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good except weak pulsations of the heart and short breathing. I intend, as soon as the weather gets warmer, to go out to see you."

It is a great pleasure to hear from our venerable friend. Dr. Bowman has been a Vegetarian many years and still takes an interest in the cause, as shown by a renewal of his own and his daughter's subscriptions. Although in Philadelphia, he lives about fifteen miles from 1023 Foulkrod street, and his place at Collegeville is probably thirty miles from where he lives, so he is still good for traveling, and he retains excellent business faculties. H. S. C.

PHILADELPHIA VEGETARIAN

SOCIETY.

The January meeting of the Philadelphia Vegetarian Society took place on Monday, the 20th inst., at 1023 Foulkrod street, Frankford. Miss Frances Albin opened with a familiar hymn and Rev. Dr. Macpherson with prayer. Rev. H. S. Clubb presiding, referred to the apparent slowness of all great moral reforms, especially instancing the temperance movement.

Mr. Clubb's remarks were, in part, as follows:

"It must be remembered that the control is with a wise and overruling providence who, in His own good time, brings about His own desires. The truth in regard to these reforms may be pointed out for years, and, step by step, it is perceived and adopted until there comes a time when the commercial and manufacturing worlds awake to their value; science also comes to their aid, and a progress is attained much more rapidly in consequence. There is now a large manufacturing establishment in Philadelphia devoted to the

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production of "Konut," which is a purified product from the cocoanut, which is rapidly taking the place of lard for cooking purposes. In the meantime Dr. Zink, formerly of Philadelphia, but now a United States Inspector of Animals to be slaughtered at Buffalo, has made the discovery that swine are afflicted with smallpox as well as measles and cholera, and he last fall condemned 27 hogs on account of their having smallpox of a character identical with that which afflicts human beings. These swine were, of course, not permitted to be exported to Germany, but what was eventually done with them does not appear. We knew, however, that State inspection is not as thorough as United States inspection, and it is reported that condemned animals are usually thrown into a vat and tried down. much of so-called "pure lard" comes from this condemned vat is not known, but we do know that this event was followed by the breaking out of smallpox which became epidemic. It is impossible for consumers of the various parts of a swine's body to tell what disease the animal was afflicted with and those who eat "cured hams" do not know of what disease the hams have been cured. Thus science is gradually putting the people on their guard against the evils of flesh eating. Humanity is also becoming a great factor in the vegetarian movement and Mr. Angel, the eminent promoter of the humane treatment of animals, declares that when an animal is slaughtered under the excitement of anger incident to cruel treatment its flesh is absolutely poisoned. Nearly all animals are subjected to cruelty at the time and for some time prior to their being slaughtered."

An interesting discussion followed. Dr. Lovell recited "When Mother's Away."

A letter from Jonas Bowman, a vegetarian, in his 92d year, offering to assist in establishing a vegetarian restaurant in the city and desiring to become a permanent boarder, was also read.

VEGETARIAN MOUNTAIN HOME.

I live upon a little fruit farm up in the mountains of Clearfield County, Pa. Have an excellent spring of water; am industrious and in easy circumstances, and the record shows I am in my 70th year as earth time is counted. But I am young in mind and care nothing for recorded time. Consumed much pork and tobacco in my younger days. Have been a Vegetarian now about ten years. Left off flesh food by degrees. Still use milk and butter, also shoe leather, but hope to see satisfactory substitutes.

We are having a spell of very cold, stormy weather, with good sledding, and I am having a resting spell, a kind of bodily and mental repose which is delightful. My ideal life is to become a true "Gentleman of Leisure," with a helpful feeling for all Creation, with no compulsory duties, but to do all things right, through loving sympathy. ELIJAH WALL

THE GRAHAM SYSTEM.

In a recent suit for divorce instituted against a physician, the wife, in alleging the things which had made her life with. him insupportable, declared that he was a "Vegetarian," and that he had constrained her to eat and drink according to the "Graham system." The recital of this marital grievance presents a reminder of the fact that the disciples of the Graham. cult are by no means few. It is true that we do not hear much nowadays of the name of Graham himself, except in association with the bread which he taught his followers to make; but his principles

continue to be expounded under other names by numerous hygienic reformers, particularly in New England, who are hostile to the carnivorous nourishment of mankind. Those men and women who think they have a duty to "convert" the world to vegetarianism are not infrequently as dogmatic and intolerantly paternal or maternal in their application of it as the physician in question, who insisted that his wife would be bound for perdition if he allowed her to gratify her appetite for roast beef. They stand ready to prove that their system of nutriment is not only good for the physical, but for the intellectual and moral fibre; that it is the parent of clear thinking, that it is inimical to the thirst for strong drink, and that it is even highly helpful to the cause of chastity.-Philadelphia Evening Bulletin.

New England was once the center of Graham advocacy, but now it is more advocated in Chicago than in Boston. It has reached California, Oregon and Washington.

HOME FOR HELPLESS CHILDREN.

Theodore Smith, Pleasant Dale Orchard, Colfax, Washington, has a suitable site on his farm which he is willing to give to those who would establish thereon a home for destitute children, to be conducted always on vegetarian principles, and would like to leave the balance of the farm which he may possess at his death to the institution. He desires to sell a portion of his 180 acres to enable him to pay off a debt. For this purpose he has placed it in the hands of W. M. Ostrander, of Philadelphia, of whom vegetarians can ascertain particulars. A heavy emigration is expected in Washington this spring.

"Meat Eaters Lead."-A Reply.

"Vegetarianism vanishes before grimvisaged war, says the Breeder's Gazette. The armies of the world eat meat. Battles are won by beef-fed soldiers; victories are achieved on the strength of 'sow-belly.' Beef and pork, no less than shot and powder, conquer on the bloody field of battle." The above is the opening paragraph of a series of remarks which recently appeared in the Dubuque Trade Journal under the caption, "Meat Eaters Lead."

It is with considerable reluctance that I accede to the request of the Editor of THE VEGETARIAN to write a few paragraphs in reply. I doubt very much whether the interests of any reform movement are ever very effectively served by giving much heed to the irresponsible utterances of half-baked opponents. It is too much like cracking lice with a piledriver.

The article from which the above paragraph is taken is not an argument, very little, if any, attempt being made anywhere in it to deal with the subject in an intellectual spirit. It is an exultation. The writer deals with the question almost exclusively from the standpoint of his

emotions. He tells how he feels. And I infer from some things he says that, like many others, he has come by his convictions in the same way as he has come by his business-by simply growing up in them-and that he retains them because he has not the enterprise to examine into their foundations, or, rather, into their lack of foundations. The article is a song of rejoicing by the editor of the Breeder's Gazette over the fact that men, especially those whose business it is to kill other men, are carnivorous.

mitted, I think, that meat-eaters do lead. But in what? They certainly have a preëminent record as drunkards and criminals, for no vegetarian was ever known to become a drunkard, and the crimes of the earth, both those of men and those of other animals, are, for the most part, committed by carnivora. In their ability to contract diseases, also, meat-eaters stand high. They are especially strong on gout and rheumatism. But they are liable to come out far in the lead in the contraction of all afflictions in the production of which uric acid takes a prominent part. In Persia, gout is called the "rich man's disease," the rich being the only ones in that country who eat meat, and hence the only ones troubled with gout. And, since "war is the trade of barbarians," I see no a priori reason why flesh-eating men should not be able to win blue ribbons on the field of carnage. It is certainly not unnatural for carnivorous animals to be savage.

But there are some things in which meat-eaters do not lead, and the ability to adjust themselves dietetically to the demands of a civilized existence is not the

only one.

"The armies of the world," the writer assures us, "eat meat; and battles are won by beef-fed soldiers." But, since there are in war as many defeats as victories, it is a little difficult for one unprovided with the fogs that hang over the logical faculties of the beef-fed mind to refrain from wondering how it happens that there are on an average as many defeats sustained by beef-fed soldiers as victories won. Did not the pork-eating armies of the South go down a generation ago before the legions of the North? And have not an

Now, to begin with, it may be ad- empire of beef-eating Englishmen been

held at arm's length for many months by a handful of South African Dutchmen? But a beef-fed mind is not deterred by little ambiguities like these, when it once takes a notion to go into the inference business.

I wonder if this writer knew, when he was pinning praises on his beef-fed creations, that the armies of Rome ate no flesh. I wonder, too, if it would have made any difference if he had known it. The Roman soldier conquered the world on a diet of coarse bread, made by himself, often from meal made by pounding the grain in a mortar. To this was added cheese, honey, olive oil and fruits. Who were the heroes of Thermopyla, the iron handful who hurled back the hordes of Xerxes? They were the abstemious Spartans, who lived on bread and fruits.

It is a common supposition among the half-informed that flesh, especially the muscle of the ox, is the chief source of human strength or energy. It is a pure fiction. And it is known to be such by every one scientifically acquainted with human foods and the sources of animal energy generally. Anyone holding this superstition may be disillusioned by a brief perusal of any respectable treatise on dietetics. Beef-steak is a nitrogenous food. It contains neither starch, sugar nor fat, which are the heat and energy producing foods of the body. It was Liebig, the great German chemist, who first thought out the theory that the nitrogenous foods are the producers of energy. He thought and taught that muscle itself actually burned in the production of energy. It is now known, and has for a long time been known, that this is not the case. The carbonaceous foods-starch, sugar and fat-are the true fuels of the body. The nitrogenous compounds make

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up the deficits of muscular wear and tear. "There are the same reasons for believing that nearly all the business of begetting force in animals should be ascribed to the solid hydrocarbons, starch and oil, by their conversion into carbon dioxide and water, as these are for thinking that it is the conversion of the solid hydrocarbons of coal into the same substances which drives a

locomotive."* The popular regard for beef-steak as a force-producer is simply the old delusion of Liebig, which has been exploded and abandoned by educated minds long ago, but which still lingers in illiterate and out-of-date crania.

The over-nitrogenized character of human food is one of the great misfortunes of mankind; for it is the cause of a large part of human weakness, irascibility, inhumanity, and disease. The superiority of grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables as fuels for the human body may be demonstrated by anyone with enterprise enough to try it-try it, not for a day or a week, but for a year or two. No one can appreciate the advantage and luxury of a fleshless dietary until he has lived on it long enough to have recovered from the filth and poison stored in his system by years of animal food. Flesh clogs the system, mires the mind, and poisons the sensibilities of the soul. De Lesseps said that the Suez Canal, one of the greatest engineering feats ever accomplished by man, never could have been dug by beefeating Englishmen. It was dug by the grain-eating Egyptians and Armenians. De Lesseps became a vegetarian and remained one to the end of his life as a result of his experiences in digging this great ditch.

The most successful animals of the *Encyclopedia Brittanica, Dietetics.

earth, outside of man, from the standpoint of strength and endurance, are those that live on vegetable food. The strength and mobility of the horse or the proverbial might of the ox are derived from the dynamite of the cereal. No carnivorous animal can boast the enormous strength of the rhinoceros, or the power and endurance of the herb-fed mule. The nuteating gorilla can crack a gun-barrel in his jaws, and the fruit-eating gibbon is the next marvelous of all animals for its agility. The elephant, whose strength uproots the trees, lives on herbage, and the frugivorous orang can rip open the jaws of the crocodile.

All food comes originally from the plant. "All flesh is grass." No animal can create starch or sugar or fat or proteid. This is a power of the plant and of the plant only. All any animal can do is to burn up the compounds made in the laboratories of the plant. And when onet animal swallows another, it simply appropriates that which has been previously appropriated from the plant; it simply uses second-hand that which its victim used first-hand. Vegetal fat is identical with animal fat, and vegetal proteid with animal proteid, and starch and sugar, two of the three force-producing foods, are found in the vegetable kingdom only.

Soldiers (or civilians either, for that matter) may be equipped for ferocity by living on flesh foods, but not for endurance, mobility, intelligence, or civilization. Numerous athletic contests have been held in England and Germany between flesh-eaters and vegetarians. Some of them grew out of discussions of the food question and were designed to put to a practical test the claims of the opposing adherents. And in every one of these contests the champions of the nat

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DOCTRINE OF BRAINISM. Mr. Joshua Rowntree, the Quaker, was one of the speakers at a recent meeting of the Friends in London to consider, "If war is a reasonable method of settling national disputes." In the course of his speech he said that he had never been tempted to feel ashamed that he was a Christian but once, when he was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and saw Turkish troops march in to keep the Christians from attacking each other. Only the other day they quarreled over the honor to sweep the floor and the

PACIFIC HEALTH JOURNAL. The oldest, most complete and progressive vegetarian paper printed on the Pacific Coast. Issued monthly. Subscription price, 50c per year. Address Pacific Health Journal, 1436 Market St., San Francisco, Cal.

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