Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at SixtyFletcher, Horace
Science
Fletcherism: What It Is; Or, How I Became Young at Sixty
Fletcher, Horace
Mastication; Nutrition
I am indebted to the distinguished champion tennis-player,
diet-reformer, and restaurator Eustace Miles, for the name "Meaters"
to designate those who eat meat; and I have coined the term "Mealers"
to stand for those who take only first-hand earth-fruit products for
their nutrition, disregarding the fact that all are _meal_ers who
take _meals_ of victuals. To offset this addition to the vocabulary,
it would do no harm to drop off the use of "Meals" and "Victuals,"
leaving "Meal" to mean only one thing; viz., ground cereals or
vegetables.[P]
[P] It is not outside the province of Fletcherism to Fletcherize our
vocabulary and make it as single-meaning as possible in the interest
of simplicity. The term "Fletcherize" is already commonly used to
suggest analysis and digestion of crude raw material other than food,
and has come into use in literary circles with especial usefulness.
Young reporters on newspapers are often told by editors to take their
"copy" in hand and "Fletcherize" it before handing it in for printing.
Even such a judicial person as Mayor Gaynor, of New York, had recourse
recently to such advice relative to evidence, but he called it by a
name of his own not yet in common use.
One of the details of carefulness in Fletcherism is expressed in the
statement that we should not _pro_scribe as food anything that Nature
permits to be utilized as food; but the same carefulness prescribes
that we do not _pre_scribe it as food for everybody all of the time.
Everything in its proper time and place is one of the common-sense
rules of the system.
Captain Amundsen and his comrades, as I have already observed, were
quite justified in devouring their faithful and friendly sledge dogs
when necessary to preserve their own lives. I have the acquaintance
of a collie dog whom I love devotedly; and I say "whom" appropriately
because he is as intelligent as I am, and far more consistent in his
habits of orderliness and naturalness. He is a real gentleman at all
times and as good a Fletcherite when the food substance and occasion
demand as I am. He has learned to eat and enjoy apples and no one could
give more careful mouth-treatment to some sorts of food than Bruce. I
am sure that he would want me to eat him if I needed him to preserve my
life, just as unselfishly as the Japanese soldiers, and more recently
the Balkanese soldiers, gave their lives for their causes. Whether I
would eat him or not I cannot say, and I do not know if he would have
similar consideration or otherwise for me.
I merely use this illustration as an aside in consideration of the
question of flesh eating on emergency or sentimental grounds. Nature
permits Bruce and me to eat each other, and if we managed it skilfully
we could attack each other's extremities at the same time, as long as
we did not encroach on our vital machinery, and really eat each other
up, as young lovers would like to do.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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