1876.] The Great Dietetic Reform. 15 
their statements, account for much more than 100 per cent 
of existing evils, vve are saluted by a fresh voice. A band 
of philanthropists boldly tell us that the world is to be re- 
generated by a change of diet ; that our woes — moral, 
physical, and economical — spring from the consumption of 
animal food ; the very taste for alcoholic drinks, they de- 
clare, would leave us if we would but abjure beef and mutton 
and live upon the vegetable productions of the earth. It is 
difficult to calculate the extent of the changes which this 
reform would involve. We may form some idea of a 
country under the operation of the Maine Law or the 
Permissive Bill ; but it is scarcely possible to imagine the 
trades which would be affected, and the interests which 
would suffer from a general — voluntary or compulsory — - 
abjuration of animal food. 
It may not be uninteresting to examine the various hopes 
of improvement and benefit held out by vegetarian advocates, 
and consider in how far they are likely to be realised, and 
also to consider some of the arguments advanced to prove 
that man, in making use of animal food, violates the “ laws ” 
of his nature. 
Let us first turn to the economical phase of the question. 
Vegetarians contend that on their system an individual or a 
family may be supported more cheaply than on a mixed 
diet, and that their “ reform ” would enable a given country 
to maintain in comfort a larger population than is now 
practicable. The latter and more important of these propo- 
sitions we will now examine. 
It may be granted that 100 acres of fair lowland soil will 
support a greater amount of human life if planted with 
wheat, potatoes, and other crops direCtly consumed by man, 
than if it were laid out in permanent pasture or set with 
Italian rye-grass, with mangolds, Swedes, and vegetables 
intended for the food of cattle. It is plain that a certain 
amount of waste must take place, and that all the nutri- 
tious matter taken up by sheep and oxen from their pas- 
turage does not re-appear, weight for weight, in the butcher’s 
shop, in the form of mutton and beef. But unfortunately 
there is in England — and more or less in all countries — 
abundance of land which, from the shallowness and nature 
of the soil and the great elevation above the sea-level, is 
unfit for tillage. A great part of this land, however, yields 
excellent pasturage, and is at present utilised for grazing. 
Under a general and consistent vegetarian regime these lands 
would be thrown entirely out of use, and must cease to yield 
their quota to the food-market. 
