144 SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OP MAN. 



originated all the moral and physical evil which has 

 devastated the world for so many ages. 



But experience tells us another story. The inha- 

 bitants of the northern extremities of Europe and 

 Asia, the Esquimaux, and the people of Terra 

 del Fuego, live entirely on flesh, and that often 

 raw, and yet in strength, size and courage, are far 

 inferior to the rest of mankind. This proves that 

 animal diet does not necessarily confer moral and 

 physical energy. Again, vegetable diet is not con- 

 nected with weakness and cowardice. The Greeks 

 and Romans subsisted chiefly on vegetable prepa- 

 rations, at a period when their valour and energy 

 rendered them the terror and admiration of sur- 

 rounding nations. The Irish and Scotch, who are 

 not weaker than ourselves, live chiefly on vegetable 

 aliment. The Swedes under Gustavus and Charles 

 were herbivorous and invincible. The Negroes, 

 distinguished for all kinds of physical energy, live 

 chiefly in the same way; and so do the South Sea 

 Islanders, whose agility and strength were found 

 infinitely to surpass those of our stoutest sailors. 

 On the other hand the debilitating effects of animal 

 food are altogether without foundation; there is not 

 a vestige of evidence that any period ever existed 

 when the whole human race abstained from flesh 

 and lived in a state of perfect innocence and pro- 

 found peace. This golden age of immaculate virtue 

 is but the creation of poetical fancy, or the offspring 

 of the heated brains of some visionary enthusiasts. 

 That the use of animal food is consistent with the 



