Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-04
THE VEGETABLE DIET
1t Is Better From the Standpoints Of
Health and Economy.
POPULAR ERRORS ABOUT NEAT.
About Two-Fifths of the Worlds Popula-
tion Abjure Flesh.
THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST
WRITTEN FOR THE DrsrAroH.,

WRITTEN FOR THE DrsPATcH.I
OF modern vegetarians, the greater part are
such from religious conviction; as witness
the immense body of Orientals, embracing
Brahmins, Buddhists, and others. number
ing in all at least some 800, 100000. Vege-
tarians from racial habit, and those who are
such per force, or from principles of economy,
come next in number. The scientific vege-
| tartan, and the vegetarian from esthetic and
humane principles. close tine list. ALI told,
probably two-f fths of the world speculation
are vegetarian in diet.
| But, whatever the moving cause or motive
thereto, the results, other things being
! equal are substantially the same. The
! physically healthiest and strongest portions
of mankind are said to be found among these
voluntary or enforced followers of Pytha-
gorean doctrine. These often quoted
"beeffed Briton," is no example to the con-
trary, his sturdy physique being largely
matter of inheritance from forefathers, who
rarely, if ever, used meat as an ordinary
article of diet Before, however, entering
upon the rationale of the vegetarian argu-
ment, we present that advocating the use OF
meat, and the vegetarion's dissent thereto.
POINTS OF THE MEAT EATERS.
Meat, it is claimed, is ~ more easily
digested, because of having already passed
through the process of digestion in the body
of the animal slain; and, (2) that because
of the immense amount of food consumed by
the herbivora in particular, man, by eating
its flesh, gets his own in more concen-
fr,f fod ,vl x1if forr tb,k -,
richer in certain elements of physical force,
noticeably and superlatively, nerve and
motor force; (4) that 1t has at least two nu-
tritive elements not to be found elsewhere.
viz, gelatine and chondrine; (5) that meat
has valuable stimulent and tonic properties
peculiar to itselr.
The first argument the vegetarian contro-
i verts, claiming that the latest analytical
and experimental. chemistry does not sup
port it. Scientifically prepared tables, the
result OF experiment on man himself, show
that taken as a whole. vegetarian diet is
actually easier to dispose Of than an animal
one. But even the plant world must needs
digest Its formative elements before it can
appropriate them, and the vegetarian insists
that shat which plant and animal have
once digested and assimilated, at once COM
mence to harden back again in the human
system and that for man to be in any appre
ciable degree benefited by the process that
takes place in the animals interior, he
should be able to appropriate its provender
while in its ehyle state" Take it one way
or the other, then, the argument in question
has no actual foundation to stand on what
ever.
ANIMALS DOM STORE FOOD.
The second claim is also sturdily ques-
toned. Granted that the herbivora con-
sumo an immense amount of food, it is food
OF that kind best suited to their own Pc
culiar needs. Mans natural diet, we repeat,
is fruits, grains and vegetables; and these,
the herhivora are not. as general thing,
disposedior able to get as ordinary articles of
diet. The food elements, therefore, that
man derives from their flesh are not particu-
larly suited to his own system. The vege-
tartan, however, denies that there Is any
such concentration of food elements
in the flesh of animals. They eat
for the same purpose that we 90
that is. to support life and use up their
vital forces in the same manner also. That
which goes to the formation OF fat and fiber
is then but the residuum and the coarser
and least nourshing OF the elements con-
sumed. Couple this with the fact that these
coarser animal elements are not particularly
rich in the substances best suited to man,
and the force OF this especial argument also
becomes almost nil.
The claim that meat is richer in certain |
elements of force than a vegetable or fruit
diet, has also little if any weight from the
vegetarian point of view. Tables prepared
by Fresenius. Pavy. Letheby, Church,
Wolff, Knopp and others, show conclusively
that the plant and vegetable world has all
the nutritive elements present in animal
tissue, and has then rather
THE MORE ABUNDANTLY. J
The argument to the contrary is based |
chiefly upon an error made by Leibig. |
Food elements are classed as nitrogenous or |
non-nitrogenous, and it was the German sci |
entist's opinion that the former contributed |
almost exclusively to growth and nutrition |
and to the production of muscular and ner- |
vous force, while the latter served only as |
lubricants of heat and lat. As meat is rich |
in heterogeneous substances, the misconcep-
tion concerning its nutritiue value is, there
fore, hardly matter of surprise. 1t is now
known to be almost exactly the contrary,
and that the production of nerve and motor
force is almost entirely due to the oxidation
of the non-nitrogenous substances the more
special task of the nitrogenous being that
'of giving birth to the substances that make
part of the animal organism ITSELF"
Now, the plant and vegetable world is
particularly rich in those non-nitrogenous
substances, furnishing, moreover, a whole
class of which there is hardly trace in
healthy animal tissue. We refer to the
carbohydrates or sugary bodies, to the oxi-
dation of which is principally due the evo-
luton of vital heat and energy.s
OF DISPUTED VALUE.
As to the two elements, ,gelatine and chon-
rine, their nutritive value has been greatly
disputed, the latest opinions being
that they serve to some slight extent to cover
proteid waste. Mineral salts and phosphites
are also found in sufficient quantities in
grains, fruits and vegetables; fruits, more
over, yielding the acids, which form so i'm
portant part in our diet. So far, there
fore, from being deficient in this respect, the
vegetarian menu may be made especially
rich and nourishing.
That meat has stimulant and tonic proper
ties peculiar to itself, is true in much the
same way as the like argument holds good
with regard to alcohol. 1t is stimulant of
the thermal force consuming kind, kindling
up temporary overplus OF heat and energy,
to be afterward followed by commensurate
1anguor and depression. Actual intoxica-
tion has been known to follow flesh eating
bv those not habituated 10 its use Excess
sive meat eaters are also apt to be pugnaci-
Gus, irritable and quarrelsome, a fact due to
this over stimulating property of its ele-
ments. We recognize the principle involved
when we feed our house dogs raw meat to |
make them alert and savage. As matter
of fact, however, all food is or should be
stimulant, the desideralum being a healthy
equipoise OF contrasting chemical forces, to
be brought about by right selection in the
matter Of ioOd-au equipoise most perfectly |
attained. it is claimed. by the use of a veve- |