1883.] Dietetic Reforms. 715 
between the digestive organs of the rabbit and of the rat. 
Yet the rabbit is, as far as we know, purely phytophagous, 
whilst the rat is partly carnivorous, and attacks or kills other 
animals to obtain animal food. 
How man first adopted a mixed diet is of course a difficult 
question. Perhaps the anthropoids from whom he has 
descended had already taken this step. It is, however, well 
to remember, as several travellers have pointed out, that 
cannibalism is generally to be found where animal food is 
wanting. 
We are told that “ Eminent authorities like Sir Henry 
Thompson, Dr. Richardson, Mr. Buckmaster [sic], &c., 
have asserted the sufficiency, the purity, the healthfulness 
of a vegetarian diet ; the only question is whether there may 
not be some benefit in an admixture of animal matter,— a 
moderate proportion of flesh, fish, milk, butter, cheese, eggs. 
Even the so-called Vegetarians make use of eggs, and milk 
and its products, thus drawing a portion of their sustenance 
from the animal kingdom. Their excuse for this apparent 
inconsistency is that milk is not flesh, but simply vegetable 
— elements gathered and stored for the calf until it can 
gather its own ; while the egg, with the exception of micro- 
scopic germs, is not animal but vegetable matter, mostly 
albumen, stored up to feed the future chick.” 
We have often been struck with the inconsistency— not 
apparent, but very real— of the Vegetarians in making use of 
milk and eggs ; but never before have we met with this ex- 
cuse, — a plea which for effrontery is unmatched in the annals 
of controversy, and which it is difficult to pronounce other 
than dishonest. How the secretions of animals can be simply 
vegetable must be incomprehensible, unless animal and vege- 
table are synonymous terms, in which case of course the 
Vegetarian question falls to the ground as devoid of meaning. 
The idea of “ vegetable matter” being stored up to feed the 
future chick will appear very strange if we reflect that the 
newly-hatched young of most birds, even such as in their 
adult state are purely frugivorous, are fed upon an animal 
regimen ! 
The dietetic reformers promise man length of days. 
Would it not be wiser if they strove to amend the quality 
rather than the quantity of life ? We would also beg them 
to consider whether the dyspepsia, nervousness, &c., which 
they seek to combat by “ severely plain living ” are not 
mainly due to overwork under the pressure of anxiety ? 
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