VEGETA'BIANISM, the doctrine that vegetable substances are the solids intended by nature for the sustenance of man, and that it is wrong—against nature and against good morals—for men to make use of an animal diet. There have never been wanting among speculative persons some who maintained that fruits and vegetables are the proper food for men ; and illustrious names, such as those of Pythagoras, Plato, Plutarch, in ancient times—of Rousseau, Shelley, Swedenborg, in modern, can be counted among the upholders of this doctrine. A society for promoting the practice of vegetarianism was established at Manchester in 1847; and three years later, a similar society was established in the United States. Besides a short-lived publication called the 'Vegetarian Advocate, the vegetarians in Great Britain have been represented by the Vegetarian Messenger (mont from 1849 to 1859; for one year by the Journal of Ilealth; from 1861 to 1871 by the' _Dietetic Reformer and Vegetarian Messenger (quarterly); and since 1871 by the Dietetic Reformer (monthly). The vegetarian creed has attracted very few disciples in England; and by these the advocacy of it has usually been conjoined with that of temperance, peace, homeopathy, and the cold-water cure.
There is, first, a physiological argument used in behalf of vegetarianism. It is said that the formation of the teeth and of the intestines in man proves that man was not intended to be a carnivorous, but a fruit and vegetable eating animal. Then it is main tained that a vegetable diet is the most favorable to man, in all respects, physical, intel lectual, and moral; that with it, his life is longer, his enjoyment of life greater, his brain more vigorous, and his power of manual labor not less than with an animal diet; and that, while the use of animal food begets ferocious dispositions, a carelessness about life, a cal lousness to the sufferings of men or animals, a vegetable diet "develops the gentler affec tions, and produces a broad and genial sense of brotherhood." Itis affirmed that animal food produces febrile and inflammatory tendencies; that, like alcohol, it is a stimulant (some vegetarians call it a stimulating 'Nilson); and that a mixed diet is open to all the objection which lie against moderate drinking, It is also alleged that animal food as exposed for sale is often tainted with some disease or unwholesome condition, and that it thus becomes a frequent cause of disease in men. Moreover, it is submitted that vegetables contain all the principles necessary for the sustenance of man; that, therefore, the use of flesh is unnecessary; and that this being so, it is selfish, cruel, and tyrannical— calculated, too, to increase selfishness, cruelty, and tyranny in men—to cut short the existence of inferior animals.
The opinion of physiologists is not favorable to vegetarianism. The structure of man's organs is held to prove that nature intended him for a omnivorous animal, his stomach and intestines being fitted for deriving nourishment from every kind of food, and he being able, by means of to modify his food so as to prepare it for masti cation and digestion. There is also almost a concurrence of medical experience against vegetarianism, and in favor of the opinion that man, as regards all his powers and facul ties, thrives best, and that—if a difference can be made out—he also lives longest upon a mixed diet. It has been found, in making railways, that differences between work men in respect of bodily strength and energy were chiefly due to a difference of diet; that, for example, a beef-eating Englishman would almost do the work of three vegetable•fed Frenchmen, and that this difference of working-power disappeared when the Frenchmen took to eating beef. Upon the alleged beneficent moral influence of vegetable food, it may be observed that there is no proof whatever of its reality; more over, that since the majority of mankind live either mostly or entirely upon vegetables, vegetables must bear a large share of the responsibility which may fall upon diet for the evil tendencies of man, and that, in fact, the most cruel and the most debased of human races live entirely upon vegetables. To the charge of cruelty brought against the practice of killing animals for food, it has been answered, that the plan of nature contemplates such cruelty—if cruelty it be—and makes it impossible to avoid it; that the microscope has shown its that even in taking a draught of water we may deprive a multitude of beings of life; and that, on the other hand, the system of rearing cattle for the butcher— since the cattle would otherwise not be reared at all—reallyadds very largely to the sum i of happy animal existence. It is not disputed that there is a liability to disease from the use of unwholesome meat; but, then, vegetables as well as animals are subject to diseases: and the reasoning which would drive us from the use of animal food because it may be diseased, would really cut us off from food altogether.