DIET IN RELATION TO AGE AND ACTIVITY. 327 



" vegetarian " have not the remotest claim to express that fact, while 

 they have an express meaning of their own in daily use namely, the 

 ohvious one of designating products of the vegetable kingdom. It 

 may not be easy at once to construct a simple term which differentiates 

 clearly from the true vegetarian the person who also uses various 

 foods belonging to the animal kigndom, and who abjures only the 

 flesh of animals. But it is high time that we should be spared the 

 obscure language, or rather the inaccurate statement, to which milk 

 and ee^ consumers are committed, in assuming a title which has for 

 centuries belonged to that not inconsiderable body of persons whose 

 habits of life confer the right to use it. And I feel sure that my 

 friends "the vegetarians," living on a mixed diet, will see the necessity 

 of seeking a more appropriate designation to distinguish them ; if not, 

 we must endeavor to invent one for them. 



But why should we limit by dogma or otherwise man's liberty to 

 select his food and drink? I appreciate the reason for abstaining 

 from alcoholic drinks derived from benevolent motive or religious 

 principle, and entertain for it the highest respect, although I can not 

 myself claim the merit of self-denial or the credit of setting an ex- 

 ample abstaining, like many others, solely because experience has 

 taught that to act otherwise is manifestly to do myself an injury. 



This brings me to the point which I desire to establish, namely, 

 that the great practical rule of life in regard of human diet will not 

 be found in enforcing limitation of the sources of food which Nature 

 has abundantly provided. On the contrary, that rule is fulfilled in the 

 perfect development of the art of adapting food of any and every kind 

 to the needs of the body according to the very varied circumstances 

 of the individual, at different ages, with different forms of activity, with 

 different inherent personal peculiarities, and with different environ- 

 ments. This may read at first sight, perhaps, like a truism ; but how 

 important is the doctrine, and how completely it is ignored in the 

 experience of life by most people, it will be my object here to show. 



I have already alluded to the fact that the young and rapidly grow- 

 ing infant, whose structures have to be formed on the soft and slender 

 lines laid down before birth, whose organs have to be solidified and 

 expanded at one and the same time, in which tissues of all kinds are 

 formed with immense rapidity and activity, requires animal food 

 ready prepared in the most soluble form for digestion and assimila- 

 tion. Such a food is milk ; and, if the human supply is insufficient, 

 we obtain in its place that of the cow, chiefly ; and during the first 

 year of life milk constitutes the best form of food. After that time 

 other kinds of nourishment, mostly well-cooked wheaten flour in 

 various shapes, begin to be added to the milk which long continues to 

 be a staple source of nourishment to the young animal. Eggs, a still 

 more concentrated form of similar food, follow, and ultimately the 

 dietary is enlarged by additions of various kinds, as the growing pro- 



