Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1842-10-05
D1AIoGUE ON AzArING FrEsH.

DIALOGUE ON AEATING FLESH.
Being the Substance of a conversation
tchsch took place at Tavern bet,oeen
too Strangers at their brsaktast-tabie
G.-shall | help you to piece of the
steak, sir
A.-No. thank your sir.
G.-Will you take piece of the dried
fish, .hen, sir2
A.-No, sir; thank you.
CT Rathsr surPrised.) Will you take
neither2
Al never eat animal food, sir.
CIVIL you take some butter, then2
A.-No, sir.
G.-Some cheese?
A.-No, sir; | neither eat butter nor
cheese.
G.-But in relation to animal food, is il
not the opinion of medical men that in this
climate animal food is indispensable?
A.-That was once the prevailing
opinion among them, and it may be so still !;
nevertheless, there are many DIssENTERs.
/ G.-But do not the teeth and intestines
Indicate that we are formed to use MKT
ure OF animal and vegetable food?
A.-They do not, sir. On the contra
ry, the teeth and intestines Of man most
nearly resemble those of animals which,
in their native state, live wholly on fruits,
seeds, SC. | mean the monkey race.
G.-Do you mean TO give it as you
opinion, then, that man is frugiverous,
or fruit-eating animal?
A.-Most certainly lido.
G.-But how is it that physicians have
SO long taught different doctrine2
Al do not know. Perhaps they
have been misled by theory. The COM
! mon theory long has been, that man is by
nature part y carivorous, perhaps because
he Is so by custom or second nature; but
as have already asserted, anatomy and
physiology teach different doctrine; SO
do facts.
G.-But you mast be mistaken in re-
gard to facts. Those who live entirely
on vegetables for considerable period
are feeble, puny race.
A.-This know is commonly affirm
ed; but it really is not so. am we'll ac-
quainted with individuals who have lived
solely on vegetables and milk all their
lives, and | know of no persons more Wig
orous in body or mind.
G.-This does not prove any thing;
God has SO constituted Us, that he can sus-
tain US on almost anything, from the most
highly nutritious animal food alone, to the
coarsest vegetables aone-potatoes, fern
roots, and even bark In order to show
that mental and bodily vigor can be sus-
tanned on vegetable food alone, we must
find whole tribes of men living in this man.
ner,without deteriorating, from generation
to generation.
i A.-What you say is true. Individual
cases prove little, if any thing, because
there are SO many things concerned as
conditions for health, whether of body or
mind, that it is difficult to say how much
ought to be attributed to anv one thing,
even the food; SO that it is highly desira-
BILE to take the course YOU mention. Lee
US look, then, at men in masses. The
native New Hollanders live chiefly on
animal food; for even their fern,rooI
bread is chiefly pulverlzed flesh or fish,
The japanese, especially in the interior
Of Japan, live PRINCIPALLY on rice and fruits.
They not only eat no flesh, and, except
about the coast, no fish, or scarcely any,
but they have an aversion even 10 milk
Yet the New Hollanders are among the
most puny and meagre ofthe human race !;
while the Japanese have the most vigor-
Gus, healthy. well-formed bodies of any ma
ton in Asia, and, in regard 10 both physi-
clal and mental developments, fall little
short of the most enlightened and happy
nations of Europe.
! G.-But have not the japanese the best
climate2
AIN regard to climate and all other
/ circumstances except civilization for the
. Japanese are truly the most highly civil
zed-the New Hollanders appear to me
/ to have the advantage
G. But the Hindoos, who are vegeta.
bic eaters, are feeble race.
A.-You must consider thei: enerva-
Ting climate. and above all. their dreadful
, RIGHTEOUSNESS, from their very childhood.
Can you find nation of fesh-e eaters that,
under such circumstances are more vigor-
Gus! But again, you must compare Hin
doc with Hindoo. Do those Hindoes
J who, on account of their religion or any
other cause, eat animal food from genera
ton to generation, and yet indulge in
similar enervating habits 10 other respects,
possess any advantages over the vegetable
j eater Are the Chinese and Japanese on
, the coast, who eat fish to some extent, any
more healthy or long-lived than those of
J the interior! Do not the negroes of Africa,
who live chiefly on vegetables, possess
! far better bodies than the norlherr ma
ttions, that live almost entirely,u2on flesh
. The South Sea Islanders, too, who are
vegetable eaters, is it not expressly said
; that their strength and agility are so great,
hat iho atnniesf and most exnarf ENGLISH