Page:Henry Stephens Salt - A Plea for Vegetarianism and Other Essays.pdf/46

Rh that some shrewd people would have it appear ; but it certainly has the practical advantage of effectually abolishing any desire for tobacco-smoke.

III. But besides these definite results, the Vegetarian will ﬁnd himself a great gainer in what I may call general simplicity, or good taste in diet. I do not, of course, mean to assert that this is a virtue special to Vegetarians, to which no ﬂesh-eater can attain; but merely that the Vegetarian, cæteris paribus, is more likely to be wise and thoughtful about his diet than a ﬂesh-eater. For there is “good taste” in eating and drinking, as in all other things, and that style of diet is obviously in best' taste which keeps the body in most equable health, neither pampering it by over-feeding nor weakening by excessive abstinence. This golden mean between gluttony on the one side and asceticism on the other, would be more widely attained if the use of ﬂesh-food were discontinued. For the Vegetarian who understands the importance of the question of diet, is as a rule, less likely to eat too much than those who never consider the nature of their food ; and he will be wiser not only in the