utmost strictness. The association appears to have been, for a time,
exceedingly flourishing. It was a society of philosophers, rather than
of common citizens. They held their property in one common stock, for
the benefit of the whole. The object of the association was chiefly to
aid each other in promoting intellectual cultivation. Pythagoras did
not teach abstinence from all hurtful food and drink, and an exclusive
use of that which was the _best_, for the sole purpose of making men
better, or more healthy, or longer-lived _animals_; he had a higher and
nobler purpose. It was to make them better rationals, more truly noble
and god-like--worthy the name of rational men, and of the relation in
which they stood to their common Father. And yet, after all, his
doctrines appear to have been mingled with much bigotry and
superstition.

THE ESSENES.

The following account of this singular sect of the ancient Jews is
abridged from an article in the Annals of Education, for July, 1836. The
number of this vegetable-eating sect is not known, though, according to
Philo, there were four thousand of them in the single province of Judea.

"Pliny, says that the Essenes of Judea fed on the fruit of the
palm-tree. But, however this may have been, it is agreed, on all hands,
that, like the ancient Pythagoreans, they lived exclusively on vegetable
food, and that they were abstinent in regard to the quantity even of
this. They would not kill a living creature, even for sacrifices. It is
also understood that they treated diseases of every kind--though it does
not appear that they were subject to many--with roots and herbs.
Josephus says they were long-lived, and that many of them lived over a
hundred years. This he attributes to their 'regular course of life,' and
especially to 'the simplicity of their diet.'"

THE BRAMINS.

The Bramins, or Brahmins, are, as is probably well known, the first of
the four _castes_ among the Hindoos. They are the priests of the people,
and are remarkable, in their way, for their sanctity. Of their number I
am not at present apprised, but it must be very great. But, however
great it may be, they are vegetable eaters of the strictest sect. They
are not even allowed to eat eggs; and I believe milk and its products
are also forbidden them; but of this I am not quite certain. Besides
adhering to the strictest rules of temperance, they are also required to
observe frequent fasts of the most severe kind, a