Animal food as a strengthening article of diet is fast falling into the same category with alcohol. The idea sometimes pre- sented, that in order to be strong, a person must partake of the flesh of a strong ox (without considering the source from which the ox obtains strength), is akin to the belief of the head-hunter, who imagines that by sacrificing a strong man's life and feasting upon his heart, he may imbibe the strong man's bravery and strength. There were many ancient men of renown who are known to have been vegetarians. We may mention first of all, Daniel and his three companions in Babylon. He requested for himself a vegetarian diet in preference to the flesh and wine served from the king's table. His consequent good health and physical vigor made possible a great intellect; and at the end of three years, he had ten times as much wisdom as the great men of the king's realm. (Daniel 1:8-21.) Then we may mention the well-known 47 "The fancied strength from meat is, like the fancied strength from alcohol, an illusion;" names of such men as Plutarch, Tolstoy, Pythagoras, Linnaeus, Seneca, Buddha, Plato, the Stoics; and a host of others if time and space would permit. FLESH EATING A CAUSE OF DISEASE There remains but to call attention to the fact that cattle in this and other lands suffer to a great extent of malignant diseases, such as cancer, tuberculosis, anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, Bright's disease, etc., and that a large proportion of the flesh obtained daily through the regular channels and consumed as food, is that of animals killed when suffering of one or more of these maladies. The prevalence and increase of ulcer of the stomach, cancer, Bright's disease, and tuberculosis, undoubtedly bear a close relation to the modern excessive use of flesh as food. It is customary to sell the flesh of tuberculous animals for food, even when portions of the animal are condemned. Quite recently, as brought to the writer's notice, a herd of dairy cows in a near-by canyon, when subjected to the tuberculin test, gave 80% reactors; whereupon the whole herd were sold as "feeders," and sent to a pasture land to await their turn in supplying beef- steak to the unsuspecting public. One housewife, having purchased 48 SCIENCE of FOOD ancC COOKERY beef at the counter, upon returning home found the meat so con- spicuously full of lumps and spots that she sent it to the inspector. After careful examination of the beef in question, he gave the following verdict: "There is a certain amount of tuberculosis in the meat, but not more than the law allows." If the organs of an animal prove, on examination, to be tuber- culous, how can the blood that circulates through these organs be pure? And if the blood is impure, what hope is there that the flesh is untainted with disease? And if the flesh is tainted with disease, how can it be fit for human food?

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Animal food as a strengthening article of diet is fast falling into the same category with alcohol. The idea sometimes presented, that in order to be strong, a person must partake of the flesh of a strong ox (without considering the source from which the ox obtains strength), is akin to the belief of the head-hunter, who imagines that by sacrificing a strong man's life and feasting upon his heart, he may imbibe the strong man's bravery and strength. There were many ancient men of renown who are known to have been vegetarians. We may mention first of all, Daniel and his three companions in Babylon. He requested for himself a vegetarian diet in preference to the flesh and wine served from the king's table. His consequent good health and physical vigor made possible a great intellect; and at the end of three years, he had ten times as much wisdom as the great men of the king's realm. (Daniel 1:8-21.) Then we may mention the well-known "The fancied strength from meat is, like the fancied strength from alcohol, an illusion;" names of such men as Plutarch, Tolstoy, Pythagoras, Linnaeus, Seneca, Buddha, Plato, the Stoics; and a host of others if time and space would permit. FLESH EATING A CAUSE OF DISEASE There remains but to call attention to the fact that cattle in this and other lands suffer to a great extent of malignant diseases, such as cancer, tuberculosis, anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, Bright's disease, etc., and that a large proportion of the flesh obtained daily through the regular channels and consumed as food, is that of animals killed when suffering of one or more of these maladies. The prevalence and increase of ulcer of the stomach, cancer, Bright's disease, and tuberculosis, undoubtedly bear a close relation to the modern excessive use of flesh as food. It is customary to sell the flesh of tuberculous animals for food, even when portions of the animal are condemned. Quite recently, as brought to the writer's notice, a herd of dairy cows in a near-by canyon, when subjected to the tuberculin test, gave 80% reactors; whereupon the whole herd were sold as "feeders," and sent to a pasture land to await their turn in supplying beefsteak to the unsuspecting public. One housewife, having purchased beef at the counter, upon returning home found the meat so conspicuously full of lumps and spots that she sent it to the inspector. After careful examination of the beef in question, he gave the following verdict: "There is a certain amount of tuberculosis in the meat, but not more than the law allows." If the organs of an animal prove, on examination, to be tuberculous, how can the blood that circulates through these organs be pure? And if the blood is impure, what hope is there that the flesh is untainted with disease? And if the flesh is tainted with disease, how can it be fit for human food?

Science of food & cookery