VEGETARIANISM 59 * 



the meats must be free of decomposition and properly cooked. It is on 

 the other hand, possible for a vegetarian diet to disagree;, if, as is often 

 the case, the attempt is made to derive the larger part of the needed 

 albumins from the legumins, peas and beans. For the vegetarian above 

 all others, bread is the staff of life, and cereal albumin must remain the 

 chief dependence of the consistent vegetarian. 



Modern pl^siology then teaches that there is no demonstrable basis 

 for the so-called physiological vegetarianism. It teaches further, how- 

 ever, that the assumed distinction, made for the convenience of arbi- 

 trary vegetarians, between the flesh of animals and the albuminous 

 products of animals (milk, cheese and eggs) is unfounded. The casein 

 of milk and the albumin of the egg are as distinctive and specific bio- 

 logically as are the muscular tissues of the animals from which they 

 are derived. Every reason advanced, or assumed to exist, opposed to the 

 use of beef as albumin for the human diet must hold with equal force 

 against the use of casein of the cow's milk ; every argument against the 

 breast of chicken must hold against the egg of chicken. As a matter of 

 fact, as stated above, there is no physiologically valid argument against 

 either beef or casein, against second joint or white of egg. 



Since it is apparent that physiological vegetarianism is merely a 

 scientific error and that vegetarians from gustatory taste or from es- 

 thetic considerations are merely instances of arbitrary individualism, 

 ethical vegetarianism alone remains to be considered. This is in its 

 tenets and conclusions a logical system. Is it susceptible of consistent, 

 world-wide application ? "We will not attempt to discuss the large ques- 

 tion as to man's relations, biologically and ethically, to the lower ani- 

 mals, concerning which the Christian and Buddhistic teachings are dia- 

 metrically opposed. Assuming that the system were rigidly and 

 consistently applied to the entire population of the earth, two main 

 problems would be presented. 



Is the production of plant albumin on the earth sufficient to meet 

 the albumin needs of the earth's inhabitants? 



What transformations would result in the customs, industry and 

 commerce of the world, in the sociology and economics of the nations 

 of the earth? 



Before these two questions can be discussed^ we must be clear as to 

 exactly what would be demanded in the carrying out of consistent 

 ethical vegetarianism. It would be permissible to domesticate animals, 

 to employ them in service and to utilize the products of their life. It 

 would not be permissible to kill animals either for food or for the prod- 

 ucts of their bodies. The use of milk, butter, cheese and eggs would be 

 permitted; the utilization of fur and leather would be excluded. An 

 exception might be claimed in the case of leather, that it would be per- 

 missible to use the pelts and hides of animals that had died of old age 



