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according to the kind of matter employed, shew an essential difference in the operation of these matters on the body. Excess of vegetable matter produces only simple distention: excess of animal matter, an insuperable loathing and disgust, sometimes horrible nausea, and serious illness. These matters then are essentially different, when first applied to the body. They are different also, in their operation on all the functions. Addit. Rep. p. 139.

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There can be no doubt that animal food is unfavourable to the intellectual powers. In some mea. sure this effect is instantaneous, it being hardly possible to apply to any thing requiring thought after a full meal of animal food; so that it has been said of vegetable feeders, that with them it is morning all day long. But the effect is not confined to the im. mediate impression. As well as the senses, the memory, the understanding and the imagination, have been observed to improve by this diet. In defiance of those palpable facts, it is asked, in a tone of tri umph, whether it be possible that the species of food, which has formed a Fox and a Pitt, can be unfavourable to the production of talent. Why did not Dr. Rees, who made this assertion, [See Encyclopædia, art. Man] prove that a plentiful use of the bottle does not injure the intellect? For neither of those illus. trious men were remarkable for temperance. it ever asserted that the use of animal food extinguish. es talent, or affects those who eat it, so that no difference can be observed among those who use it? It might be asked, with much more reason, how happens it, that the families of the whole body of the british nobility could produce but one Fox and one Pitt, to head the contending parties of our senate? How happens it, that the same body has produced not

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one man, no, not one, who inherits the talents of these illustrious statesmen ? Not one; tho' the prize of successful exertion is the most spendid, that can be proposed to honourable ambition; the offices, the dignities, the honours of the first empire of the world. Surely, a stronger proof cannot be given of the baleful and depressing effects of luxury on the human character. How it benumbs the faculties, and stifles the embryo genius; how much it emas. culates the spirit and paralyzes the best energies of body and mind.-Ibid, p. 147-149.

It has been said, that the great fondness which men have for animal food, is proof enough that nature intended them to eat it. Are not men equally fond of wine, ardent spirits, and other things, which cut short their days? the Russians are fond of tallow; the Eskimaux of train-oil; and savages, of blood, entrails, and all sorts of garbage; the raw and almost putrid flesh of the seal is the delight of the Pesserais of the Tierra del Fuego, of which the rank fat is deemed delicious. A savage has been seen to gnaw a bone of a human body with as much relish as we suck a bone of mutton, Swift indeed made "a proposal for preventing the children of the poor people in Ireland from being a burden to their parents or country;" i, e. "that a young healthy child, well nurs ed, is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled." See his works, vol. viii, p. 299.

The palidness and shrinking of the features, which sometimes succeeds the disuse of animal food, is by no means an indication of injury to the constitu tion. Animal food gives a more succulent habit, a greater fullness and a higher colour to the face. It is the colour which imposes on superficial observers.

The colour is produced by an excitation of all the small vessels of the face, produced by the unnatural use of animal food. It is this which hurries on life with an unhealthy rapidity. We arrive at pu. berty too soon; the passions are developed too early; in the male they acquire an impetuosity approaching to madness: the females breed too quickly; processes, which ought to be distinct and successive, are blended together and confounded: women, who ought to be nurses, become pregnant, even with the child at their breast: finally, the system becomes prematurely exhausted and destroyed: we become diseased and old, when we ought to be in the middle of life. All this indeed may not be attributed to animal food alone, all the habitual irritations appear to have similar effects on the body; they stimulate to excessive action, to which exhaustion succeeds. If then a body be modified by the action of animal food; if it be enlarged, and bloated, and reddened, it must happen that these effects cease, and appearances the opposite to these will take place. It may safely be asserted, that the florid are less healthy than those who have no colour. Colour is generally regarded as a sign of approaching disease. The way of life which most prevails tends to load the head, and give an unnatural fullness to the face. Many an anxious mother says of her child, that it's face is the only part about it which looks well. Now if, in such a case, by any course of dieting we can strengthen the limbs, cause the chest to expand, and the abdomen to shrink, we should hail these changes as signs of highly improved health. Corpulency is a species of disease, and a certain harbinger of a disease more serious. It is the same in animals. When a sheep has become fat, the butcher knows it must be

killed, or it will rot and decline. Many who are lean on the diet of animal food, thrive on vegetables, and improve in colour.-Addit. Rep. p. 121, &c.

It has been said, yes, truly, in sober seriousness, What should we do for leather if we had not hides for our shoes? In answer, I have seen a pair of substantial shoes, worn by a gentleman, the upper part of which was made of thick cotton stuff, and the soles of very thick felt, which had been prepared by saturation in thick boiled linseed oil, while hot. The upper part, he repaired from time to time with an oil varnish. They exhibited a fine glossy black, and he assured me they were, in every respect far superior to leather shoes.

The cruelties of mankind committed on the brute creation are falsely apologized for by utility; forcing them to destructive labour procures the conveniences of life; and putting them to death supplies al

ment.

A sympathising mind sees no necessity to violate the life or liberty of an innocent animal, because the aliment of life may be procured from the vegetable world, and that produced by his own labours; and such aliment procures bodily and mental health, by salubriating the humours of the one, and tranquilizing the passions of the other. But what plea can be offered for that preposterous passion, or habit of mind, acquired by custom, of destroying animals, not for the NECESSITY, but the PLEASURE of destroying them?

239

INCONSISTENCES OF FLESH-EATERS.

The inconsistencies of the conduct and opinions of mankind in general, are evident and notorious, but when ingenious writers fall into the same glaring errors, our regret and surprise are justly and strongly excited. Annexed to the impressive remarks by S. Jenyns, p. 142, we meet with the following passage, "God has been pleased to create numberless animals intended for our sustenance; and that they are so intended, the agreeable flavour of their flesh to our palates, and the wholesome nutriment which it administers to our stomachs, are sufficient proofs; these, as they are formed for our use, propagated by our culture, and fed by our care, we have certainly a right to deprive of life, because it is given and preserved to them on that condition." It has already been argued, that the bodies of animals are not in. tended for the sustenance of man; and the decided opinions of several eminent medical writers and others, sufficiently disprove assertions in favour of the wholesomeness of the flesh of animals. The agreeable taste of food is not always a proof of it's nourishing or wholesome properties. This truth is too frequently experienced in mistakes ignorantly or accidentally made, particularly by children in eating the fruit of the deadly nightshade, the taste of which resembles black currants, and is extremely inviting by the beauty of it's colour and shape. Half a berry is said to have proved fatal, occasioning a deep and deadly stupor. That we have a right to make attacks on the existence of any being, because we have assist. ed and shewn compassion, tenderness, and affection

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