The propriety or impropriety of slaughtering- animals for food, according to the altruistic views of vegetarians, does not come within the proper scope of this book; hence, we have nothing to say on this subject."

Then You Believe In Treating Foods According To Their Merits?

"Yes."

What Place Does Meat Deserve Among Our Foods?

"Speaking in a general way, it would not be far wrong to say that it deserves the long side of neglect."

Why So?

"Because its use is so much abused."

In What Way?

"By cooking it until it is indigestible and then eating from three to six times as much as the body needs."

"Well, Doctor, if you can demonstrate that, the butchers and doctors will both be after you for damage done their business."

"I don't see it in that way, for the people will have just as much money to spend and the doctor and butcher will get just as much of it as they do now, but in some other way.

But Where Is Your Proof?

"Well, to begin with, let us examine the composition of beef. It ranges as follows: Proteid or tissue-forming substance, from thirteen to twenty per cent; fat, from ten to thirty-three per cent; mineral matter, from one to three per cent; water, sixty to seventy-five per cent. This estimate is made without the bone. It will be seen from this, that the two principal elements of beef are fat and tissue-forming food "

Is The Fat Valuable?

"Not especially so. Beef fat is much more solid than many other kinds. It is not particularly pleasant to the taste and has nothing to recommend it. Cream and butter, and many other fats, are better for general use."

Then The Value Of Meat Must Be In Its Tissue-Forming Element?

"It is principally so."

Then What Is Your Objection To Meat?

"Well, as already explained, foods only serve two purposes; that of repairing the waste of the body, and furnishing it with fuel. Now, if an examination be made of the ordinary diet of persons who eat bread and potatoes, and more or less of other vegetables, it will be seen that the per cent of tissue-forming elements according to practical, instead of theoretical standards, is not much too low."

Then, If It Is Not Needed In The System, What Becomes Of It?

"It must be converted into-tissue, heat, or be excreted, and as many have a tendency to eat too much heat or force-producing food, the surplus cannot, in such cases, be converted into heat, but must be excreted from the system."

In What Way?

"By The Kidneys In The Form Of Uric Acid And Urea."

How About The Savages Who Live Almost Exclusively On Meat?

"There is no doubt but what their strength and endurance was of a very high character, but that is easily explained. The Indian, in his original savage state, was not cursed with the frying pan, nor was he handicapped by hereditary weaknesses common to the frailties of civilization. But these are not the principal reasons. It was his out-door life, roaming over forests, mountains and valleys, that gave him a vigor of constitution which made it possible to live on any kind of a diet which furnished the necessary nutriment.'"

Then Injury From Meat Is Not Apparent, Provided It Be Wholly Used Up In The System?

"That is it; but the fact that it isn't used up makes us deal with conditions just as we find them."

What Is The Consequence When The Surplus Of Meat Is Not Used Up And Has To Be Thrown Out Of The System By The Kidneys?

"Well, that may go on for a considerable time without any apparent injury, while in many people, some disorder would be noticed at once. It has been learned by one of the greatest physicians of England that headaches, asthma, rheumatism and many other of the common ailments, are, to a large extent, due to the defective excretion of nitrogenous waste matter from excessive use of meats."

How Is It That Trainers For Athletic Contests Use Meat Almost Exclusively?

"No person having regard for the truth could fail to speak of these matters as they are, and it is not my purpose to advocate any food merely to support a theory."

Then You Recognize That Trainers Have Gotten Good Results From A Meat Diet?

"There is no doubt of that, any more than that good results have been obtained without meat."

But, Doctor, You Say That The Evils Resulting From Meat Diet Are Great. How Do You Harmonize That With What You Have Said About The Diet Of Athletes?

"That is easy enough. The conditions under which a prize fighter is trained are very different from the ordinary individual."

In What Way?

"Well, for a prize fighter, the greatest care is taken in the selection and preparation of his foods, and the food is supplied in amounts exactly suitable for his condition. Then in addition to this, the great amount of physical exercise burns up or uses up every bit of food taken into the system, and besides the exercise, the baths and massage make the skin very active in eliminating the effete tissue. Such conditions cannot be compared in any way with ordinary living."

"You spoke of the athletes having their meat very carefully prepared."

"The greatest care is taken in cooking meat for a prize fighter, and it is usually done in this way: Three choice steaks are cut, placed together and put on the broiler; the first coming in contact with the fire until it is cooked, and then the three are turned over so that the top steak is brought in contact with the broiler. The middle steak-is cooked from the heat of the other two, and besides absorbs more or less of their juices."

Then The Prize Fighter Eats The Middle Steak?

"Yes, He Gets The Best And The Rest Is Either Thrown Away Or Fed To Admiring Animals Not In Training."

Cooking All Meats?

"Why not apply this principle, as far as possible, to

"It should be. There is no article of food so badly cooked as meat. Tender, raw meat is, comparatively speaking, easily digested; but meat cooked until it is solid, especially if it be fried, is very difficult to digest, and sometimes seems absolutely indigestible."