A person in vigorous health can usually manage to dispose of toxins taken into his body in this fashion as well as the poisons generated by his own organism, but only at the expense of a great deal of hard work. Persons who have a tendency to manufacture more poisons than they can manage conveniently - for instance, gouty and rheumatic persons who have a tendency to manufacture an excess of uric acid - are, however, almost sure to suffer unless their use of meat is limited to extremely small quantities.

Allied with these facts is the discovery that meat-eating apparently tends to increase the number and virulence of the bacteria in the lower intestines.9 In view of Elie Metchnikoff's recent declaration10 that it is primarily the presence of these organisms in the colon that causes the human body to break down or wear out before its time, this fact alone would seem to add considerable weight to the argument for reduced consumption of flesh food.

In defense of their uncompromising condemnation of meat-eating, vegetarian dogmatists usually bring out the argument that the most spiritual and intellectual men of all ages have discouraged the use of animal-flesh for food; or quote from the Scriptures to prove that they have inspired authority;11

9 Chittenden: "Nutrition of Man," pp. 299-993.

10 Elie Metchnikoff: "The Nature of Man," "The Prolongation of Life." G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

11 A favorite reference of the kind occurs in the first chapter of the book of Daniel, where it is related how the budding prophet, after having rejected the meats and wines but the leaders of the new movement have considered the subject from a purely physiological view-point. On this point Professor Fisher says:

"Vegetarian fanaticism has done much to defeat its own ends. From the premise often bolstered up by theological dogma - that flesh-eating is wrong, the inference is drawn that it must be unhygienic. This reasoning is so utterly at variance with the methods of modern science as to stamp those who use it as victims of bigoted prejudice, and to prevent any genuine scientific investigation. At present the tendency of such investigations as those of Chittenden, Mendel, Folin, Metchnikoff, Caspari, Le Fevre, Fauvel and others have a distinct trend towards a fleshless dietary. And yet, such are the associations of the term 'vegetarian,' that many are loath to grant even what is due to the tenets of 'vegetarianism.' of the king's table and subsisted on pulse and water for ten days, was found "fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children that did eat of the king's meat," and " ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all the realm."

The proper scientific attitude is to study the question of meat-eating in precisely the same manner as one would study the question of bread-eating," 12

It is quite possible to overeat on proteid without making use of meat at all. The old-fashioned vegetarians who substituted for meat an equivalent of proteid derived from nuts, peas, beans, lentils - or, in the case of the so-called "lacto-vegetarians," eggs, and milk and the milk-products - were probably not deriving as much benefit from their abstention from meat as they should have done if they had not been so careful to replace it with non-flesh proteid - particularly as the non-flesh sources of proteid have many of the disadvantages of meat. Uric acid exists in large quantities in all the legumes. Eggs contain a substance known as xanthin, which is closely allied to uric acid. The decomposition products of the "ripe" cheeses, so highly prized by epicures, are only less dangerous than those of meat.

12 Irving Fisher, Ph. D., "The Influence of Flesh-eating on Endurance," Yale Medical Journal, March, 1907.

Milk is so extremely susceptible to contamination by bacteria that some persons have gone so far as to condemn it as an article of food except for nursing infants. Accordingly the restrictions in the use of meat may be applied with advantage to the meat-substitutes as well.

In addition to the 60 grams or two ounces of proteid, enough carbohydrate food should be taken every day to make up a total fuel value of from 2000 to 3000 calories, according to the degree of bodily activity, "The man whose work is mainly mental," says Professor Chittenden, "has no real need for high fuel values in his daily ration. For such a man, a high potential energy in the daily intake of food is an incubus and not a gain. Body equilibrium can be maintained on far less than 3000 calories per day by the brain worker. . . . Moreover, as our experiments have clearly indicated, even the man who is called upon to perform considerable physical work has no apparent need for a fuel value in his food of 3000 calories per day. No doubt, the man who works at hard labor for ten or twelve hours a day will require a larger intake of fats and carbohydrates, sufficient to yield even more than 8000 calories, but this is not true of the moderate worker, nor of the average man whose work is in large measure mental rather than physical." 13

The following dietary, outlined by Professor Chittenden, will give the reader a general idea of the kind and amount of food required for the proper proportions of pro-teid and carbohydrate food, and will furnish him with a basis for working out a balanced ration for himself.

13 Chittenden: "Physiological Economy in Nutrition," p. 476.

"The grand totals for the day, with this dietary, amount to 58.07 grams of proteid (2 oz. approx.) and 2729 calories. It is of course understood that these figures are to be considered as only approximately correct, but the illustration will suffice, perhaps, to give a clearer understanding of the actual quantities of food involved in a daily ration approaching the requirements for a man of 70 kilograms (154 pounds) body-weight. Further, there may be suggested by the figures given for proteid and fuel value of the different quantities of foods, a clearer conception of how much given dietary articles count for in swelling the total value of a day's intake. Moreover, it is easy to see how the diet can be added to or modified in a given direction. If a little more proteid is desired without changing materially the fuel value of the food a boiled egg can be added to the breakfast, for example. An average-sized egg of 53 grams (2 oz.) contains 6.9 grams of proteid, while it will increase the fuel value of the food by only 80 calories. Or, if more vegetable proteid is wished for, a soup of split-peas can be introduced, without changing in any degree the calorific value of the diet.