Page:What I believe - Russell (1925).pdf/91

 lived to see them. Clothes and cooking are too ancient to be denounced by most of the apostles of nature, though they all object to new fashions in either. Birth-control is thought wicked by people who tolerate celibacy, because the former is a new violation of nature and the latter an ancient one. In all these ways those who preach "nature" are inconsistent, and one is tempted to regard them as mere conservatives.

Nevertheless, there is something to be said in their favour. Take for instance vitamines, the discovery of which has produced a revulsion in favour of "natural" foods. It seems, however, that vitamines can be supplied-by cod-liver oil and electric light, which are certainly not part of the "natural" diet of a human being. This case illustrates that, in the absence of knowledge, unexpected harm may be done by a new departure from nature; but