The jewel and its casket : an address / delivered by George Black.

  • Black, George
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The jewel and its casket : an address / delivered by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    do away with the fact that when the being Man was ereated, this—a non-flesh diet— was considered by his Maker to be the best for him. Again this much seems clear, that his fall was brought about by longing for and eat- ing what he was told would destroy the harmony of his nature and bring about death, and it is even so to-day. Disease and death are constantly following the gratification of our appetites, just as health and long life come from abstinence and self-control. All the greatest physiologists and ana- tomists are agreed that man is by nature a feugivorous animal, that fruit and nuts are his natural or proper diet. If this be so how far has he travelled from the pathway of health! As it is no use looking to him in his pre- sent condition to find out what is natural to him, we must look to those creatures living in a natural state which most closely resemble him in their anatomical structure, and we find that the anthropoid apes, who are thus related to him, live on a diet of nuts, fruits, and various kinds of roots. It is easy to prove that the eating of flesh-meat is an acquired habit, as far as mankind is concerned, and that its con- sumption is productive of a vast amount of mischief. As some people do not seem to think that it matters what a man eats, I should just like to say that I think it matters a great deal. As every cell in the body, and every organ and tissue, is built up from the blood, each appropriating what is necessary for its growth and develop- ment, you cannot have healthy cells, healthy organs and tissues, unless the blood itself be healthy. The blood of an individual who lives on liver and bacon, tripe and cow-heel, steak and kidneys, cannot be the same as that of one who has whole-meal bread and fruit, lentils and rice, or vegetable pie. A French chemist, Monsieur Monclar, proved this by giving animals food that was coloured with madder, and finding in
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