Since the days when he wrote up the subject, many people have come over to his way of thinking, and the way is made easy for those who wish to follow its _obiter dicta_ for health. But it is quite as keenly a subject for debate now as formerly among a large proportion of men, though perhaps few among anti-vegetarians would dispute the point that there are, and must be, certain conditions involved by anti-vegetarianism which can hardly be evaded, or defended. One of these conditions, of course, is that it is not always possible to detect some diseases in flesh sold for food: and that these diseases are communicable to man; another, the degrading spectacle of the slaughter- house; another, the presence in our midst of the butcher's shop, with all its revolting display: [Footnote: I have not forgotten that M. Zola contended that the atmosphere of a butcher's shop conduced to the best and most healthy complexions of those who served in it!] another, as Mr. Josiah Oldfield points out to us, that "horticulture ... would employ an enormously greater amount of labour than does stock-raising, and so tend to afford a counter current to the present downward drift, and to congested labour centres." Mr. Oldfield urges also that "all elements for perfect nutrition in assimilable forms are found in a proper vegetarian dietary." I have not opportunity for finding out in what years Newman took up this practical dietary of vegetarianism for himself, but I think it must have been towards the latter end of his life. Mention will be found in the Reminiscences contributed by Mrs. Bainsmith, the sculptor, relating to his bringing across occasionally, when she and her father and mother lived just opposite the Professor's house at Weston-super-Mare, some particularly delicious vegetarian dish (concocted by his own cook), which he had thought his friends could not fail to appreciate. The following letters have been kindly sent me for reproduction by Mr. F. P. Doremus in connection with Newman's views on Vegetarianism:-- _To Mr. F. P. Doremus from Professor Newman._ "_21st Sept._, 1883. "Dear Sir, * * * * * "I _deliberately prefer_ the rule of our Society and by preference adhere to it. But I have never interpreted it as severely as I find some to do. On some occasions, in early years, when I could get no proper vegetarian food, I have eaten some small bit of ham fat (as I remember on _one_ occasion) to aid dry potato from sticking in my throat. I do not interpret our rule as forbidding _exceptional_ action _under stress of difficulty_. But when I found what a fuss was made about this, and saw that many people took the opportunity of _inferring_ that a simple act implied a habit, I saw that it was unwise to give anyone a handle of attack....