Henry Thompson himself in this same article, when he speaks of the question of alcohol. “It is rare now,” he says, “to find any one, well acquainted with human physiology, and capable of observing and appreciating the ordinary wants and usages of life around him, who does not believe that, with few exceptions, men and women are healthier and stronger—physically, intellectually, and morally—without such drinks than with them.” Substitute the word food for drink, and you have an exact exposition of the Vegetarian doctrine.
But I must now return to our main position. We have it emphatically stated, on the authority of Sir Henry Thompson, that in a temperate climate, such as that in which we live, flesh-food is not necessary.[1] He qualifies this admission by repeatedly stating that he does not wish to dispense with it altogether in its proper place and time ; but though he hints
- ↑ Sir Henry Thompson makes a possible exception in the case of hard-Working cut-dour labourers; but this seems hardly justified by experience, as the labouring classes are precisely those who successfully perform a maximum of labour with a minimum of flesh-food. Contrast Dr. W. B. Carpenter's remark: “We freely concede to the advocates of Vegetarianism that, as regards the endurance of physical labour, there is ample proof of the capacity of their diet to afford the requisite sustenance.”
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