I send this little book out into the world, first, to aid those who,
having decided to adopt a bloodless diet, are still asking how they can
be nourished without flesh; second, in the hope of gaining something
further to protect "the speechless ones" who, having come down through
the centuries under "the dominion of man," have in their eyes the mute,
appealing look of the helpless and oppressed. Their eloquent silence
should not ask our sympathy and aid in vain; they have a right, as our
humble brothers, to our loving care and protection, and to demand
justice and pity at our hands; and, as a part of the One Life, to--
"life, which all can take but none can give;
Life, which all creatures love and strive to keep;
Wonderful, dear, and pleasant unto each,
Even to the meanest; yea, a boon to all
Where pity is, for pity makes the world
Soft to the weak and noble for the strong.
Unto the dumb lips of the flock he lent
Sad, pleading words, showing how man, who prays
For mercy to the gods, is merciless,
Being as god to those; albeit all life
Is linked and kin, and what we slay have given
Meek tribute of their milk and wool, and set
Fast trust upon the hands which murder them."
If the cruelty and injustice to animals are nothing to us, we have still
another argument to offer--the brutalization of the men who slaughter
that we may eat flesh. Mrs. Besant, in "Why I Am a Food Reformer," says:
"Lately I have been in the city of Chicago--one of the greatest
slaughter-houses of the world--where the slaughter-men, who are employed
from early morn till late at night in the killing of thousands of these
hapless creatures, are made a class _practically apart from their
fellow-men_; they are marked out by the police _as the most dangerous
part of the community_; amongst them are committed most crimes of
violence, and the most ready use of the knife is found. One day I was
speaking to an authority on this subject, and I asked him how it was
that he knew so decidedly that most of the murders and the crimes with
the knife were perpetrated by that particular class of men, and his
answer was suggestive, although horrible. He said: 'There is a peculiar
turn of the knife which men learn to use in the slaughter-house, for, as
the living creatures are brought to them by machinery, these men slit
their throats as they pass by. That twist of the wrist is the
characteristic of most crimes with the knife committed amongst our
Chicago population.' That struck me at once as both a horrible and
significant fact. _What right have people to condemn other men to a
trade that makes them so readily take to the knife in anger; which marks
them out as specially brutalized--brutes amongst their fellow-men?_
Being constantly in the sight and the smell of blood, their whole nature
is coarsened; accustomed to kill thousands of creatures, they lose all
sense of reverence for sentient life, they grow indifferent to the
suffering they continually see around them; accustomed to inflict pain,
they grow callous to the sight of pain; accustomed to kill swiftly, and
sometimes not even waiting until the creature is dead before the skin is
stripped from it, their nerves become coarsened, hardened, and
brutalized, and they are less men as men because they are slaughterers
of animals. _And everyone who eats flesh meat has part in that
brutalization; everyone who uses what they provide is guilty of this
degradation of his fellow-men._
"If I may not appeal to you in the name of the animals--if under
mistaken views you regard animals as not sharing _your kind of
life_--then I appeal to you in the name of _human brotherhood_, and
remind you of your duty to your fellow-men, your duty to your nation,
which must be built up partly of the children of those who
slaughter--who physically inherit the very signs of this brutalizing
occupation. I ask you to recognize your duty as men and women who should
_raise_ the Race, not _degrade_ it; who should try to make it _divine_,
not _brutal_; who should try to make it _pure_, not _foul_; and
therefore, in the name of Human Brotherhood, I appeal to you to leave
your own tables free from the stain of blood and your consciences free
from the degradation of your fellow-men."
That flesh-eating is not necessary to the perfect health of man is
attested by many scientists. The following testimonies from some very
prominent physiologists and anatomists may prove interesting:
Sir Charles Bell, F. R. S.: "It is, I think, not going too far to say
that every fact connected with the human organization goes to prove that
man was originally formed a frugivorous animal. This opinion is
principally derived from the formation of his teeth and digestive
organs, as well as from the character of his skin and the general
structure of his limbs."
Sylvester Graham, M. D.: "Comparative anatomy proves that man is
naturally a frugivorous animal, formed to subsist upon fruits, seeds,
and farinaceous vegetables."
Professor Wm. Lawrence, F. R. S.: "The teeth of man have not the
slightest resemblance to those of carnivorous animals; and, whether we
consider the teeth, jaws, or digestive organs, the human structure
closely resembles that of the frugivorous animals."
Dr. Jozef Drzewiecki: "There is no doubt that fruit and vegetable food
purifies the blood, while meat inflames and is the source of many
diseases, which are the punishment for breaking the natural law and
command."
Professor Vogt: "The vegetarian diet is the most beneficial and
agreeable to our organs, as it contains the greatest amount of carbon
hydrates and the best proportion of albumen."
Sir Henry Thompson, M. D., F. R. C. S.: "It is a vulgar error to regard
meat in any form as necessary to life. All that is necessary to the
human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom.... The vegetarian
can extract from his food all the principles necessary for the growth
and support of the body, as well as for the production of heat and
force. It must be admitted as a fact beyond all question that some
persons are stronger and more healthy who live on that food. I know how
much of the prevailing meat diet is not merely a wasteful extravagance,
but a source of serious evil to the consumer."
The following special cablegram from London to the New York "Sun," July
3d, 1898, contains a practical illustration of the superiority of a
vegetable diet:
"The vegetarians are making a great ado over the triumph of their theory
in the long-distance test of walking endurance, seventy miles, in
Germany, this week. The twenty-two starters included eight vegetarians.
The distance had to be covered within eighteen hours. The first six to
arrive were vegetarians, the first finishing in 14 1/4 hours, the second
in 14 1/2, the third in 15 1/2, the fourth in 16, the fifth in 16 1/2, and the
sixth in 17 1/2. The last two vegetarians missed their way and walked five
miles more. All reached the goal in splendid condition. Not till one
hour after the last vegetarian did the first meat-eater appear,
completely exhausted. He was the only one. Others dropped off after
thirty-five miles."
There is no question of the great economy of vegetarianism. Dr. Alcott,
in "Arguments for Vegetarianism," says:
"Twenty-two acres of land are needed to sustain one man on fresh meat.
Under wheat that land will feed forty-two people; under oats,
eighty-eight; under potatoes, maize, or rice, one hundred and
seventy-six; under the banana, over six thousand. The crowded nations of
the future must abandon flesh-eating for a diet that will feed more than
tenfold people by the same soil, expense and labor. How rich men will be
when they cease to toll for flesh-meat, alcohol, drugs, sickness, and
war!"
"Suffer the ox to plough, and impute his death to age and Nature's
hand.
Let the sheep continue to yield us sheltering wool, and the goats
the produce of their loaded udders.
Banish from among you nets and snares and painful artifices,
Conspire no longer against the birds, nor scare the meek deer, nor
hide with fraud the crooked hook; ....
But let your mouths be empty of blood, and satisfied with pure and
natural repasts."[1]
[1] Imputed to Pythagoras.
COMPARATIVE TABLES
OF
Vegetable and Animal
FOODS.