Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-07-08
The Truth About vogetarianism.

From the London Spectator.
sepoy regiment which means it will walk
European regiment to death, and do it on food
which their competitors would pronounce in
sufficient to sustain vigorous life. A regular
Hindostanee carrier, with a weight Of eighty
pounds on his shoulders-carried, of course, in
two divisions hung on his neck by q yoke
will, II properly paid, lope along over a hundred
miles in twenty-four hours q feat which would
exhaust any but the best trained English run
ners. We feel, indeed, some doubt whether
the relation between the power Of walking and
what is properly called physical strength" ia
at all q close one Many classes of Bengalees,
who are feeble folk, seem in walking tireless,
and ii Is within the knowledge OF Us all that
many comparatively feeble Englishmen can
walk all day and sit down at the end far less
fatigued than men who, in a struggle, would
throw them in five minutes on their backs.
Weight has much to do with it, and lung con-
dition. and, above all, a certain soundness Of
the sinews which has no more relation to the
strength Of those sinews than the tenacity Of
fiber, silk, for example, has to its bulk.
We believe the truth about vegetarianism to
be this-th6 1t almost invariably Injuries those
who adopt it after being accustomed to flesh
diet; that it requires invariably and absolutely
consumption OF milk not easy to secure in
northern Europe; but that, at the cost Of some
energy and much power Of resisting disease,
the majority of men can live on vegetables
without any grave reduction in their physical
strength. They can do most kinds of hard
work-not alias well as their neighbors, and
can do sedentary work probably little better,
though we must add that. owing to diminished
energy, they are usually not equally inclined to
do it. They lose recurrent pleasure of some
value, the satisfaction of being full fed-your
vegetarian feeling hunger frequently and
sharply-but they gain quite remarkably in the
cost of their food. The reduction in expense
Is considerable in all cases; and II Europeans
could be taught the full value as food Of haricot
beans, Of lentils and of millet, as containing
not only nourshment but nitrogen, and could
obtain milk at reasonable cost, the reduction
would be very great indeed. probably more than
one-half. In an experiment wo heard Of
lately, in which the haricot beans were
much employed, the saving was greater than
that: and, indeed, the question only needs dis
cussion because Of the price Of milk, and be-
cause Of the rather exaggerated idea as to the
quantity Of vegetable food which must be pro-
vided, quantity which varies not only with
each person, but with the kind Of food con-
sumed. man may eat garden stuff all day
and not get the sustenance which he will OBJ
tain out Of comparatively small quantity of
beans, millet or wheat. Economy Is the I'M
questionable pull of vegetarianism and we
should say the only one. though the practice
does not diminish strength in anything like the
proportion which fesh eaters imagine. They
confuse strength and energy, and forget that
the mass of mankind never can or will get any,
thing but the cereals and other vegetables to
eat. To abandon flesh diet is not to ad-
vance, but only to go back to the involuntary
practice Of the majority Of the unclvilized.