in THE THEOEY OF HUMAN NUTRITION 107 



of the American Pampas, all of whom live on the spoils of hunting 

 and fishing. Owing either to original characteristics, or ancestral 

 habits which have become more and more ingrained with each 

 generation, or to the conditions of the regions in which they are 

 forced to live, the digestive apparatus of these primitive races has 

 become so much stronger, at the cost of the functional develop- 

 ment of the organs of psychical life, that it can tolerate a diet 

 which is wholly or almost wholly animal. 



Vegetarianism can be traced back to the most remote ages. 

 Abstinence from animal food was originally a practice inspired by 

 religious beliefs. The Hindus, who are disciples of Brahma and 

 Buddha, believe in the transmigration of souls from animals to 

 man and vice versa ; hence they regard it as sacrilege to consume 

 the flesh of animals, which they look upon as their " poor relations." 

 The religion of the ancient Egyptians forbade the use of meat. 

 Pythagoras introduced the Egyptian doctrines on food into Greece. 

 Seneca the moralist, who adopted Pythagorean vegetarianism late 

 in life, tells us (Epistol. 108) that in a year he found the new 

 regimen not only easy but pleasant, and it seemed to him that his 

 intellectual powers had developed greatly. Porphyrius, the neo- 

 Platonist, who wrote the Biography of Pythagoras and a treatise 

 " On Abstinence from Meat," maintained that a vegetable diet was 

 not only better fitted to give perfect health, but also to sharpen 

 the philosophical intelligence. In J. J. Rousseau's fimile we 

 find an echo of this teaching, which is carried out more or less 

 strictly by many owing to choice or necessity. 



Vegetarians who are such from choice may be divided into two 

 classes : those who, in addition to vegetable foods, make use of 

 certain products of living animals, such as milk, cheese, butter, and 

 eggs, and those who live on vegetable products only, seeds, fruit, 

 green vegetables, potatoes, etc., and refuse all animal products 

 whatsoever, including butter and other animal fats, for which 

 they substitute vegetable oils. 



Indian despatch bearers, who live on rice, traverse daily at least 

 20 leagues from one city to another, and can keep up this kind of 

 life for weeks (I. Sinclair). Russian agricultural labourers who live 

 on vegetables, garlic, brown bread and milk, work sixteen to eighteen 

 hours a day, and are stronger than American sailors (Bremmer 

 and Howland). Animal food is almost unknown to Norwegian 

 peasants; and yet they will run beside travellers' carriages for 

 3 or 4 leagues. According to Lane and Catherwood, modern 

 Egyptian workmen and boatmen are remarkable for their muscular 

 strength, and yet from time immemorial they have lived almost 

 entirely on melons, beans, lentils, onions, dates, and maize. The 

 South American miners, who do not eat meat, can carry on their 

 shoulders a weight of 200 pounds, going up vertical ladders 60-86 

 metres in height twelve times a day on an average (F. Head, 



