to the
merits or demerits of any particular system of dietetic reform.
Unfortunately many of those who _do_ realise the intimate connection
between diet and both physical and mental health, are not, generally
speaking, sufficiently philosophical to base their views upon a secure
foundation and logically reason out the whole problem for themselves.

Briefly, the pleas usually advanced on behalf of the vegetable regimen
are as follows: It is claimed to be healthier than the customary flesh
diet; it is claimed for various reasons to be more pleasant; it is
claimed to be more economical; it is claimed to be less trouble; it is
claimed to be more humane. Many hold the opinion that a frugivorous
diet is more natural and better suited to the constitution of man, and
that he was never intended to be carnivorous; that the slaughtering of
animals for food, being entirely unnecessary is immoral; that in adding
our share towards supplying a vocation for the butcher we are helping to
nurture callousness, coarseness and brutality in those who are concerned
in the butchering business; that anyone of true refinement and delicacy
would find in the killing of highly-strung, nervous, sensitive
creatures, a task repulsive and disgusting, and that it is scarcely
fair, let alone Christian, to ask others to perform work which we
consider unnecessary and loathsome, and which we should be ashamed to do
ourselves.

Of all these various views there is one that should be regarded as of
primary importance, namely, the question of health. First and foremost
we have to consider the question of physical health. No system of
thought that poses as being concerned with man's welfare on earth can
ever make headway unless it recognises this. Physical well-being is a
moral consideration that should and must have our attention before aught
else, and that this is so needs no demonstrating; it is self-evident.

Now it is not to be denied when we look at the over-flowing hospitals;
when we see everywhere advertised patent medicines; when we realise
that a vast amount of work is done by the medical profession among all
classes; when we learn that one man out of twelve and one woman out of
eight die every year from that most terrible disease, cancer, and that
over 207,000 persons died from tuberculosis during the first seven years
of the present century; when we learn that there are over 1500 defined
diseases prevalent among us and that the list is being conti