. The
condiments used in cookery, such as pepper, mustard, and spices, are of
this nature. There are certain states of the system, when these
stimulants are beneficial; but it is only in cases where there is some
debility. Such cases can only be pointed out by medical men. But persons
in perfect health, and especially young children, never receive any
benefit from such kind of food; and just in proportion as condiments
operate to quicken the labors of the internal organs, they tend to wear
down their powers. A person who thus keeps the body working under an
unnatural excitement, _lives faster_ than Nature designed, and the
sooner the constitution is worn out. A woman, therefore, should provide
dishes for her family, which are free from these stimulating condiments,
and as much as possible prevent their use. It is also found, by
experience, that animal food is more stimulating than vegetable. This is
the reason why, in cases of fevers, or inflammations, medical men forbid
the use of meat and butter. Animal food supplies chyle much more
abundantly than vegetable food does; and this chyle is more stimulating
in its nature. Of course, a person who lives chiefly on animal food, is
under a higher degree of stimulus than if his food was chiefly composed
of vegetable substances. His blood will flow faster, and all the
functions of his body will be quickened.

This makes it important to secure a proper proportion of animal and
vegetable diet. Some medical men suppose, that an exclusively vegetable
diet is proved, by the experience of many individuals, to be fully
sufficient to nourish the body; and bring, as evidence, the fact, that
some of the strongest and most robust men in the world, are those, who
are trained, from infancy, exclusively on vegetable food. From this,
they infer, that life will be shortened, just in proportion as the diet
is changed to more stimulating articles; and that, all other things
being equal, children will have a better chance of health and long life,
if they are brought up solely on vegetable food.

But, though this is not the common opinion of medical men, they all
agree, that, in America, far too large a portion of the diet consists of
animal food. As a nation, the Americans are proverbial for the gross and
luxurious diet with which they load their tables; and there can be no
doubt that the general health of the Nation would be increased, by a
change in our customs in this respect. To take meat bu