Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/82

of a similar kind, the object of which is to Show to what desperate straits civilised men would be reduced, if they were deprived of the use of animal substances. Jocose flesh-eaters take a malicious delight in pointing out and enumerating to Vegetarians the many animal substances now in common use, and in taunting them with inconsistency in using them. The consistent Food Reformer, they say, must abjure boots and leather in all its forms; he must not even be drawn by a vehicle where the harness is of leather. His books must not be bound in calf ; seal-skin and all furs must be banished from his household. Bone, too, must be prohibited ; and he must bethink him of some substitute even for soap and candles. All this is amusing enough, but the answer to it is of the simplest and most conclusive kind. The difficulties mentioned are only temporary and incidental, and are merely owing to the fact that the abundance of animal substance from the carcases of slaughtered beasts has naturally been used to supply our wants, to the exclusion of other material. When once the supply of carcases began to diminish, invention would soon be busy, and the wants of man would be equally well supplied from other