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VEGETARIANISM

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 968 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VEGETARIANISM , a comparatively See also:

modern word, which-came into use abput the See also:year 1847, as applied to the practice of living upon foods from which See also:fish, flesh and See also:fowl are excluded. There have from See also:time to time been various sects or See also:schools ef thought that have advocated narrower views,Some of. these have excluded all See also:animal products—such as See also:milk and eggs and See also:cheese. Some have excluded all cooked foods, and. have preached the virtues of fruits• and nuts and grains in their natural ripe See also:state. Some have abstained from all underground-grown roots and tubers, and have claimed See also:special benefits from using only those fruits and vegetables that are grown in the sunlight. Some have given up all See also:grain and See also:pulse foods, and have declared that old See also:age can be best resisted by living entirely upon fruits, salads, nuts, soft See also:water and milk products. Some have added fish to their See also:dietary; but, speaking generally, all who are called vegetarians will be found to abstain from the use of flesh and fowl and almost invariably also from fish as See also:food. The fact, however, must not be overlooked that while vegetarian See also:societies claim as " vegetarians " all who abstain fro: flesh foods, there is a large and growing number of pepple who repudiate the name of vegetarian " because of its associations, but who none the less, for some of the. reasons detailed below, abstain from eating anything that has been killed. The See also:Order. of the See also:Golden Age, for example, with its headquarters at Barcombe See also:Hall, See also:Paignton, See also:South See also:Devon, adopted the words " Fruitarian " and " Fruitarianism " to denote the dietary of its members. The See also:rule laid down by the Order is See also:abstinence so far as possible from all foods which are obtained by the cruel infliction of See also:pain, and the minimum that is set' is See also:complete " abstinence from flesh and fowl," while See also:net-caught fish may be used by See also:associate members. 968 The reasons that are advanced for the practice of fruitarianism or vegetarianism are very comprehensive, but the See also:principal ones ,may be considered to be the following:- 1. See also:Health.—(a) On the ground that animals are affected by diseases which are communicable, and are actually communicated, to See also:man by the ingestion of their flesh, e.g. parasites, See also:tuberculosis; (0) on the ground that the flesh of artificially fed animals is full of excretory substances, and that, therefore, under modern conditions, flesh-eating is injurious, and may be a cause of excretory substance and uric See also:acid deposits or rapid See also:tissue-destroying diseases in man; e.g. See also:gout, See also:cancer. 2.

See also:

Economy.—On the ground that the assimilable nutriment from a given See also:weight of selected See also:fruit and grain and See also:nut and See also:vegetable foods will cost less than the same nutriment obtained from flesh foods. 3. Social Economy.—On the ground that an See also:acre of cultivable See also:land under fruit and vegetable cultivation will produce from two to twenty times as much food as if the same land were utilized for feeding See also:cattle. 4. Racial Improvement.—On the ground that the aim of every prosperous community should be to have a large proportion of See also:hardy See also:country yeomen, and that See also:horticulture and See also:agriculture demand such a high ratio of labour, as compared with feeding and breeding cattle, that the country populat tion would be greatly increased by the substitution of a fruit and vegetable for an animal dietary. 5. See also:Character Improvement.—On the ground that after the virtues of courage and valour and fearlessness have been taught in the See also:lower stages of See also:evolution the virtue of See also:gentle humaneness and extended sympathy for all that can suffer should be taught in the higher cycles of the evolutionary See also:spiral. Flesh-eating entailing necessarily an immense See also:volume of From upon the sentient animal creation should be abstained from by the " higher classes " in the evolutionary See also:scale. Organizations have been established to See also:advocate this method of living under the name of " Vegetarian Societies " in many countries—chiefly the See also:United See also:Kingdom, See also:America, See also:Germany, See also:France, See also:Austria, See also:Holland and See also:Australia. Propagandism is carried on by lectures, literature, See also:cookery demonstrations and restaurants. In See also:England, the See also:oldest and one of the most important societies is " The Vegetarian Society," of which the headquarters are at See also:Oxford See also:Street, See also:Manchester. There are also several small See also:London societies, and an active London Association.

A few provincial towns, too, have small societies. An See also:

attempt has been made to organize the various vegetarian societies of the See also:world under the See also:title of " The Vegetarian Federal See also:Union." The headquarters of the London societies and of the " Union " are at Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, E.C: There are nominally about 35 organized societies in existence, but the extent to which public See also:opinion and practice in the See also:matter of dietary has been affected by vegetarianism is not to be gauged by the membership of such organizations. There are in England a number of vegetarian restaurants and boarding-houses, one See also:hospital and one or two sanatoria. In Germany and America there are many institutions where flesh is only prescribed in special cases. Flesh food is not included in the dietary of the See also:chief hospitals and orphanages of the native states of See also:India, excepting in the wards devoted to Europeans. The athletic See also:side of the See also:movement has been represented in See also:national and See also:international races by vegetarians winning the See also:Berlin and See also:Dresden walking match (125 M.), the Carwardine See also:Cup (too m.) and Dibble See also:Shield (6 See also:hours) See also:cycling races (1901 and 1902), the See also:amateur championship of England in See also:racquets and in See also:tennis (held by Mr Eustace See also:Miles for a See also:series of years), the cycling championship of India (3 years), See also:half-mile See also:running championship of See also:Scotland (1896), world's amateur See also:cycle records for all times from 4 hours to 13 hours (1902), 100 miles championship See also:York-See also:shire Road See also:Club (1899, 1901). In the religious world the Seventh-See also:Day See also:Adventists (who are connected with many sanatoria and the manufacture of food specialities) and some See also:Bible Christians, the worshippers of See also:Vishnu and the Swami Narang and Vishnoi sects, amongst others, preach abstinence from flesh food. The Salvation See also:Army, the Tolstoyans and the See also:Doukhobors encourage it. A number of orders in the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:church (e.g. the See also:Trappists) and in the See also:Hindu faith (e.g. the Dadupanthi Satins) are pledged abstainers. The See also:general question of food values is discussed if the See also:article See also:DIETETICS; see also See also:NUTRITION. But there is no doubt that;whatever may be the view taken as to the extreme theory - of vegetarianism; it has had considerable effect in modifying the excessive See also:meat-consuming regime of previous days, and in introducing new varieties of vegetable cooking into the service of the table. The literature on the subject is considerable, but the two See also:classics are perhaps The See also:Ethics of See also:Diet, by See also:Howard See also:Williams, and The Perfect Way in Diet, by Dr See also:Anna See also:Kingsford.

In former years the Vegetarian Society " was the most active in producing literature, but since about i9oi the Order of the Golden Age has come to the front with new and up-to-date books, booklets and leaflets,.and the Ideal See also:

Publishing Union has reprinted much of the earlier literature. The chief See also:periodicals are the Vegetarian (weekly), the See also:Herald of the Golden Age (monthly), the Vegetarian Messenger (monthly), the Vegetarian (See also:American monthly), the See also:Children's See also:Garden (monthly). (J.

End of Article: VEGETARIANISM

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