who attempts to resort for one moment
to man's structure, in support of the hypothesis that he is a
flesh-eater. None, so far as I know, will affirm, or at least with any
show of reason maintain, that anatomy, so far as that goes, is in favor
of flesh eating. We come, then, to another and more important division
of our subject.

II. THE PHYSIOLOGICAL ARGUMENT.

One of the advantages of vegetable-eaters over others, is in the
superior appetite which they enjoy. There are many flesh-eaters who have
what they call a good appetite. But I never knew a person of this
description, who made the change from a mixed diet to one purely
vegetable, who did not afterward acknowledge that he never once knew,
while he was an eater of animal food, a truly perfect appetite. This
testimony in favor of vegetable diet is positive; whereas that of the
multitude, who have never made the change I speak of, but who are
therefore the more ready to laugh at the conclusions, is merely
negative.

A person of perfect appetite can eat at all times, and under all
circumstances. He can eat of one thing or another, and in greater or
less quantity. Were there no objections to it, he could make an entire
meal of the coarsest and most indigestible substances; or, he could eat
ten or fifteen times a day; or, he could eat a quantity at once which
would astonish even a Siberian; or, on the contrary, he could abstain
from food entirely, for a short time; and any of these without serious
inconvenience. He would, indeed, feel a slight want of something (in the
case of total abstinence), when the usual hour arrived for taking a
meal; but the sensation is not an abiding one; when the hour has passed
by, it entirely disappears. Nor is there ever, at least for a day or two
of abstinence, that gnawing at the stomach, as some express it, which is
so often felt by the flesh-eater and the devourer of other mixed and
injurious dishes and which is so generally mistaken for true and
genuine hunger.

I have said that the vegetable-eater finds no serious inconvenience from
the quality or quantity of his food; but I mean to speak here of the
_immediate_ effects solely. No doubt every error of this sort produces
mischief, sooner or later. The more perfect the appetite is, the greater
should be our moral power of commanding it, and of controlling the
quality and quantity of our food and drink, as well as the times and
seasons of receiving it.

These statements, I am a