An argument on behalf of the primitive diet of man ... / by Frederic R. Lees.

  • Lees, Frederic Richard, 1815-1897.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An argument on behalf of the primitive diet of man ... / by Frederic R. Lees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    would, par excellence, be a return to that which is most consonant with the greatest amount of enduring toil, with the'deepest reach and clear, est perceptions of the human intellect, with the highest purity pf moral feeling, the utmost serenity of temper, the completest mastery of passion, and, by consequence, accordant with the truest development of Christian feeling, and the most permanent Civilization which, is possi- ble to the nature of Man. Illustrations. • It is almost superfluous to add examples of the experiential results of Vege- tarianism, in regard to varying climate, labor, circumstance, and age, but we have not seen the following published in any accessible work, and therefore, give them as they have turned up in our reading: — Egidius Girs, in his Swedish Chronicle { 1581), observes upon the obstinate defence of Wesenberg by the Russians—“ Their valor in defending fortified places arises from their being habituated to rough work, while fqw things are needful to their subsistence, such as flour, salt, and water.” Philip Bald.eus, minister of the Word of God in Ceylon, in his Descrip- tion of the Hast India Coasts of Malabar, etc. (published at Amsterdam, 1672, and London 1703), observes in regard to the habits of the Dutch in the Indies as follow's:—“ Strong liquors are not much used by the wiser sort in the morning. It has been found by experience that cauwa, or coffee, increases the gall, and chocolate nourishes too fast, whereas tea is much more moderate in its nature, notwithstanding which its immoderate use hinders the concoction of the stomach (especially taken after dinner), which is the reason the Chinese ♦ever take it after meals. I have found by experience that four or five cups make one light headed” (p. 660). “ The Brahmans are, for the most part, men of great morality—sober, clean, industrious, and obliging—and very moderate both in their eating and drinking. They use no strong-liquors. If you tell them of the Christian liberty in victuals and drink, they reply, that as the essence of Christianity does not consist in eating and drinking, so they did not feel themselves obliged to feed upon such things as are contrary to their nature and education, being from infancy used to much tenderer food,—which agrees best with their constitutions, and makes them generally live to a great age” (p. 814). Colonel Pinkney, the American, in his Travels (London, 1814), says of the Diet of the French Peasantry :— “ Bread and fruit is the constant summer dinner of the peasantry of the Loire ” (p 242). “ They are temperate, unceasingly gay, and sufficiently clad ” (p.247) Of the Touraine peasantry' he says :— “ Average daily wages, Is. They are allowed 3 pints of the [weak acid] wine of the country ” (p. 297). Hindoos* French peasantry