General Conference Bulletin, vol. 1

HEALTH TOPICS — FLESH-EATING

J. H. KELLOGG

I WANT to show you to-day that there is a perfect parallel between the teachings of the Bible and the teachings of nature upon the subject of vegetarianism. In the first place, man’s structure agrees with that of other vegetarian animals. The skeletons of the monkey, the gorilla, the chimpanzee, and the orang-outang have essentially the same structure as that of a man. They are all vegetarians. The gorilla, one of the strongest and most courageous of animals, lives entirely upon vegetables, nuts, and fruits. It will kill other animals, even the elephant, and man himself, in self-defense, but it will not eat them. These animals are vegetarians, not because they are compelled to be, for the forests where they live abound in animal life; but they choose to subsist upon vegetarian diet; they adhere to the original diet which God gave to them. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.2

The striking similarity between the digestive organs of these animals and that of man would prove that the natural diet of man is a vegetable diet. The most eminent naturalists agree that the natural diet of man is fruits and grains. Man has degenerated, gone back and fallen away from God’s original design for him in the matter of diet. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.3

A point of the greatest importance is that the most healthy animal possible is inferior to man’s natural diet. In the first place, every animal contains poisons which, if retained in the system, would kill the animal. We know what would happen to an animal or a person if the breath were stopped for five minutes. It dies; not because it cannot get air, but because of the poisons in the body. All the processes of the body generate poison. When the animal is first killed, the organs which dispose of the poisons cease to act; but the process of generating poison goes on until every part of the animal is dead. You have all seen the flesh of an animal quivering for some time after it is killed; and the poisoning process continues as long as there is life in the flesh, which is at least for half an hour or more after the eliminating organs have ceased to act. So you see it is absolutely impossible to obtain flesh from even the healthiest animal without its being more or less contaminated. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.4

And still another point of importance in this connection is that the blood which escapes from the animal at death is the purest blood, while the dark, venous, poisonous blood is retained. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.5

Another thing to be considered is the amount of poison that can be extracted from beefsteak. Beef tea is a stimulant. Some doctors declare that it is even more stimulating than brandy or whiskey. Its action upon the brain is very much the same as that of liquor. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.6

The effect of flesh-eating upon those who are unused to it, is intoxicating. Galton, when traveling in Africa, found a woman who had been left in a starving condition. He gave her some meat, and in a little time she became as hilarious as a person intoxicated with wine or brandy. The same thing has been seen in numerous other cases. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.7

Some time since, I made an experiment upon a perfectly healthy man as to the effect of meat-eating. He had been used to a vegetarian diet; and I tested the excretion, the urea, and the amount of poisonous matter being carried off was 24 grams. After this man had eaten meat for a day or two, a test was made, and the amount of poison being eliminated was 50 per cent more than before, and the third day there was four times as much as when the man ate no meat. That shows that his vital organs had to dispose of four times as much poison when he ate meat as before. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.8

I made a test upon a rabbit by injecting under its skin some of the excretion from the kidneys of this man before he ate any meat, and found that 40 measures (grams) killed the rabbit: but after the man had eaten meat three or four days, I found that it only took 20 measures to kill a rabbit, and a little later it only took 10 or 12. The poison killed the rabbit in a few seconds, almost as soon as if he had been shot. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.9

Another point of great importance is that flesh-eating causes disease, such as gout, rheumatism, and Bright’s disease. It is well known that these diseases come from an accumulation of poisons in the system; and it has been clearly shown how flesh-eating poisons the system. Just as long as the body can eliminate the poisons, it will not take disease; but when it can no longer throw off the poisons, the way is prepared for such diseases as those named. A man only needs about three ounces a day of the kind of food furnished by meat; and all that he eats more than this is converted into poisons. Flesh food cannot be stored up by the liver for future use as starchy foods can; but it has to be disposed of in some way at once. GCB February 13, 1895, page 138.10

As has been shown, we have in seeds the same kind of good elements that is found in meat; and we have it at first hand, too, without any animal poisons mixed with it. Nature has stored in the seed the right kinds of food elements for us, and in the right proportions. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.1

Another evil which comes from meat-eating is that certain diseases are directly communicated by animals, such as tapeworm, trichina, tuberculosis, and scrofula, which is another name for tuberculosis. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.2

Question. — Do you prescribe meat for your patients? GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.3

Answer. — I do not. I do not think it is necessary to prescribe meat for anybody. Twenty years ago I would not have dared to say that; but I have been firmly of that opinion for some years. I think that any man or woman that can get well at all, can get well better without the use of meat than with it. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.4

Question. — Do you allow the patients at the Sanitarium to eat meat? GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.5

Answer. — We do not prohibit it. We tell them it is better not to use it; but if they insist that they must have it, we try to do the best we can for them under the circumstances. The fact is that we have had so little moral support in this matter that we could not carry out the principles as we desired. A few years ago we had no one to stand by us, and reports have been circulated all over the land, that the Sanitarium was starving its helpers, because they had no meat. But I am glad to say that within the last two or three years there has been a change; and I believe we shall soon have the moral support in precept and example of our people as never before. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.6

There are a few more arguments that I wish to present upon the subject of meat-eating. The best and choices gifts to humanity — science and knowledge — have originated with, and have been preserved by, vegetarians nations. Nations which have adhered to their original Eden diet, have not lapsed into savagery. The Hindus and Chinese are examples of this. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.7

Flesh food is unnecessary for man, and for carnivorous animals as well. The dog, for instance, lives longer, enjoys better health, and is more kind and teachable on non-flesh diet. I have recently learned of a cat in New York that will not eat meat. It will catch mice, but will not eat them. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.8

The greatest writers and philosophers have been vegetarians, as well as the strongest men in the world to-day. The porters of Constantinople will carry one thousand pounds at a load, and yet they subsist on grains and fruit entirely. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.9

It is an interesting fact that carnivorous animals do not eat the flesh of other carnivorous animals. The lion does not eat the lion, the panther, or the wolf, doubtless because of the strong odor and taste. The strong odor of the carnivorous animal is due to the concentration of animal poison. The flesh of the hog that is fed on meat is tainted. The flesh of the man who eats meat is also tainted. GCB February 13, 1895, page 139.10