22 Vegetarianism : [January, 
strength, or endurance, and all have since returned to the 
ordinary diet of their country. 
Vegetarians sometimes tell us of particular classes of men 
in foreign countries who take very little animal food, or none 
at all, and yet show a wonderful strength and endurance. 
Such are the porters of Constantinople and the men who — 
in the mines of Chili — carry up the ore “to grass ” upon 
their backs. That these men are strong and vigorous we do 
not dispute, but that their strength and vigour are due to 
their abstinence from flesh, and would be decreased by the 
adoption of a mixed diet, is nowise proved. These occupa- 
tions are generally in the hands of something very like a 
hereditary caste, and we know to how great an extent 
strength is hereditary. None but hale and hearty men 
could, at the beginning, enter upon such kinds of work. 
Those who were at all deficient in strength would either be 
killed off or would abandon the task, and thus, by a process 
of “ natural selection,” a body of men would be formed of 
remarkable strength, with little reference to their peculiar 
fare. All that these examples prove, at the utmost, is that 
a vegetable diet is not under certain circumstances incom- 
patible with health and strength. But what would be the 
result of taking an invalid, or even an ordinary person in 
average health, and feeding him — as the Chilian miners are 
said to be fed — exclusively upon beans and water ? We 
should like to see a few such experiments made, for public 
instruction, in corpore vile — i.e., upon the wife-beaters, ga- 
rotters, corner-men, and other the like beings who, worse 
than useless at present, might thus be made of some service 
to mankind. But we fear the investigation will never be 
undertaken in face of the rampant “humanitarians” of 
modern England. 
To return from this digression, we have known vegetarians 
actually argue in this wise : — The camel is more enduring 
than the lion or the tiger. Therefore if man would, like 
the camel, eschew flesh he would become much more en- 
during than he is at present ! There can surely be no need 
to point out the fallacy of such reasoning. But a counter 
argument, of equal validity, might be easily framed. Thus 
we might say that the grizzly bear has greater strength than 
the bison. Hence if man would adopt a purely animal diet 
he would greatly improve in strength. The faCt is that 
strength and endurance, in very varying degrees, can be 
found both among Carnivora and Herbivora. Those crea- 
tures which excel most in a short display of strength 
or speed — such as the lion, tiger, horse, python, &c. — are 
generally least fitted for protracted exertion. 
