have talked, and are talking, a great deal of downright nonsense in
their tirades against vegetarianism, and the only reason why they have
not been more widely brought to book is that they speak in orthodox
quarters where no reply is permitted. The oracle, of course, must not
be answered or criticised. So far as they have condescended to state a
case against food reform, it is a case which would be laughed out of
court, as a string of quibbles and absurdities, in any open discussion;
for the specialist, that most humourless of persons, is apt to forget
that the moment he quits the ground on which he has made himself a
master (and such ground has very narrow limitations) he is no longer
infallible, and that if he thinks to exorcise modern feeling by the
repetition of ancient formulas, he will only make himself ridiculous.
And as a matter of pure humour, apart from humanity, which is the more
comical—the man who can live in simple affluence on a supply of food
which is as little costly to himself as it is burdensome to others, or
he who cannot be content unless he gluts an ogreish appetite on animals
slaughtered for his larder, and then pharisaically pretends that he has
done them a kindness by eating them? It is custom, and custom alone—the
thraldom of that "ceaseless round of mutton and beef to which the dead
level of civilisation reduces us"[59]—that prevents civilised men from
seeing the essential silliness of maintaining the diet of savages.
Footnote 59:
Richard Jefferies, "Field and Hedgerows."
That a percentage of those who make trial of vegetarianism
should return to their former habit is in accordance with what
always happens in the fight between the new and the old, and at
the utmost—that is, in the rare cases where such trial has been
a genuine one—proves only that a change of diet is much more
difficult for some persons than it is for others, a fact which
all rational food reformers have recognised. But from the force
of _affirmative_ testimony there is no escape, when, as in the
case of vegetarianism successfully practised, and yielding the
best results, the instances are drawn from every rank and
temperament, and are amply sufficient in number to prove the
experience trustworthy. It is idle to go on asserting that a
thing cannot be done, when you are face to face with some
thousands of people who not only have done it, but are happier
and healthier in consequence.
With the question of the right choice of food, and how to adopt
vegetarianism, I am not here concerned; such information is
readily accessible in current vegetarian literature. But it must
be said in conclusion—and this is the thought which, above all
others, I would leave in the mind of the reader—that the surest
warrant of success in the reform of diet is a sincere belief in
the moral rightness of the cause. The _spirit_ in which one
takes up vegetarianism is the main factor in the result. It is
useless to look for any absolute proof in such matters—the proof
is in one's self—for those, at least, who have heart to feel,
and brain to ponder, the cruelty and folly of flesh-eating. It
is an issue where logic is as wholly on the one side as habit is
wholly on the other, and where habit is as certainly the shield
of barbarism as logic is the sword of humaneness.
INDEX
Adams, B. K., quoted, 68, 69
Æsthete, the, 51-54
Alarmist, the, 84-89
"All-or-Nothing" argument, 10-12 See Consistency
Animals, what would become of them? 86, 87
Animal products, use of, 5, 6, 42, 43, 109, 110
Anthropoid apes, 18-22
Anthropologist, the, 24-28
Anthropophagist, the, 95-98
Asceticism, 11, 72
Athletics, vegetarian, 60
Axon, W. E. A., quoted, 81
Bible and Beef, 89
Bon Vivant, the, 30-32
Brahminism, 43, 44, 87
British Islander, the, 67, 68
_British Medical Journal_, quoted, 29, 34, 62, 63
Buchanan, Robert, quoted, 96
Butchery, effect on character, 47-50
Canine teeth, argument from, 19
Cannibalism, 10, 64, 65, 73 (note);
its relation to flesh-eating, 95-97
Carnalist, the, 73
Carpenter, Edward, quoted, 71 (note), 106
Cartesian theory, 26
Carus, Dr. Paul, quoted, 86
Cattle transit, 31
Chemical argument, 9, 10
Chemist, the, 64-66
Cheyne, Dr., quoted, 60
Chicago shambles, 35, 36, 49, 55
Climate, argument from, 67-70
"Cock-and-Bull" argument, 42, 43
Coit, Dr. Stanton, quoted, 39
Consistency, true and false. See "All-or-Nothing," 41-46
Cramming system, 75, 76
Darwinian theory, 25, 26
Dembo, Dr., quoted, 32
De Quincey, quoted, 55
Digestibility of foods, 62-65
Diseased flesh, 58, 59
Drover, the, 31
Economy of vegetarian diet, 77, 78
Esquimaux, what would become of them? 68
"Ethics of Diet," 15 (note), 93
Ethical Societies, attitude towards Vegetarianism, 39, 104
Fish-eating, 45, 46, 82 (note)
Flinders Petrie, Professor, quoted, 97
Franklin, Benjamin, 24, 28
Fraser, J. F., quoted, 55
Frugivorous nature of Man, 18-22
Gordon-Cumming, C. F., quoted, 65
Grace before meat, 92, 93
Greg, W. R., quoted, 79, 80
Habit, influence of, 109, 113
Haig, Dr. A., 60, 61
Herbivora, the, 20, 62
Hofmann's Experiments, 64, 65
Hudson, W. H., quoted, 36
Humanity, synonymous with culture, 51, 54
Hunt, Leigh, quoted, 54, 93
Hygienic Aspect of Vegetarianism, 57, 58
Keith, Dr. G., quoted, 75
Kingsford, Dr. Anna, 13 (note), quoted, 74
Kropotkin, Prince, quoted, 25, 26, 81 (note)
Land question, the, 80
Lawrence, Sir William, quoted, 68
Leather, what should we do without? 84-86
Lester, H. F., quoted, 48, 50
Life, relative value of, 10, 27, 28, 42
Logic, uses of, 1, 109
"Man is what he eats," 71
Manure question, 85
Maxwell, Sir H., 38
Mayor, Rev. Professor J. E. B., 5, 21
_Meat Trades Journal_, quoted, 32, 89
"Metaphysic of the larder," 37-39
Michelet, Jules, quoted, 33, 34
Monastic orders, vegetarian diet of, 14, 74
Moral aspect of diet question, 10, 34, 72-74, 110
Nature, argument from, 24-28
Newman, Professor F. W., quoted, 58, 80
Nordau, Max, quoted, 81
Oldfield, Dr. J., quoted, 21 (note), 65, 70
Omnivorism, 20, 21, 99
Owen, Sir Richard, quoted, 18
Paley, Dr. William, quoted, 89
Patriot, the, 15, 16
Philanthropist, the, 84, 108
Plutarch, 14, 93
Progressive movement, relation of Vegetarianism towards, 102,
103
Psychic philosopher, the, 72, 73
"Pythagorean diet," the same as Vegetarianism, 4, 6
Reform and self-reform, 104
Reformer, the, 103, 104
Richardson, Sir B. W., quoted, 19, 47, 57, 59, 65, 66, 75, 77,
78
Rights of animals, 110
Ritchie, Professor D. G., 51
Roman soldiery, diet of, 15
Russell, Hon. R., quoted, 13 (note), 78 (note)
Schreiner, Olive, quoted, 99
Scientist, the, 19-23
Shaw, G. Bernard, quoted, 54
Slaughter-house, the, 32;
reform of, 39, 40
Slaughterman's work, effect on character, 47-50
Slavery, justified by Bible texts, 90, 91
Smith, Dr. T. P., quoted, 33, 43
Sophist, the, 37, 38
Sport, in relation to flesh-eating, 95, 96
Stead, W. T., 35, 36, 43, 44
Stephen, Leslie, 38
Superior Person, the, 9-11
Temperance Movement, 69
Tertullian, _Contra Psychicos_, 73 (note)
Textualist, the, 91
Thompson, Sir Henry, 5-7, 45, 96, 99, 105, 110
Thomson, J. Arthur, quoted, 26
Thoreau, quoted, 71, 72, 79, 100
Tuberculosis, danger of, 58
Turkish soldiery, diet of, 16
"Vegetarian," the name, origin, 4;
objections urged against it, 4-8, 109, 110;
why retained, 7, 8
Vegetarianism, misunderstandings of, 1, 2;
grades of, 6, 11;
its real purpose, 9-12, 110;
a moral principle, 9, 10, 29, 47, 73, 74, 110;
relation to other reforms, 101-108;
individual failures and successes, 111, 112, 116;
"inconvenience" of, 78
Vegetarian Society, its founding and principles, 4, 5, 45
Verbalist, the, 4, 5
Wages question, in relation to Vegetarianism, 79
Wallace, Dr. Alfred R., quoted, 36
Wilson, Dr. Andrew, 44, 45, 64, 65, 100
Wollaston's "Religion of Nature," 29, 30
Women's work at Deptford, 48
Woolman, John, quoted, 90, 91
Yeo, Dr. J. Burney, quoted, 77, 101, 102, 110
Zoophily, as related to Vegetarianism, 105-107
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS GUILDFORD
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FOOTNOTES:
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Transcriber’s Note
1. Punctuation and capitalization have been normalized.
Variations in hyphenation have been retained as they were in the
original publication. Index, Anthropophogist changed to
Anthropophagist.
2. Italicized words and phrases are presented
by surrounding the text with _underscores_.
3. This book uses = signs to begin and end Bold type.
End of Project Gutenberg's The Logic of Vegetarianism, by Henry Stephens Salt