VEGETABLES. 715 
material, there is implied a special expenditure of nervous energy, 
and of blood supply, so that correspondingly less of these outputs 
will be left for the purposes of the nervous system, and brain, 
for bodily exercise, and other physical demands. Similarly, 
the watery character of an exclusively vegetable diet is disadvan- 
tageous ; this disproportion as to solids accounts for the soft 
flabby condition in flesh of persons who habitually consume 
large quantities of the more watery sorts of vegetable food ; 
it also is an important factor in lowering the disease-resisting 
power which characterizes such persons. A somewhat parallel 
effect ensues with respect to drug action, for, as Sir Lauder 
Brunton has observed, “ the vegetarian is only slightly affected 
by certain drugs which in the case of flesh-eaters would produce 
positively violent results.” 
If it happens that a man or a woman possesses a specially 
energetic and powerful digestive system, it does not then matter 
much what system of feeding is followed, because whatever is 
eaten provokes no difficulty of digestion afterwards, as to extract- 
ing sufficient carbon and nitrogen therefrom. But for persons with 
very limited digestive powers, it is beyond the compass of their 
physical capacity to become vegetarians. The disadvantages of a 
purely vegetable diet affect the outdoor labourer much less than 
the person engaged in more sedentary pursuits ; the former stands 
in daily need of carbohydrates (such as vegetables afford) in 
large amount, so as to enable the performance of his muscular 
work; whilst with the latter the demand for proteid is more 
considerable. Vegetarians have sometimes asserted that the 
eating of flesh food is incompatible with the cultivation of a 
singing voice, this proposition being supported by the argument 
that the sweet-singing vocal birds are eaters of grain, fruit, and 
vegetables ; that in fact no carnivorous bird could ever charm 
by a song, but only croak, having a sluggish liver, and being of 
a melancholy strain. Examples to this effect are quoted of 
the “croaking nightingale,” the “bilious thrush,” and the 
“generally melancholy robin.” But the exact converse of this 
proposition really holds good, since the great majority of sweet 
singing birds are strictly carnivorous; even the canary will 
appreciate scraps of meat, and hard-boiled egg, when he can get 
the same, and will sing all the better for such additions to his 
dietary. Furthermore, if vegetarians allow themselves milk, 
and eggs, they are in truth killing animal life indirectly; for 
