Now look at the jaws of a horse. His lower
jaw is quite movable from sid» to side. Instead
of pointed teeth they are flat, and every ar-
rangement is made for grinding, not cutting,
the food ; and this is the character of the mouth
of a herbivorous animal. If, however, we take
the skull of a man, we find he has certain teeth
— canine teeth — which, like those of lions and
tigers, have the power of cutting, but he has
also flat teeth, and the power of moving his
lower jaw laterally, and can bring these flat
teeth across each other for the purpose of grind-
ing his food ; so that you see he is evidently
provided with instruments to enable him to
prepare for his digestion both vegetable and
animal food. I might prolong this argument
by showing you the complicated structure of
the stomach of the sheep and the ox, and, com-
paring this with the stomach of the lion, point
to the fact that the human stomach has neither
the complicated stiucture of the one nor the
simplicity of the other. There are many other
points of structure in which man seems to stand
between these two groups of animals — the her-
bivorous on the one side, and the carnivorous
on the other — which would seem to indicate
his adaptation for taking both kinds of food.
" But whatever may be the arguments of the
vegetarians, they do not practically carry out
their doctrines, for they partake of considerable
quantities of animal food. They take milk, and
butter, and cheese, and eggs. A well-known
authority states that he has taken a vegetarian
cookery book, and calculated the quantity of
milk, butter, and eggs employed in their food,
and found that, if a vegetarian family lived in
accordance with the rules of this book, each
member would consume half an ounce more
animal food a day than he did in his own family
— and he was no vegetarian. So that you see
people are deceiving themselves who enforce
such a doctrine as this.
" On the other hand, there are some persons
who advocate a diet of purely animal food. I
had a book sent me the other day, written by a
gentleman at Liverpool, who states that he has
discovered that the panacea for all human evils
is the taking of animal food alone ; and he
takes the opportunity of stating that he is
looking for some young lady of similar prin-
ciples and practice who will link her fortunes
with his own, and establish a family of cami-
vorians.
" There is no question that man may live on
a purely vegetable diet ; but the question is as
to whether that kind of diet is best for the
commimity. We find in the history of man
that those races who have partaken of animal
food are the most vigorous, the most moral, and
the most intellectual races of mankind. We
find that the ancient Jews, although they had
certain sanitary regulations in regard to killing
and eating animals, partook largely of meat,
and were amongst the most vigorous people of
their day. We find in modern Europe that
those nations who take the most animal food
are the strongest ; and amongst ourselves it is
just in proportion as we give our labourers
animal food, or wages to procure it, that they
are stronger and better able to do their work.
It is vain for a man to expect to get through
intellectual or physical labour without an abun-
dant supply of the material of thought and of
physical power, and animal food is one of the
readiest moans of affording this supply."
Page 2191
Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Now look at the jaws of a horse. His lower jaw is quite movable from side to side. Instead of pointed teeth they are flat, and every arrangement is made for grinding, not cutting, the food ; and this is the character of the mouth of a herbivorous animal. If, however, we take the skull of a man, we find he has certain teeth — canine teeth — which, like those of lions and tigers, have the power of cutting, but he has also flat teeth, and the power of moving his lower jaw laterally, and can bring these flat teeth across each other for the purpose of grinding his food ; so that you see he is evidently provided with instruments to enable him to prepare for his digestion both vegetable and animal food. I might prolong this argument by showing you the complicated structure of the stomach of the sheep and the ox, and, comparing this with the stomach of the lion, point to the fact that the human stomach has neither
the complicated structure of the one nor the simplicity of the other. There are many other points of structure in which man seems to stand between these two groups of animals — the herbivorous on the one side, and the carnivorous on the other — which would seem to indicate his adaptation for taking both kinds of food.
" But whatever may be the arguments of the vegetarians, they do not practically carry out their doctrines, for they partake of considerable quantities of animal food. They take milk, and butter, and cheese, and eggs. A well-known authority states that he has taken a vegetarian cookery book, and calculated the quantity of milk, butter, and eggs employed in their food, and found that, if a vegetarian family lived in accordance with the rules of this book, each member would consume half an ounce more animal food a day than he did in his own family — and he was no vegetarian. So that you see people are deceiving themselves who enforce such a doctrine as this.
" On the other hand, there are some persons who advocate a diet of purely animal food. I had a book sent me the other day, written by a gentleman at Liverpool, who states that he has discovered that the panacea for all human evils is the taking of animal food alone ; and he takes the opportunity of stating that he is looking for some young lady of similar principles and practice who will link her fortunes with his own, and establish a family of carnivore..
" There is no question that man may live on a purely vegetable diet ; but the question is as to whether that kind of diet is best for the community. We find in the history of man that those races who have partaken of animal food are the most vigorous, the most moral, and the most intellectual races of mankind. We find that the ancient Jews, although they had certain sanitary regulations in regard to killing and eating animals, partook largely of meat, and were amongst the most vigorous people of their day. We find in modern Europe that those nations who take the most animal food are the strongest ; and amongst ourselves it is just in proportion as we give our labourers animal food, or wages to procure it, that they are stronger and better able to do their work. It is vain for a man to expect to get through intellectual or physical labour without an abundant supply of the material of thought and of physical power, and animal food is one of the readiest means of affording this supply."