At present time there is much question in the minds of many intelligent, thinking people as to the propriety of using foods of this class, and especially of their frequent use.  Besides being in no way superior to vegetable substances, they contain elements of an excrementitious character, which cannot be utilized, and which serve only to clog and impede the vital processes, rendering the blood gross, filling the body with second-hand waste material which was working its way out of the vital domain of the animal when slaughtered.  To this waste matter, consisting of unexpelled excretions, are added those produced by the putrefactive processes which so quickly begin in flesh foods exposed to air and warmth.

That flesh foods are stimulating has been shown by many observations and experiments.

Flesh foods are also specially liable to be diseased and to communicate to the consumer the same disease.  The prevalence of disease among animals used for food is known to be very great, and their transmission to man is no longer a matter of dispute.  It has been abundantly proved that such diseases as the parasitic, tuberculous, erysipelatous, and foot and mouth diseases are most certainly communicable to man by infected flesh.  All stall and sty fed animals are more or less diseased.  Shut up in the dark, cut off from exercise, the whole fattening process is one of progressive disease.  No living creature could long retain good health under such unnatural and unwholesome conditions.  Add to this the exhaustion and abuse of animals before slaughtering; the suffering incident to long journeys in close cars, often without sufficient food and water; and long drives over dusty roads under a burning sun to the slaughter house, and it will be apparent to all thoughtful persons that such influences are extremely liable to produce conditions of the system that render the flesh unfit for food.

Thousands of animals are consumed each year which were slaughtered just in time to save them from dying a natural death.  It is a common thing for cattle owners, as soon as an animal shows symptoms of decline, to send it to the butcher at once; and when epidemics of cattle diseases are prevalent, there can be no doubt that the meat markets are flooded with diseased flesh.

There are few ways in which we can more effectually imperil our health than in partaking freely of diseased animal food.  This is no new theory.  The Jews have for ages recognized this danger, and their laws require the most careful examination of all animals to be used as food, both before and after slaughtering.  Their sanitary regulations demand that beast or fowl for food must be killed by bleeding through the jugular vein, and not, according to custom, by striking on the head, or in some violent way.  Prior to the killing, the animal must be well rested and its respiration normal; after death the most careful dissection and examination of the various parts are made by a competent