The poison we take in by the lungs in the gaseous form, is not the only poison we imbibe. We make an outcry about cleansing the sewers of our cities, and yet make sewers of our bodies. We cleanse our outer skin, and pollute our inner skin.” “But we believe that the still obtaining consumption of animal food is simply a remnant of savage life, a custom doomed to vanish under the light of human reason.” It is quite opposed to reason, as well as to the instincts and moral feelings of man, to contend, as some have done, that the tendency to destroy, in certain individuals, — leading them to rejoice in the pursuits of the sportsman, and in bloodshed in various forms, — is evidence of the natural character of man. These instances cannot properly be regarded as types of human- ity, but as abnormal cases of the degrading eSects of pernicious training ; since all such can remember a time when they had painful and conpunctious feelings to contend with, ere they became hardened to the condition of ruthless destroyers of the animal creation. We are so deeply assured that the system for which wo would raise our voice, is identified with the instincts and moral nature • Ho. cii. p. 10. 40 INTRODUCTION. of man, that wo would venture to rest the complete change of opinion on this subject in the well-ordered of society, on the full perception of the facts of the case, and especially in all who are most endowed with the high moral and intellectual nature of man. Como with us, wo would say, and trace the treatment of the ox and the sheep through all their varied stages of cruelty ; from the peaceful glade where we behold them in a comparative state of nature, through all the horrors of railway transit and market cruelties, to the “ den of infamy,” where the acts of pro- viding flesh for the table are perpetrated ; and then witness the cutting up and exposure of the various parts of these animals, subsequently tracing them through the domestic operations brought to bear to convert them to the ordinarily approved dishes of the table ; and we are convinced that the adult, as well as the child, would feel repugnance, and would ask the question, “Is this necessary?” if the understanding did not at once accord with the instincts, and declare for a fruit and farinaceous diet in all its purity and beauty, in which the intel- lect and moral feelings, combined with the instincts of nature, can alone rejoice. Again, we would contend that it is because we do not reason upon our dietetic practices, that our habits are utterly at vari ance with the nature of man. The butcher, even, can acknow- ledge the offences of society in these things, in being compelled to minister to depraved appetites. “ I would it were penal to kDl lambs,” says one of this class ; and another, in repugnance at the features of his vocation, in denouncing the slaughter of that beautiful animal, the type of innocence and meekness, exclaims, — “ The lamb, sir, dies harder than any other animal ; it sobs like a child when stuck with the knife, and continues so to do, as long as the blood flows, or any sign of life remains.” It is thus that we contend for the principle with which we started — that our system is established in the natural constitu- tion of man, and is essential to the accordance of his animal, intellectual, and moral being.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

The poison we take in by the lungs in the gaseous form, is not the only poison we imbibe. We make an outcry about cleansing the sewers of our cities, and yet make sewers of our bodies. We cleanse our outer skin, and pollute our inner skin.” “But we believe that the still obtaining consumption of animal food is simply a remnant of savage life, a custom doomed to vanish under the light of human reason.” It is quite opposed to reason, as well as to the instincts and moral feelings of man, to contend, as some have done, that the tendency to destroy, in certain individuals, — leading them to rejoice in the pursuits of the sportsman, and in bloodshed in various forms, — is evidence of the natural character of man. These instances cannot properly be regarded as types of humanity, but as abnormal cases of the degrading effects of pernicious training ; since all such can remember a time when they had painful and compunctious feelings to contend with, ere they became hardened to the condition of ruthless destroyers of the animal creation. We are so deeply assured that the system for which wo would raise our voice, is identified with the instincts and moral nature • Ho. cii. p. 10. of man, that wo would venture to rest the complete change of opinion on this subject in the well-ordered of society, on the full perception of the facts of the case, and especially in all who are most endowed with the high moral and intellectual nature of man. Como with us, wo would say, and trace the treatment of the ox and the sheep through all their varied stages of cruelty ; from the peaceful glade where we behold them in a comparative state of nature, through all the horrors of railway transit and market cruelties, to the “ den of infamy,” where the acts of providing flesh for the table are perpetrated ; and then witness the cutting up and exposure of the various parts of these animals, subsequently tracing them through the domestic operations brought to bear to convert them to the ordinarily approved dishes of the table ; and we are convinced that the adult, as well as the child, would feel repugnance, and would ask the question, “Is this necessary?” if the understanding did not at once accord with the instincts, and declare for a fruit and farinaceous diet in all its purity and beauty, in which the intellect and moral feelings, combined with the instincts of nature, can alone rejoice. Again, we would contend that it is because we do not reason upon our dietetic practices, that our habits are utterly at vari ance with the nature of man. The butcher, even, can acknowledge the offences of society in these things, in being compelled to minister to depraved appetites. “ I would it were penal to kDl lambs,” says one of this class ; and another, in repugnance at the features of his vocation, in denouncing the slaughter of that beautiful animal, the type of innocence and meekness, exclaims, — “ The lamb, sir, dies harder than any other animal ; it sobs like a child when stuck with the knife, and continues so to do, as long as the blood flows, or any sign of life remains.” It is thus that we contend for the principle with which we started — that our system is established in the natural constitution of man, and is essential to the accordance of his animal, intellectual, and moral being.

Vegetarian cookery