SUPPLEMENTAL HISTORY OF MAN, 145 



utmost energy both of mind and body, is amply 

 proved by the experience of every individual. But 

 all history testifies on this subject with a voice from 

 which there there is no appeal. The myriads of 

 Hindoos who subsist on vegetable diet are held in 

 subjection by a few hundreds of Europeans. When 

 the ancient Romans abandoned this vegetable diet 

 they did not decline in moral and physical energy, or 

 in political power. Look at the diet of that nation, 

 which has produced some of the most illustrious 

 names in the records of the human race, whether in 

 literature, science, political, civil, or military emi- 

 nence; the country of Shakspeare, Newton, Locke, 

 and Milton. With such examples before us, it is 

 monstrously absurd to assert that animal food is 

 productive of any detrimental effect on the de- 

 velopment and powers of the human mind and body. 



In discussing the point of food, it is natural to 

 inquire whether any light can be thrown upon the 

 subject by a consideration of the peculiar structure 

 of man, and of the points of analogy which it may 

 present to that of other mammalia. 



The cheek teeth, as they are employed in masti- 

 cating the food, should manifest some relation to its 

 peculiar character. In the genuine carnivora they 

 are sharp-pointed, and those of the lower shut within 

 those of the upper jaw. The canine teeth in these 

 species are long, strong and pointed, serving as 

 offensive and defensive weapons, and are sometimes 

 not a little formidable. The herbivorous animals are 

 not similarly armed; their molares present broad 



Vol. I. L 



