1906.] DIETETIC VALUE OF FOODS. 273 



the serving of food at either hotels or restaurants, for meat 

 is almost invariably served cooked in a palatable manner, while 

 vegetables require the use of sauces and spicy condiments to 

 make them edible. The usual thing with the frequenter of 

 restaurants in ordering a meal is to order a steak, accompanied 

 with fried potatoes and coffee. Fried potatoes are admittedly 

 indigestible ; the coffee is stimulating, and so, tO' a degree, is the 

 meat. 



To one confined to indoor pursuits, and it is usually this 

 class of people that select such a diet, such a meal is little bet- 

 ter than poison. It is impossible for fried potatoes to be per- 

 fectly digested under the best of conditions, while the waste 

 substances which fill the blood vessels of animal flesh cannot 

 help but be of a poisonous nature no matter which way we look 

 at the question. There is really but a small per cent, of meat 

 consumed in this country that is fit for human food. This im- 

 portant fact was made known to me not long since by a promi- 

 nent veterinary surgeon whose years of experience lend 

 strength to his words. Tuberculosis prevails amongst animals 

 to an alarming extent, and even when seeming to be in the best 

 of health they are suft'ering from this awful disease. When 

 animals are affected with tuberculosis the whole muscular struc- 

 ture is naturally diseased and through the laxity of laws gov- 

 erning the sale of such meat and inability to trace the origin 

 of such, it is not only placed in the stores for sale, but consumed 

 by the many who- have no idea of the wrong perpetrated upon 

 them. 



Vegetarians wisely substitute nuts for meat. Their argu- 

 ment is that it is not humane to destroy the life of animals. 

 AVhile this is a strong point to consider and to find favor in 

 our minds, we should not ignore the physiological side of the 

 question, for when it is admitted by physicians, who have given 

 much study to the subject, that meat eating conduces to various 

 forms of disease, in fact, creates disease, it is time for man to 

 seriously consider whether it would not be wiser to abstain 

 from meat eating altogether. For my part, if you will pardon 

 this personal allusion, I seldom eat of animal flesh at all. I 

 find that I can keep in the best of health and strength without 

 it. The albuminoids found in meat and which act as a re- 

 pairer of the tissues of the human body can be found, without 

 eating diseased waste substances, in eggs, nuts, and the gluten 

 Agr. — 18 



