A Treatise on Food and Dietetics Physiologically and Therapeutically Considered

From an 1874 Journal...

A Treatise on Food and Dietetics Physiologically and Therapeutically Considered. 

By F. W. Pavy, M.D., F.R.S. London : J. and A. Churchill. 

[.....]

The author next passes to the more popular branch of his subject. Taking in review the various articles of food, he gives an account of their chemical composition and their dietetic value. The occasional unwholesomeness of meat in consequence of trichinae, of malignant disease, or of decomposition is fully described. It is to be regretted that in speaking of blood its very objectionable character as an article of food has not been mentioned.

In the important section on Practical Dietetics, the vegetarian question is very fairly examined. It strikes us that the dietetic reformers find themselves in a dilemma. If they allow the use of milk and eggs, as most of them do, they greatly improve their cookery at the expense of their logical consistency. If they reject milk they accuse nature, or rather God, of an error in having appointed it for the nurture of the young of the highest animal group. It must also be remembered that certain rodents, such as the common r«t, depart more widely than we do from the carnivorous type in their dentition, and yet are omnivorous. At the same time, we must admit, with Dr. Pavy, that " the consumption of meat to the extent that many persons believe necessary for the maintenance of health and strength is not really so."

This work is not only indispensable to the medical practitioner, but it is one with which every educated man ought o make himself familiar.

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 - Copied from Crookes, William (ed), The Chemical News and Journal of Industrial Science - Vol 29-30. Page 18; 10th July 1874 (accessed via Google Books books.google.co.uk on 07/01/2011)

I have underlined 'if they allow the use of milk and eggs' ... this paragraph implies that there are those who did and those who did not.