cause is misconception. It may be that the term Vegetarian misleads many. We repeat what is, no doubt, well known to some persons, that it is used for want of a better. Most Vegetarians use everything which others do, except flesh-meat, and food in the preparation of which lard, suet, or dripping may have been used. The proportion and quantity of vegetable productions, &c., which they use will, in many cases, be somewhat different.
In a letter on "Human Food," by Dr. Garrett, of Hastings (Hastings and St. Leonard's News, of June 18th, 1858), it is insinuated that "the diet of a strict Vegetarian" consists entirely of "fruits, roots, or green vegetables." Dr. Garrett ought to know that a "strict Vegetarian uses different kinds of grain—the cerealia, such as wheat, oats, barley, rice," &c., as well as "fruit, roots, and green vegetables." When a medical man makes such a mistake, it is no wonder that other persons have strangely erroneous ideas as to our diet. This is one instance among hundreds by which the public are misled and deceived, it may be unwittingly, as to what Vegetarianism really is. Each member is left free to use milk, butter, eggs, and cheese, or not, as he may think proper.
Ibid., pp. 190, 191: In Dr. Garrett's Nineteenth Letter on "Human Food," in the Hastings and St. Leonard's News, for October 1st, there is the following passage, which requires a passing notice: "Having reviewed the physiological, chemical, and dietetic qualities of milk, having proved its richness in every constituent of animal flesh, we may fairly compliment our waggish friends, the Vegetarians, in having added to their vegetable bill-of-fare, milk and eggs, two of the best, most concentrated, and nutritious articles of human food." We do not wish to manifest any undue degree of sensitiveness, but it is evident that Dr. Garrett is disposed to excite a laugh at Vegetarians by his left-handed compliment. His language is intended to shew that those Vegetarians who use milk and eggs are chargeable with inconsistency. We are not conscious of this. We have agreed to abstain from the flesh of animals. Milk and eggs may be termed animal products, but they are not flesh.You see that Mr. Clark (D. R., 1885, p. 190) is justified in saying that we have from the first adopted the term "animal products."
I will only add one more authority on the use of eggs and milk. Surely Sir Henry Thompson, when preparing to impugn the honesty of Vegetarians, might have found time to consult the oracle of our late president:—
F. W. Newman. Essays on Diet. London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1883,pp. 21, 22: As the word Vegetarianism does not wholly explain itself, we may justly ask its meaning. Many suppose it to mean a diet consisting of table vegetables. It is true that these are an essential part of Vegetarian diet, yet they are by no means the most important. Vegetarian foods consist mainly of four heads—farinacea, pulse, fruit, and table vegetables.
Ibid., pp. 23, 24: One who confines himself to these four heads of diet is indisputably a Vegetarian. Yet, in fact, few Vegetarians do confine themselves to this diet; and herein consists my difficulty in definition. We are open to the scoff of being, not Vegetarians but Brahmins, who do not object to animal food, but only to the taking of animal life. Few of us refuse eggs, or milk and its products. This is highly illogical, if we seek