Dr. Cabot contended
that the hygienic and moral aspects of sex-education should not be
associated. It is possible that the following review and criticisms may
be based upon a misinterpretation; but if so, I shall not feel lonely,
for at the close of the discussion, Dr. Cabot said to his audience, "it
is evident that I have not succeeded in touching even the surfaces of
your minds, and have not made an atom of impression in making the
distinction which I desired to make."

Dr. Cabot's main points are quoted below, and my comments follow each
quotation.

(1) "Sanitation can often be conveyed effectively by information,
but morality cannot be conveyed by telling things."

[Sidenote: Teaching morals.]

It is certainly true that sanitation can be taught by words. That words
concerning moral things have no value is a proposition which Dr. Cabot
did not clearly and convincingly support.

(2) "People often make sanitary mistakes from ignorance. So far as
you are ignorant you cannot be immoral. Morality is conditioned
upon knowledge of the right and wrong in question."

[Sidenote: Immoral or unmoral.]

Of course, one who is ignorant is unmoral and not immoral, but this
does not divorce sanitary and moral problems of social disease. An
ignorant and unmoral man may have unsanitary sexual habits, but
enlighten him regarding venereal disease and his habits make him
immoral.

(3) "I cannot see that biology has moral value."

[Sidenote: Moral value of biology.]

But it may have moral influence just as literature and history and
biography may have. Of course, pure biology alone will not make people
more sexually moral, but no responsible biologist has ever claimed that
it will.

(4) "In morals, we are dealing with the will, and if we believe
that the will is guided by intelligence, we must believe that all
people who _know_ what is right will _do_ what is right."

[Sidenote: Knowledge and will.]

It does not follow that to know what is right is to do what is right.
All depends upon the relative weight of opposing factors. A medical
student may _know_ the facts regarding venereal disease; but he also
knows the fact that his sexual instincts are insistent. The fact of his
passion may be more weighty than his scientific knowledge; and his will
may be guided by intelligent choice based on comparison of the two
opposing facts. Hence, it is illogical to contend that knowledge may
not infl