Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 64.djvu/466

brandy, gin or malt spirits, which complete the ruin of the nervous system. (Quoted by Bell, pp. 23-24.)

The vegetable diet found an enthusiastic champion in America in the person of Dr. W. A. Alcott, who published a small volume on the subject in 1838. In the preface he tells us: "When I commenced putting together the materials of this little treatise on diet it was my intention simply to show the safety of a vegetable and fruit diet, both for those who are afflicted with many forms of chronic disease, and for the healthy. But I soon became convinced that I ought to go farther, and prove its superiority over every other." This the author attempted to do by an appeal to contemporary medical men and by a compilation of the 'anatomical, the physiological, the medical, the political, the economical, the experimental and the moral arguments' then prevalent. But the individual who probably did more than any other in this country to reduce the subject of vegetable dietetics to a system was Sylvester Graham. This eccentric reformer, remembered to-day in connection with the bread which familiarly bears his name, was an enthusiastic temperance advocate, who insisted that the craving for drink can only be combated by the use of a judicious diet in connection with correct habits of living. His belief that 'an exclusively farinaceous and fruit diet is best adapted to the development and improvement of all powers of body, mind and soul' was set forth for many years both in public lectures and in writings, among which the 'Graham Lectures on the Science of Human Life' (2 vols., 1839) were perhaps most widely quoted in vegetarian literature. About 1837 there was formed an American Physiological Society of two hundred members, nearly all of whom, as well as their families, abstained from animal food. (Of. Alcott, 'Vegetable Diet,' p. 219.)

The characteristic features of the vegetarian movement in England are set forth in the 'Constitution of the Vegetarian Society of Manchester,' to which reference has already been made. The objects were:

To induce habits of Abstinence from the Flesh of Animals as Food, by the dissemination of information upon the subject, by means of tracts, essays and lectures, proving the many advantages of a physical, intellectual and moral character, resulting from Vegetarian habits of Diet; and thus, to secure, through the association, example and efforts of its members, the adoption of a principle which will tend essentially to true civilization, to universal brotherhood, and to the increase of human happiness generally.

As early as 1829 there existed in England a 'Society of Bible Christians,' of which a member wrote as follows:

The Society of Bible Christians abstain from animal food, not only in obedience to the Divine command, but because it is an observance which, if more generally adopted, would prevent much cruelty, luxury and disease, besides many other evils which cause misery in Society. It would be productive of much good, by promoting health, long life, and happiness, and thus be a