The Story of our Health Message

Shelley, the Poet, Interested

Two years later the attention of the curious reader of a new book by P. B. Shelley, the poet, must have been arrested by the opening sentence: “I hold that the depravity of the physical and moral nature of man originated in his unnatural habits of life.”—Vindication of a Natural Diet. London: F. Pitman, edition of 1884. SHM 43.1

If he read the book to its conclusion, just before laying it down, he would have marked the following admonition: SHM 43.2

“The proselyte to a simple and natural diet, who desires health, must from the moment of his conversion attend to these rules— SHM 43.3

“Never take any substance into the stomach that once had life. SHM 43.4

“Drink no liquid but water restored to its original purity by distillation.” SHM 43.5

The English poet was a personal friend of the Newton and Lambe families and had followed them in adopting a vegetarian diet. He acknowledged that he had drawn his arguments largely from the two former books, but his distinctive style, together with his literary reputation, tended to arouse a deeper interest in the subject. SHM 43.6

The benefits to health experienced by those who discontinued the use of flesh as food led to a gradual increase of favor for the new regimen. But it was more than three decades after the publication of the treatise by Shelley that the Vegetarian Society was organized in England. The first meeting was held at Ramsgate, England, on September 30, 1847, with Joseph Brotherton, Esq., M.P., presiding. Of the 265 charter members 91 had abstained from meat less than 10 years, and 72 had been vegetarians for more than 30. Only one had a record of 40 years. (John Smith, Fruits and Farinacea the Proper Food for Man, 190. New York: Fowler and Wells. From the second London edition, 1854.) In 1851 James Simpson, president of the society, reported nearly 700 adult members, 153 of whom had not tasted animal flesh for more than 20 years. He said further: SHM 43.7

“These vegetarians belong indiscriminately to all trades and professions and have, as a body, always a much higher and more uniform standard of health than flesh eaters under similar general circumstances, and many of them have experienced a wonderful improvement in bodily vigor and mental vivacity.”—R. T. Trall, M.D., in The Health Reformer, November, 1867, p. 20. SHM 44.1