The organic laws, or, The laws which govern the human organism / by J. Bradford Sax.

  • Sax, J. Bradford.
Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The organic laws, or, The laws which govern the human organism / by J. Bradford Sax. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    THE MORAL ARGUMENT. The moral argument is the strongest which can be arrayed against anything. If a practice is found to injure mentality, and deteriorate and deprave moral emotion, nothing more can possibly be said against anything. We mean to show that flesh-eating is ob- noxious to this serious charge; in fine, that it tends to stimulate the passions and render them imperious and ungovernable, at the same time weakening and dwarfing the intellect and moral sentiments, thus causing sin and depravity, and moral wretchedness and wo. Sin is a rebellion of the passions, or some one of them, against the moral governor—the moral law. This rebellion is most likely to occur, and does most often occnr, when the passions are strong as compared with the moral powers. Hence anything which tends to strengthen the passions and weaken the moral faculties, tends just so much to increase crime. Artificial stimulants have this tendency. Witness the drunkard. His poisonous libations, while they stimulate his body, stimulate his passions almost to madness, while at the same time they dwarf his intellect and deaden his con- science ; therefore intemperance necessarily increases sin. This all admit. It is precisely so with flesh-meat and other stimulating articles of food and drink. While they stimulate the body, they in- crease the activity and energy of the passions, and weaken the in- tellect and deaden the moral powers ; this greatly increases sin and wo. I will not stop to show why stimulants have this effect upon the mental faculties ; suffice it to say, that no one at all acquainted with the subject will attempt to deny it: all who are conversant with animal and mental physiology, will readily admit it. But the use of flesh and other improper articles of food has another effect, worse still; it tends to deprave all the mental facul-