted 4 
to the comprehension of the children who are taught, 
it shows that the teacher has mistaken his calling. 
The question of the use of alcohol and other narcotics 
is one that is sure to come up for discussion more and 
more, and will never be quieted until it is settled 
rightly. If it is well for physicians to prescribe nar- 
cotics, then should the manufacture and sale be 
encouraged in every legitimate way. On the contrary, 
if their use is evil, and evil only, as some scientists 
claim, then all should know it, that they may avoid 
the pitfalls, and in no more holy ground can this 
knowledge be placed than in the minds of our children. 
It would not be possible for the race to continue 
many generations longer in the free and increasing 
use of narcotics, for it would produce degeneration 
and wide-spread disaster. The light of science, which 
is simply increasing knowledge, will dissipate the 
clouds that now hang over us, and usher in the new 
era to a regenerated mankind. For these and many 
other reasons, we are satisfied that the law directing 
this study by the school children is a most laudable 
one, and should be encouraged by every right-minded 
person. It can be opposed only by the saloon ele- 
ment, and its strongest supporter, the moderate 
drinker, who can not too soon become aware of the 
error of his ways. He needs education, not prohibi- 
tion. If he is past learning anything new, his chil- 
dren are not. 
The impressions made in our childhood being the 
more permanent, lead up to the fact that if our chil- 
dren can be taught the truths about alcohol and other 
narcotics, the time will eventually and surely come 
when their daily use will be abandoned. 
Reprinted from the Journal of the American Medical Association, 
September 5.1896.