[26] “Food Value of Meat,” p. 45. By W. R. C. Latson, M.D.
These conclusions are further borne out by the fact that the average standard of longevity is higher among those peoples and nations who subsist largely upon a vegetarian diet, than among the meat-eating races.
There is an additional argument against meat-eating which might be mentioned in this place. It is this: That meat, being a highly stimulating article of diet, has a tendency to make us eat _too much_, both of meat, and of other foods, which are before us at the time. When the meal consists largely of simple, non-stimulating food-stuffs, it will be found that this tendency is absent, and there will be no temptation to overeat, or eat to excess, as is the case when meat is largely indulged in. _Less_ food, and not more, will be eaten—which corresponds with the argument drawn from physiology and chemistry—which shows us that we can abstract the same amount of nutriment from less food of another character. Instead of eating more food, when we adopt a vegetarian diet, therefore, we should eat less! And, as a matter of fact, most vegetarians _do_ eat less than meat-eaters. Thus, Mr Henry Salt, in his “Logic of Vegetarianism,” p. 63, says:
“If the chemist were a man of action, and not merely a man of study, the practical aspects of this question might, at the outset, give him pause. Had he known vegetarians, lived among vegetarians, and talked with vegetarians, instead of regarding them theoretically, he would have been aware that the average vegetarian eats decidedly _less_ in bulk than the average flesh-eater.”
This agrees with our argument advanced elsewhere—that meat is not as nutritious as other articles of food; and, further, when we come to consider the question of a fruitarian diet, we shall find that cooking also destroys a large amount of the vital properties of food, and that less raw food may be eaten than cooked food. For further discussion on this point, I would refer the reader to the chapter on the quantity of food necessary to sustain life.
The question of the influence of the diet upon the mental, emotional and moral life should, perhaps, be insisted upon a little more fully. Many of the older writers have insisted on this fact very strongly, and furnished numerous examples and illustrations of the effects of the diet upon this side of man—either for better or worse. Judge Woodruff, writing on this subject, says: