Doubtless many men dig their graves with their teeth, and the general span of life might be lengthened by the adoption of greater prudence and moderation in the selection of food. An attack of gout will turn a man into a savage, but man in the savage state was innocent of the indiscretions which bring on the gout. It may be gravely argued that many present-day diseases and other evils are the result of over-civilisation. These evils are due to many complex causes, but among them we may reckon over-feeding and ignorant feeding on the part of the well-to-do, and underfeeding and still more ignorant feeding on the part of the poor.

One Englishman is the equal of any two Frenchmen, his superior prowess being due to his superior beefiness. This was orthodox doctrine 100 years ago, and our implicit belief in it won for us the battle of Waterloo. Nowadays we have changed all that. For a generation, or more, the opinion has been growing that Englishmen eat too much butcher's meat. It may be that a taste for the frog and the snail, in preference to the heavier  meats, combined with greater skill in the preparation of fruit, vegetables, purées and consommés, has much to do with the Frenchman's superior wit and vivacity, his courteousness, artistic feeling and inventiveness. In fact we now regard him as our equal and brother-man, greatly our superior in the making of automobiles, aeroplanes, and in the science of aviation.

My thesis is that a numerous class of people who habitually consume too much proteid in the form of meat might, with advantage, reduce that amount and make up for the loss by using the proteid of milk; and that the poor, who cannot obtain sufficient proteid, may correct the deficiency by the use of milk and cheese. The deficiency may also be corrected by consuming leguminous vegetables, and although these contain some purin, this is probably of small moment compared with the gain in proteid.

The advantages of a lacto-vegetarian diet are very great. I will mention a few of the diseases which there is good reason to believe are benefited by the elimination of flesh-feed from the diet or its reduction to a minimum: - Some forms of neurasthenia; corpulence; functional dyspepsia; neuralgia; headaches; possible epilepsy and irritable conditions of the nervous system; irritable heart; nervous insomnia; certain skin diseases. This list of curable diseases sounds rather like the romantic advertisement of a patent food. But in point of fact it is no such thing. It is an authoritative statement taken from a well-known medical work.1

 

 

Reference

1. Hutchison, Food 534