SOOTING SYROPS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 264, 5 October 1875, Page 4

SOOTING SYROPS.

We aoppoae it muat be admitted that '^he pfegea| ganeralioa is more qivilized » K»ao His gK-edecaanors. This is the - opiotoQ, aod probably no good is to be attained by dispatiog U. Ia masrjS r«apdct« U caoDOfe be diapnted. f jQbmtaoi^m ",|s) developed. Sccial comcots^e^- <;^ r e r have m*s9,gtffct~*te " >; Waw : (o 5 6^ieoce and the philosophy: of thought. Add, if this be a' part of civtlwation, international wars are in^r<»7(Hfe! lend ;lasay chivalric than ~r/orraerly,,neriflio~ fr "mora~ highly euUil VftV^l»ld> *ei%tolis'b(BUßr!ial9«ainiog » aach more oegativd quality than it : ba§j/^ ' I But there are, tome directions id :'>g«h|sh tb^a tdyaQcaJf hard tarecQgniaeJ ihnoat appears that oar 1 - t ";'- progreta haa beeo-ia the other direc- ' rn^io&r vboe Sha* may ha simply 0. diatler , vof A : caitom which hsa of |nl«to:«»owtitjjry prevalent, and wbioh ; appeawitn^i iooraanog 4a ty ffHpVog Way P«oplo» suggests to ea ao ■: which baara nppa ibis quea- , v*>i,»oo r for pbilosophio . jn^airy. Our . ttnesstors were often in the habit of holdsbg what w© call the inferiot % r «6inia&'criJniDa!ly reaponaibta for their 2 Offeom : In the old rscdrda are many r : repdrt^drcriols before ieg«l aathoritiea j ; ; Jhafc" had. beeq arrested for Booie^ios^ faults. Oii(ie a sow. and ' H *^'^Sfcfflftlf'fsiinily of six were ceremoni- :^^^ charged wjth homicide before a j; . ; ;,wocfi^oair^. The parenj was fop ad ■ gttiliy; eaa seotacced to be handed, wh|te ibeli§Ue ones, in defatilt of bail / for their good beha^rioar, were declared The esecatioa was carried ::>!oQi wth all the dignity and form of have been greai delinqneDta, and maoy suffered the extreme penalty hotaici^at offeoc*es ia the olden »< tjUneei ; Noticea of their deliDquenciea io ftad^paniahiasnts may be found scattered ia, f the old books over many ■■■ eentorieg, and probably few people who •■ *' 'relU th^ni now can do so without a >^smi!9ofcuri6as wonder, if not of contempt, for the superstition or ignoranoe of the people who lived before us. w -^Boir we need not go back very far, - not as for as many mouths, in our own : hisiory, to find nameroos cases of anis; r ma'l#^ being executed, not for an offence *o Gotitzaritt&d, but simply !o response to t'uigubrant adperatiticn of What 't^ey roight poaaibly do, a& it eiists in the some raodera atdeVmen. And^pi¥ei;' differeace, too, if tm ia ihe Middle Ages animals were i not execated for c"rioae without triaf and coovic-, . '< iStdOifwher^aa ia the nineteenth aentary -tfieyare killed on groundless suspicion ; withoot anypretence: of a trial . This r r?^!W?!7 D9 7 called^ an advance in direction, Nor does our pro- ; .gresslookm'n'Qbvmore satisfactory when \ thesabj6ct is examined a little farther. /It is quite tree that in former times people. were put to death for very inDocuoaa^ propeositiea— witchcraft, for 5 we are not aware that ;tlte castbin to kill young children for crying." this is a modern' ( ivinnovation s o« of the traits of fto »,a4y*nce4 civilisation. : [ ?,.; -We', do not say that there has been any exceptional case of the kind brought to our notice. Worse than this, we refer to it as a feature of the. time, very en general id i its* operations and wide-K-Bgrßad)io its evil coDßeqa9oceß. 4< Sooth- i iahiog ©onapouods" and v infants 1 cordials" «tid all things of ■ like kind are so j -piaoy. poisons kepi and assd for the ,n<finjary and esecation of babies who .vpAappen to be charged with the crime of £i fj being nerossi The amoaot of narcotio j drags consnmed every year in this country ia far :iq exeeß3 of anything which their legitimate use can justify; while it is well known that tbe Rale of ! «%nch mixtures aa we have mentioned is ! eoof mods. / The death of iofanis from thfHr nsa is not the limitation of the evil. Many children srfiwbb liare? dosed With them do not die, a abot they live on, impoveVSahed in bodily iand menta! capacity, to swell the population of the unhealthy and dissolute which in feets our cities. 'j'-'-- : -'This v is a subject which coroners, v*' :physicianß, social reformers, and the for the Prevention of Cruelty - v |p Children may advantageously bring Sunder their consideration. Coroners no lack of cases for their judicial treatment if only they take a very Hltie trouble to look for them. *' Opium w is an infantile destroyer of j; .very; common occurrence, but it lies concealed under some more legitimate »' designation, and ia obly to be detected OTj . a^ej specjai . research, The indiscriminate sale of narcotio medicines, , wbreh'sra prepared especially for young children , should be eb ecked. Many of „ them are proprietary, and those as a "('J'Uiaafe the most daagerooe. There is no equitable reason why the nurse or f^m<ilb&:f#ho administers them, the -"; 4rwig|ißt K >he sells them, and the Sit persdn r wbo makes them, should not ail 4 _be : held responsible for their conee- ' 'quesces. It is a poor testimony to our • advanced civilisation that the use of v snch tbings should go on unrestrained, that iofaata should be killed for no greater crime than ill-temper, itself ? v oft^R ihe result of ill-health, and that the cbnstitQiioDa of a large par J of the coming generation should be enfeebled ; r-rM %PT *^ ew whwb, if it had prevailed five hundred years ago, we should have regalriaed/ as dismal evidence of tbe V barb'iriaih of the age.