Meat-Poisons

Even if meat be kept in a refrigerator and under the best possible conditions, the putrescent condition must always exist, if not in one degree then in another, and, in whatever stage, it is only held in abeyance, certain to progress whenever conditions of warmth or atmospheric exposure are allowed. Meat may contain dangerous putrescent compounds, ptomaines and toxins, and yet neither taste nor smell will give any warning of their presence.

The common practise of keeping flesh until it is tender is simply waiting for decomposition to advance to such a stage that the muscular tissues have lost their natural tenacity; that is, until they are softened by the process of decay.

The so-called maturing of beef is simply reducing it to a state of putrefaction.

Game, such as rabbits, partridges, and other small animals is generally sent to market without being "drawn." As a result of this, decomposition sets in earlier, and progresses much more rapidly than when the animal is dressed. The extent to which decomposition has advanced is generally indicated by its "gamey" flavor and discoloration of the meat.

Fish and oysters, when dead, decompose much more readily than do the bodies of other animals. On this account a large proportion of cases of poisoning from the use of animal food is directly traceable to the eating of fish and shell-fish. The poisonous effects resulting from the eating of oysters and canned meats, in which decay has begun, are sometimes that the most alarming and fatal symptoms occur, and frequently death follows in a few hours in spite of the most efficient medical aid.

The so-called "ripe," or seasoned, game - duck, snipe, plover, partridges, etc. - as well as much of the codfish, finnan-haddock, and many other products of fish cannot be recommended as a fit dietary for human beings.

The ptomaines and toxins of putrescent bodies are so intensely poisonous that even the smallest doses are fatal to small animals. It must be remembered that these ptomaines are deadly poisons, similar in their action to strychnine, morphine, nicotine, and other powerful alkaloidal poisons.

The idea that these poisons may be destroyed by cooking is wholly erroneous. Cooking will destroy the germs that produce the poisons, provided it is continued for a sufficient length of time and at a sufficiently high temperature, but the poisons themselves are not destroyed by cooking.

Appendicitis

The appalling frequency with which appendicitis occurs in our midst is also undoubtedly largely the result of the excess of flesh foods, and particularly of fish, shell-fish, and cheese. A famous French physician, who has made a study of the subject for some years, gives it as his opinion that nearly all cases of appendicitis are traceable to the use of meat as a food. 1, myself, have had repeated and unusual opportunities for attending and observing many cases of acute appendicitis. In all these instances overeating of food in general has always been the cause of attack, and meat having constituted the larger portion of the meal, naturally and probably rightly comes in for the blame. The system, becoming overtaxed with food, is unable to pass the food along the colon. As a result of the germs which are always swarming in the colon, decomposition of the food products takes place, with subsequent inflammation of the surrounding parts, and the absorption of toxin or other poisonous products producing the attack of appendicitis.

Cancer

It is a well-known fact that those persons who do not use flesh foods as a diet are immune from cancer. Cancer is unknown amongst vegetarians. Doctors have been, for years, sedulously looking for the microbe of cancer, but with all the thorough and painstaking experiments carried on at Yale, Cambridge, and other Universities where cancer Commissions have been investigating the cause of cancer, up to the present no microbe has been found. Several French physicians have announced the theory that the use of pork is the cause of cancer. Championierre, of Paris, has recently stated that his observations have convinced him that the use of meat as a regular food is one of the most probable causes of cancer. Dr. Williams, an English physician, says in regard to cancer: "Many indications point to the gluttonous consumption of meat, which is such a characteristic feature of this age, as likely to be especially harmful in this respect. When excessive quantities of such highly stimulating forms of nutriment are ingested by persons whose cellular metabolism is defective, it seems probable that there may thus be excited in those parts of the body where vital processes are still active, such excessive and disorderly cellular proliferation as may eventuate in cancer. No doubt other factors co-operate, and among these, I should be especially inclined to name deficient exercise and probably, also, deficiency in fresh vegetable food."

The excessive use of flesh food must have a decided influence in opening the way for cancer. Everything points to it as a causative factor in this dreaded and incurable disease. If a dietary of meat be the cause of cancer, there never will be found a microbe.

Dr. Haig, an English physician, whose connection with some of the largest hospitals in London has given him exceptional opportunities for studying such subjects, and who for twenty years has been engaged in a series of elaborate and painstaking researches as to the effects of flesh foods upon the human body, has definitely declared himself in opposition to flesh eating-. Whether we are prepared to accept all his views on the subject, or not, there can be no question whatever but that the excessive use of meat is productive of an untold amount of disease and misery; it is also responsible for enormously reducing the longevity of the race. The list of diseases or ailments which are given as a result of flesh-eating is very extensive, over one hundred, and we condense the list, giving but the most important ones: Bright's disease, gout, rheumatism, epilepsy, nervousness, asthma, sleeplessness, gravel, neuralgia, sciatica, bronchitis, diseases of the liver, blood, blood vessels, skin diseases, general catarrh, pneumonia, and inflammation of all the fibrous tissues of the body.

Meat has been charged up with a great many diseases, practically all the uric acid diseases. The elucidation of this question is not an easy thing, the various factors being inter-related, inter-twined and inter-dependent upon each other, so, that it is almost impossible to sift the wheat from the chaff. The question individuals are asking themselves is, shall we eat meat? In the main it may be said that meat, in itself, is no more productive of uric acid formation than would occur with the excessive use of any other nitrogenous food. The excessive use of any nitrogenous food, nuts, peas, beans, meat, eggs, animal or vegetable, brings about precisely the same condition - uric acid formation - as is produced by the excessive use of meat. It's a question not of meat but of the excess of meat that is the factor.

There are many nitrogenous foods, which, if used in the same excessive proportion as meat, would produce far more uric acid than meat.

There are several other factors in the production and causation of uric acid besides the excessive use of nitrogenous foods, which will be mentioned under the article on Uric Acid.