DIGESTION AND FOOD. 81 



health, the clearest brain and the longest duration of life. 

 Some have contended, that man was intended to eat only 

 of the fruits and vegetables of the earth; while others main- 

 tain, with equal confidence, that he should add to these the 

 flesh of beasts. But none have thought that he should live 

 exclusively upon animal food. 



172. The advocates of both these doctrines find exten- 

 sive examples in the various nations and the various individ- 

 uals of mankind. Many nations within the tropics live upon 

 vegetable food alone; while some tribes within the arctic 

 circles feed almost entirely upon the flesh of animals or 

 fish. The inhabitants of the cold regions of the earth 

 are generally carnivorous, and the residents of the warm 

 countries herbivorous; while those who live in the temperate 

 climates are both carnivorous and herbivorous. * Here in the 

 United States, and in the central regions of Europe, the 

 mixed diet is almost universal; and the people are as healthy, 

 and have as great a duration of life, as any upon earth. 



173. There are many individuals, in this and in other 

 countries, who confine themselves to vegetable diet. They 

 believe they enjoy better health, and maintain greater 

 strength of body and mind, than those who live upon mixed 

 diet. The experiment has not been tried on a sufficiently 

 extensive range to determine its value. It has not proved, 

 a failure, nor has it demonstrated, to the satisfaction of all, 

 that flesh is injurious. There are no advocates here for 

 the exclusively flesh diet; but the doubt is only between the 

 mixed on the one side, and the vegetable food on the other. 



174. It is generally believed, among civilized nations, that 

 the mixed diet is the best for man that this will give him 

 the fullest health and the longest life. The organization of 

 the human body admits this. The form and arrangement of 

 the teeth ( 10, p. 12) allow him to cut and masticate both 

 the animal and the vegetable food ; and the structure of the 

 stomach and intestinal canal enables man to digest both ; 

 so that he can use either exclusively, as the Esquimaux eat 

 flesh, and the Hindoos eat rice ; 'or he can use both, as most 



