Summary of the Vegetarian System (1897)

AUTHOR: Clubb, Henry Stephens

SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen)

This short piece expounds the principle that veg*ism entails the best possible development of all faculties, physical as well as mental. Clubb gives eighteen reasons for veg*ism, adding six reasons to a previous publication by the “Vegetarian Society, England, in 1849,” 133). While the reasons “for entertaining that principle” (132) may vary individually, they “are chiefly based on”:
1. The anatomical argument: human anatomy favors a veg*an diet.
2. The physiological argument: the healthiest digestion, blood, muscle, and bone is secured through veg*ism.
3. The argument from chemistry: there is nothing in meat that could not be obtained in an even purer form from plant-based foods.
4. The economical argument: veg*ism is cheaper.
5. The agricultural argument: land is best used to produce plant-based foods (i.e., land reserved for the raising of cattle is a waste of labor and land).
6. The psychological argument: veg*ism helps to keep the passions in check.
7. The aesthetic argument: the slaughterhouse and related activities such as cooking meat and driving cattle are aesthetically degrading.
8. The humane argument: veg*ism is ethical in so far as it promotes “universal justice and universal compassion” (132).
9. The biblical argument: Genesis 1:29 clearly promotes veg*ism.
10. The historical argument: at all times and in all places, veg*ism has been beneficial to humans.
11. The argument from authority: many great men [sic] have promoted and continue to promote veg*ism.
12. The personal argument: any individual practice of veg*ism reinforces itself.
13. The biological argument: according to leading biologists, veg*ism best develops our mental abilities.
14. The moral argument: meat eating incites the passions and debilitates thought.
15. The argument from sensibility: all our senses are offended by meat and the suffering of animals in slaughterhouses.
16. The argument from common sense: due to their abysmal living conditions most animals to be slaughtered are diseased.
17. The post mortem argument: examinations of animals after having been slaughtered show that even healthy animals display signs of stress (“tubercles in the lungs” and “uric acid,” 133) and are detrimental to human health.
18. The Temperance argument: meat eating and the use of condiments incite the desire for alcohol and “other stimulants” (133).