The average medical man is an advocate of a mixed diet. In my experience he advises his patients to eat one-fourth of what he consumes as animal food. The vegetarian, on the contrary, declines flesh altogether, and he has some excellent reasons, although he goes a little too far as an advocate of the system he follows. Man, however, who can eat what he likes, declines both of these courses, and makes flesh in some form his Alpha and Omega at each of the three real meals of the day.

A vegetarian is apparently one who abstains from all animal food, with the exception of eggs and milk and its products. As the need for economy has given great encouragement to abstention from meat on account of its price, this system of feeding the body has obtained greater prominence than ever before, and it is quite probable that the advantage which many derive from it will largely expand the ranks of vegetarians.

It may be well to examine the claims of vegetarians and of meat-eaters respectively, and, as I have had an almost unique experience, I take up the task.

The vegetarian asserts that flesh-eating is not only injurious to the body, but to the mind, and therefore to the supreme happiness of man; and that, on the contrary, vegetable food contributes to both moral and physical health and long life.

That meat is a costly, extravagant, unnecessary, and an unscriptural food.

That flesh-eating is more deadly than alcohol-drinking, inasmuch as it is the direct, or indirect, cause of some of the most dangerous of organic and other diseases.

Now let us see what the meat-eater says, although it is next to impossible to find any organised claims for his favourite dishes, for he makes them the chief food of his life.

He tells us that flesh is essential for the manufacture of muscle, and thus for the provision of strength; that it is not injurious to health; and that without it man is not properly fed.

That the protein in animal food which is employed in the construction of the muscular system is better absorbed, and a greater conserver of energy, than the protein of plants.

That a vegetable feeder must consume a much larger quantity of food than his system is constructed to deal with without disagreeable results, and that he is less energetic and less able to withstand disease.

I believe these claims fully represent the views of the man who is able to defend the system he follows. It is, however, certainly true that, unlike vegetarians - some of whom go to the other extreme, and, as I discover, make some unhappy mistakes - the average meat-eater has not studied either the scientific or the practical side of the subject. He holds his position as a matter of course, and his system as granted. Flesh-eating is part of his nature, his everyday life; and he regards those who dispute its appropriate character as cranks.

This is not the right attitude from which to discuss a serious subject. The meat-eater should face the question with courage, for, if he is wrong, his health and his happiness - indeed, his whole life - may depend upon that. Is meat-eating injurious? Meat - i.e. the muscular tissue of fish, flesh, or fowl, is an abundant producer of uric acid, the prime cause of many serious bodily troubles. That fact is never disputed, although poor, suffering men are seldom advised to abandon the food of its origin.

Consistent meat-eating, which materially differs from the practice of the moderate man, means the consumption of two, three, or even four times as much muscle producer as the body requires, but not one in ten thousand understands or believes it. The virtue of meat is supposed to exist in its power to build up the body. The adult system of man simply demands protein for the repair of his muscular tissue, not its construction, and for this purpose he can obtain all he requires from the cereals, pulses, vegetables, and fruits, with bread, eggs, milk, and cheese, if he chooses to eat them. Thus, meat is more than superfluous, for it puts extra pressure on the heart and the organs of digestion and secretion. The result is the frequent collapse of one or more of these vital parts of our human machinery.

I am informed by one of the foremost of European authorities - whose experience extends to thousands of cases - that meat-eating is accompanied by the flourishing life and activity of specific intestinal bacteria, which are engaged in the constant production of matter of a poisonous character. This product, if borne with equanimity by youth and vigorous manhood, is a special danger to middle-aged men. When meat is abandoned in favour of a non-animal diet, in which fruit plays a prominent part, the germs are expelled, and the trouble rapidly ceases, for the food is no longer appropriate to their active existence.

Meat

Meat is a stimulant, acting as all stimulants do, depressing the muscular system, arousing the animal passions, and creating a thirst for alcohol, coffee, and tea, all of which contain toxic materials, which are unknown to the non-animal feeder.

A vital feature in the composition of food is its mineral matter. If this is deficient - as it is in meat and white bread - the blood, and therefore vitality and brain power, suffers. Where food consists solely of bread, cereals, pulse, vegetables, and fruits without removing the skins, the red corpuscles of the blood are largely increased, and the devitalised invalid becomes a vigorous man, and pills and potions are no longer required.

I have arrived at these conclusions by practice and investigation, and I can confirm them in the light of the medical explanation of facts. Health, happiness, mental and physical vigour, sleep, and a calm confidence in a glorious future - all are the result of the almost entire abandonment of flesh-eating.

Now let us examine the claims of those vegetable foods which the meat-eater objects to consume to the exclusion of meat, but on which the vegetarian lives a longer and happier life.

Man requires for the maintenance of his health and vigour food material in four forms - (1) the muscle builder (protein), (2) the heat and energy producers, chiefly starch and sugar (known as carbohydrates), (3) fat or oil; and (4) the mineral salts, which are so largely responsible for the enrichment of the blood and the construction of the bones and the teeth.