kingdom. In these the proteids are largely present, also fats in abundance and in forms better adapted to the human stomach than are olive oil, cotton seed oil and various nut oils, the fats of the vegetable world.3

It is most desirable, therefore, that an intelligible definition should be framed to indicate accurately the diet thus erroneously described as Vegetarian,' a term which denotes the consumption of food obtained only from the vegetable kingdom, and can by no possibility be accurately, that is, honestly, used to include anything else. At any rate, it must before all things exclude the use of the specific proteids and fats which animals have produced in a concentrated form (milk) for the purpose of insuring a healthy, rapid, and generous growth for their offspring, when they are too young to eat any vegetable food, and could not digest it if they did. In no single instance is the young of the mammals, to which order man belongs, capable of feeding on any vegetable product, whether natural or artificially blended, during infancy and early childhood. And when the mother's milk is deficient or naturally ceases, that of the cow slightly modified, but containing animal proteids, fats, carbo-hydrates and salts, can alone maintain healthy condition and confer full growing power on the young and active animal. All forms of vegetable are non-digestible by the infantile organs and when given too early, as they not infrequently are, produce great disturbance, diarrhoea, colic, and, by no means rarely, fatal results. Not until some teeth have appeared, is the child, as a rule, ready to make its first trial of vegetable food; and, for the first year or even more of life, it will generally thrive better on wholesome milk than on any other food. Thus man is born into the world a consumer of animal food, and it is for the vegetarian' to show cause for determining at what age, if at any, he should henceforth be compelled to restrict himself to a diet from the vegetable kingdom.

In another form of abstention-viz. that from alcohol in all its eat it cool with wholemeal bread and butter, and some Brazil or monkey nuts. No fluid.

'Dinner: Macaroni, a green vegetable, and wholemeal bread. Plain milk pudding afterwards; or a thick vegetable stew made from pearl barley, lentils, onion, and potato. Eat cool with wholemeal bread, and finish up with some milky pudding; or, make a dinner of wholemeal bread, an ounce or two of nuts, a little cheese or an egg and some milky pudding.

Tea: This may be porridge, like breakfast, or wholemeal bread and butter, a few nuts, some fruit and cup of cocoa' (p. 11).

An example given of vegetarian food adopted in racing by an athlete not said to be a vegetarian at other times:

The invincible Shorland believes in feeding every 20 miles or so when undergoing the strain of long-distance racing; rice puddings, stewed fruits, raw eggs, marmalade, &c., disappearing as if by magic' (p. 25).

3 Every egg contains a chicken! that is, the entire material wherewith to make one; and requires nothing to produce a living animal but a little rise of temperature, 103° or 104° Fahr. either naturally or artificially applied.

forms-which has been of great service, and might be far more largely extended, with incalculable advantage to the community, the practice is clear and defined. The 'total abstainer' means what he says, and does not take his daily or occasional glass of wine or beer, unless strongly advised by his doctor, and by no means always then. The term 'Vegetarian' will assuredly soon cease to have a meaning, if clearly drawn definitions be not adopted to distinguish the man who consumes only products of the vegetable kingdom from the man who adds thereto the animal proteids and fats which exist richly in eggs, in milk and its derivatives. The two individuals support life on wholly different dietetic principles; the latter being certainly a 'mixed feeder' and not a vegetarian. It is no part of my duty to discover an appropriate definition; but, in view of the present loose practice in regard to dietary, the terms 'a vegetarian' and simply a flesh abstainer' appear correctly to indicate respectively the two classes I have described.

And here I may remark that there are individuals, a few perhaps, in this country, who are strictly vegetable-eaters; while large populations exist on little else in the tropics, where a small proportion of animal food only is consumed and that mostly fat. On the other hand, in northern latitudes little or nothing besides animal food is attainable, and a vegetarian diet, if procurable, would not sustain life in those regions. For climate is an important factor in relation to food. Man, wherever he exists, has to maintain his body at a constant temperature of at least 98° Fahr.; and it is obvious that an enormous difference must exist between the needs of the individual who lives near the equator with all surrounding objects at a constant temperature of 85° to 95°, and those of one who inhabits northern latitudes where it is continuously below the freezing-point 32°, often to the extent of many degrees. In each case the temperature of the body must be maintained at 98° or a little more, or man will cease to exist. In the large and populous zone we inhabit, which forms so extensive a portion of Europe, Asia, South Africa, America, and Australasia, and is known as The Temperate Zone,' there are very few persons indeed who can sustain their health and a fair amount of strength for many years on a strictly vegetable diet. I have met with a few, but a very few, individuals who have been able to assure me that they have long enjoyed continuous good health and strength upon a diet of bread, made solely from flour or meal of any kind and water, the best green vegetables, roots and fruits, avoiding all milk, butter, cheese, and eggs. Hence, it is only possible to regard man-considered as an inhabitant of the world at large, and manifesting as he does a strong and increasing impulse to explore and colonise in any part of the globe -as now naturally omnivorous: in other words possessed of a constitution which requires a mixed diet of animal and vegetable foods for

his well-being, in relative proportions varying according to temperature and activity of life.

This conclusion is not to be determined by inferences drawn from the nature of his teeth, which may perhaps offer some indications, but by no means any decisive evidence respecting the question; although the character of his stomach and intestinal canal strongly support the view here taken. In any case, anatomical evidence only indicates the results of a long course of development in the organs of a given animal, adapting it to the circumstances by which it has been surrounded, with the accommodations of structure which have enabled it to survive in its struggle for existence, to occupy a prominent place in the fauna of its country. The history of man's passage through the stages of what is understood by civilisation indicates that he has gradually extended his resources in the matter of food, and has long been omnivorous to the extent which circumstances have permitted. The present condition of his teeth and digestive organs as a whole is but the expression of what his environments and his energy through long ages of evolution have made him.

6

In the same manner the great vegetable feeders have acquired special arrangements already referred to in the compound stomachs;' and some, like the rabbit for example, have an enormously large cæcum which is utilised for the digestion of the bulky green food they consume; while the corresponding organ in the human subject exists in little more than name, being merely a slight dilatation of the large intestine.

In respect of teeth, stomach, and intestine, the human type closely corresponds with that which predominates among the various species of monkey; the cæcum being rather larger in monkeys than it is in man. Monkeys are often spoken of as living exclusively on vegetable diet, but this is very far from the truth. Moreover, the four genera of anthropoid apes which more nearly approach man than any other, viz. the gibbons, the orang-outang, gorilla, and chimpanzee, in a state of nature obtain their sustenance from both animal and vegetable sources. The numerous species of smaller monkeys, as well as the great baboons, all ranking lower in the scale of approach to man, live largely on insects and small lizards which abound in the African and South American forests; the baboons preying on eggs and young birds. The large anthropoids, just referred to, also eat eggs and birds as well as small mammals, whenever they can get them, in addition to the fruits and nuts which form the great staple of their diet. Their mode of life, largely spent on the branches

4

+ See Anthropoid Apes, by Robt. Hartmann, Professor Univ. Berlin. Translated as vol. liii. in International Scientific Series' (London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1885), pp. 227, 255.

and higher parts of lofty trees, affords them great facilities for obtaining such food.

Few people are aware that the large chimpanzee so popular and well known as 'Sally,' in the Zoological Gardens, was not infrequently supplied with animal food, which she evidently consumed with great satisfaction. In has been observed also that the gorillas and chimpanzees in the Zoological Gardens at Berlin have a marked preference for animal food, of which they enjoy a small proportion. As above noticed, their organisation indicates that while they are certainly mixed feeders '--that is, obtain their food from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms-they have been accustomed to consume a larger proportion of vegetable matter than is usually adopted by man. And lastly, having regard to the evidence which inquiries into pre-historic records of man's life have revealed, as well as to our knowledge of his existence since, with what we have learned respecting the habits of savage tribes of recent date, it is impossible to doubt that his diet has long been a mixed one. Among the last-named class, we know that a certain quantity of animal food is always greatly prized as a welcome variation from the roots and fruits which must doubtless have largely contributed to sustain his daily life.

At the same time, I do not doubt that more flesh is consumed by a large part of our existing population than is absolutely necessary or desirable. This is especially to be observed among those who possess ample means, and whose employments do not necessarily demand great muscular exertion, exposure in all weathers, and other causes of wear and tear to the animal tissues. Where exercise is very largely taken and manual labour is hard and prolonged, the concentrated and easily digested proteids of flesh are the most valuable foods for man's purpose. Where there is but little physical labour or activity, a smaller proportion is mostly advisable, and a better state of bodily health may be generally assured by selecting an animal food-fish, poultry and game, for example-less rich perhaps in proteids, and especially so in fat, than are beef or mutton, adding a considerable proportion of cereals and other products of vegetable origin. Theoretically, the vegetable-eater, pure and simple, can doubtless find in his dietary all the principles adapted for the growth and support of the body as well as for the production of heat and energy, provided that he selects vegetable growths that contain all the essential elements named; but he should also possess that precious but somewhat rare endowment, an unimpaired and naturally strong digestion capable of assimilating enough to support a fair average amount of activity. His life should be largely spent in the pure open air of the country, and he should select certain proportions of wheaten bread, oatmeal, and dried lentils, peas, and beans, say with macaroni, as a change, for the staple of his diet chiefly to supply proteids, some carbo-hydrates and salts; moderate quantities of

potato, rice, sago, fruits, and vegetables as supplementary carbohydrates and salts; and maize in the form of polenta, and olive oil with salads to furnish additional fats. In this way all the necessary elements are obtained and in due proportion, so that the total sum of food per diem is not too bulky, which a strict vegetarian diet is prone to become.

No doubt, there is, as all observation in every department of natural history testifies, a great variety of results in comparing the individuals of any species, their wants, qualities, and endowments, &c. And no differences are greater in regard to such particulars than those which are manifested by man himself, the famous dictum notwithstanding, which declares his 'equality' with his fellows! whatever that may be taken to signify. And thus it may be admitted that some persons are stronger and more healthy who live very largely on vegetables, while there are many others for whom a proportion of animal food appears not merely to be desirable but absolutely necessary.

The question of diet as modified for man in advancing years may appropriately come here. During the term of middle life, when his activity is at its maximum, food may be generous in quality and in quantity, corresponding, of course, to the nature of the force expended. But in later stages of life highly nutritious animal food, especially when containing also much fatty matter, is for the most part very undesirable. When through age man's natural powers fail, so that, no longer capable of walking three or four miles an hour, he finds two or two and a half in one hour suffice to exhaust his forces, he must lessen the supply of proteids and fats. The great error which friends usually commit is to urge him to take more nourishment to keep up his strength.' This, however, he is incapable of properly assimilating. And the consequence must be, unless an attack of indigestion forces him to change his course, that he gradually becomes fat and heavy, all movements are laborious and even painful, through the increased weight he has to carry, and from diminution, by reason of encroaching fatty deposit, in the space which lungs and heart require for their never-ceasing movements. For elderly people in this very common condition perhaps the most injurious aliment which can be selected is milk, and precisely because it is a concentrated solution of animal proteids and fats. Eggs are similarly constituted, and for the same reason should only be taken in great moderation. The well-known combination of eggs and milk, animal basis of so much farinaceous cookery, popular in every domestic circle in the form of custard, rice pudding, &c., affords excellent support for the man in middle life who enjoys constant active exercise. It is, moreover, a form of nutriment adapted in the highest degree for growing young people; but it is on that very account objectionable for those advanced in

years, who