In an excellent review of the advantages of a fleshless diet, Hutchison criticises it for its lack of energy-producing qualities. He guards against the confusion of energy with muscular strength, and claims it as a property of the nervous system. He concludes: "Muscles do their work upon carbohydrates, but the brain appears to require nitrogen, which can only be obtained in a concentrated form from animal sources. If protein food, therefore, be regarded as a nervous food, a diet rich in it will make for intellectual capacity and bodily energy, and it is not without reason that the more energetic races of the world have been meat-eaters."

(8) The statement that it is difficult to convert a flesh-eater to Christianity, or even to humanity, is an example of the absurd arguments whose number is legion. It seems to be forgotten that Christianity was introduced amongst a notable flesh-eating nation, and that there are more Christians to-day in meat-eating England alone than there are in all the vegetarian countries in the world, although these include quite two-thirds of the world's population. It would be utterly futile to attempt to follow other contentions of a calibre similar to those which I have just named.

(9) The cereals and pulses are said to contain all the elements of nutrition without any poisonous ingredients. This is doubtless perfectly true, but it does not sound well in the mouth of those who are never weary of decrying flesh food because of its supposed poisonous purin content. Purins are purins, whether contained in vegetables or animal food, and when it is known that beans contain 1.5 grains per lb., oatmeal 3.46 grains per lb., lentils 4.17 grains per lb., and asparagus 1.5 grains per lb., it should serve as a warning to the flesh-abstainer to weigh his statements before uttering words likely to be used for his own condemnation. It has been urged that animal foods contain infinitely greater quantities of purins than those mentioned, and this is especially true of the glandular organs like liver, sweetbread, thymus, etc, but when we consider that cod has only 4 grains to the lb., mutton 6.76 grains, beef 7.9 grains, beefsteak 14.46 grains to the lb., most of which is in a free condition, so that it could, if necessary, be excluded during the process of cooking, this compares favourably with the 1.2 grains of methyl purin in every cup of tea and the 1.7 grains of the same substance in every small cup of coffee. The average flesh-abstainer who partakes freely of these beverages should exclude them from his diet list if he wishes to be consistent.

(10) It is stated that no one can possibly eat meat unless it is cooked and flavoured in such a manner as to disguise in some way its origin. But the same statement may clearly be made about vegetables and many fruits. Few vegetarians eat potatoes without the addition of salt, and fewer still like to be reminded of the horribly foetid compost from which they obtained the elements of their growth.

(11) Nor is there much value in the argument from the aesthetic point of view. It loses sight of the fact that most meat-eaters admit fruits with vegetables and cereals into their diet, and hence the suggestiveness of summer and all its allied pleasures may be obtained by them as well as by the vegetarian. When the flesh-abstainer ceases his endeavour to imitate the appearance and even the flavours of flesh foods it will be time for him to become enthusiastic over the beauty of his own food.

(12) The anatomical argument will not bear much investigation. A look at the teeth, which include cutting, tearing, and sharp grinding molars with clearly cusped edges, indicates their suitability for a mixed diet. If we differentiate the mammals according to their dietetic habits, we can classify them as herbivorous (including graminivorous), carnivorous, frugi-vorous, and omnivorous. We find that the human alimentary canal has individual characteristic features, although it is much more closely allied to that of the carnivora or omnivora than to that of the herbivora. It certainly presents some features of similarity to that of the 'frugivora, but not a sufficient amount to warrant the statement that man is frugivorous. Kingsford, whose investigation of the subject is deservedly held in respect by vegetarians, states that the length of the digestive canal, compared with that of the whole body, varies in the carnivorous races from three to six for one, whilst in the apes and man the proportion is seven to ten for one. This, of course, is an error, because that of man is in the proportion of only five to one, or just about half the length of the alimentary canal of the apes, and as the digestive tube in herbivora is from twelve to twenty-seven for one of the body length, it is quite out of proportion to that of man. It is of some-interest to find that nations like the Chinese and Japanese, which have accustomed themselves to a diet containing large quantities of vegetables, have a slightly longer intestine than a nation in whose diet meat predominates. Many other items of Kingsford's comparison are equally valueless because founded upon inaccurate physiological data, as, e.g., when she describes the movements of the stomach and finds a similarity to those in the frugivora, whereas our latest facts derived from Cannon make it pretty clear that the human stomach is certainly more like that of the dog and cat than she supposed it to be. Finally, for a definite period during early life all vegetarian mammals, whether from instinct or practice, but certainly by compulsion, depended on the animal proteins of milk, and were able effectively to reconstruct their tissue proteins from them.

Munk notes that the urine of man more nearly resembles that of the carnivora than that of the herbivora, and that his excretion of water approximates more decidedly to the carnivorous type. Thus in man 60 per cent. of the water is excreted by the kidneys and 40 per cent. by the lungs and skin. In the carnivora 70 per cent. of the water is excreted by the kidneys and 30 per cent. by the lungs and skin; whereas in the herbivora only 30 per cent. of the water is excreted by the kidneys, as compared with 70 per cent. by the lungs and skin.