thern States, since the climate would seem to call for it; but
we have shown its use at the South to be the result of circumstances
more than of _original_ preference and probable inclination, since all
peoples of low latitudes, of a high standard of civilization, elect a
lighter diet than those of cooler climates.

There are some who declaim against the use of any and all kinds of meat
for food, and advocate a purely vegetable diet. There is much that can
be said in its favor, and it ought, with fruits, to form at least two of
the three daily meals. The system would be in better tone, and the mind
as well. But there are extremes in all things, and these sometimes
govern the conduct of men. A happy medium is usually the best, and for
our climate, we believe the use of the right kinds of meat to be not
only healthful but eminently proper. The natural law aids to this
conclusion. We see the people of the tropics indulging largely in fruit,
which an allwise Providence has placed there and adapted to their wants;
again, at the poles the inhabitants live almost wholly on the fat of
animals--a half-dozen tallow candles being eaten at a meal, when
supplied by strangers. The intense cold requires this heavy fuel to
supply the needed heat and comfort. What would an exclusive vegetable
diet be worth to them, exposed as they are? With us, lying between the
two extremes, with a climate and country abounding in both fruits and
animals, with seasons of cold and heat in nearly equal extremes, it
seems quite rational that a mixed diet, regulated by common-sense rules,
is the best. Certainly the highest civilization to which man has yet
attained is found in the temperate zones, where neither the one nor the
other extreme in diet has obtained.

A manifest advantage and improvement in general health can, however, be
effected by paying a more enlightened regard to those things whereof we
dine. People with gluttonish inclinations can easily and do make
themselves sick while subsisting on an entirely fruit diet; hence, if
discretion is needed in the use of the simplest articles of food, of
course it cannot be dispensed with while indulging in other sorts.

But, in a volume of this character, we cannot amplify the details of
this very interesting and important topic to that extent we could wish.
Suffice it to say, that so far as pork is concerned, we abjure all to
leave it severely alone. There is a variety of other meats great enough,
from