I send this little book out into the world, first, to aid those who, having decided to adopt a bloodless diet, are still asking how they can be nourished without flesh; second, in the hope of gaining something further to protect “the speechless ones” who, having come down through the centuries under “the dominion of man,” have in their eyes the mute, appealing look of the helpless and oppressed. Their eloquent silence should not ask our sympathy and aid in vain; they have a right, as our humble brothers, to our loving care and protection, and to demand justice and pity at our hands; and, as a part of the One Life, to—

If the cruelty and injustice to animals are nothing to us, we have still another argument to offer—the brutalization of the men who slaughter that we may eat flesh. Mrs. Besant, in “Why I Am a Food Reformer,” says:

“Lately I have been in the city of Chicago—one of the greatest slaughter-houses of the world—where the slaughter-men, who are employed from early morn till late at night in the killing of thousands of these hapless creatures, are made a class practically apart from their fellow-men; they are marked out by the police as the most dangerous part of the community; amongst them are committed most crimes of violence, and the most ready use of the knife is found. One day I was speaking to an authority on this subject, and I asked him how it was that he knew so decidedly that most of the murders and the crimes with the knife were perpetrated by that particular class of men, and his answer was suggestive, although horrible. He said: ‘There is a peculiar turn of the knife which men learn to use in the slaughter-house, for, as the living creatures are brought to them by machinery, these men slit their throats as they pass by. That twist of the wrist is the characteristic of most crimes with the knife committed amongst our Chicago population.’ That struck me at once as both a horrible and significant fact. What right have people to condemn other men to a trade that makes them so readily take to the knife in anger; which marks them out as specially brutalized—brutes amongst their fellow-men? Being constantly in the sight and the smell of blood, their whole nature is coarsened; accustomed to kill thousands of creatures, they lose all sense of reverence for sentient life, they grow indifferent to the suffering they continually see around them; accustomed to inflict pain, they grow callous to the sight of pain; accustomed to kill swiftly, and sometimes not even waiting until the creature is dead before the skin is stripped from it, their nerves become coarsened, hardened, and brutalized, and they are less men as men because they are slaughterers of animals. And everyone who eats flesh meat has part in that brutalization; everyone who uses what they provide is guilty of this degradation of his fellow-men.

“If I may not appeal to you in the name of the animals—if under mistaken views you regard animals as not sharing your kind of life—then I appeal to you in the name of human brotherhood, and remind you of your duty to your fellow-men, your duty to your nation, which must be built up partly of the children of those who slaughter—who physically inherit the very signs of this brutalizing occupation. I ask you to recognize your duty as men and women who should raise the Race, not degrade it; who should try to make it divine, not brutal; who should try to make it pure, not foul; and therefore, in the name of Human Brotherhood, I appeal to you to leave your own tables free from the stain of blood and your consciences free from the degradation of your fellow-men.”

That flesh-eating is not necessary to the perfect health of man is attested by many scientists. The following testimonies from some very prominent physiologists and anatomists may prove interesting:

Sir Charles Bell, F. R. S.: “It is, I think, not going too far to say that every fact connected with the human organization goes to prove that man was originally formed a frugivorous animal. This opinion is principally derived from the formation of his teeth and digestive organs, as well as from the character of his skin and the general structure of his limbs.”

Sylvester Graham, M. D.: “Comparative anatomy proves that man is naturally a frugivorous animal, formed to subsist upon fruits, seeds, and farinaceous vegetables.”

Professor Wm. Lawrence, F. R. S.: “The teeth of man have not the slightest resemblance to those of carnivorous animals; and, whether we consider the teeth, jaws, or digestive organs, the human structure closely resembles that of the frugivorous animals.”

Dr. Jozef Drzewiecki: “There is no doubt that fruit and vegetable food purifies the blood, while meat inflames and is the source of many diseases, which are the punishment for breaking the natural law and command.”

Professor Vogt: “The vegetarian diet is the most beneficial and agreeable to our organs, as it contains the greatest amount of carbon hydrates and the best proportion of albumen.”

Sir Henry Thompson, M. D., F. R. C. S.: “It is a vulgar error to regard meat in any form as necessary to life. All that is necessary to the human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom.... The vegetarian can extract from his food all the principles necessary for the growth and support of the body, as well as for the production of heat and force. It must be admitted as a fact beyond all question that some persons are stronger and more healthy who live on that food. I know how much of the prevailing meat diet is not merely a wasteful extravagance, but a source of serious evil to the consumer.”

The following special cablegram from London to the New York “Sun,” July 3d, 1898, contains a practical illustration of the superiority of a vegetable diet:

“The vegetarians are making a great ado over the triumph of their theory in the long-distance test of walking endurance, seventy miles, in Germany, this week. The twenty-two starters included eight vegetarians. The distance had to be covered within eighteen hours. The first six to arrive were vegetarians, the first finishing in 14¼ hours, the second in 14½, the third in 15½, the fourth in 16, the fifth in 16½, and the sixth in 17½. The last two vegetarians missed their way and walked five miles more. All reached the goal in splendid condition. Not till one hour after the last vegetarian did the first meat-eater appear, completely exhausted. He was the only one. Others dropped off after thirty-five miles.”

There is no question of the great economy of vegetarianism. Dr. Alcott, in “Arguments for Vegetarianism,” says:

“Twenty-two acres of land are needed to sustain one man on fresh meat. Under wheat that land will feed forty-two people; under oats, eighty-eight; under potatoes, maize, or rice, one hundred and seventy-six; under the banana, over six thousand. The crowded nations of the future must abandon flesh-eating for a diet that will feed more than tenfold people by the same soil, expense and labor. How rich men will be when they cease to toll for flesh-meat, alcohol, drugs, sickness, and war!”