The Natural Food of Man: Being an attempt to prove from comparative anatomy, physiology, chemistry and hygiene, that the original, best and natural diet of man is fruit and nutsCarrington, Hereward
Science
The Natural Food of Man: Being an attempt to prove from comparative anatomy, physiology, chemistry and hygiene, that the original, best and natural diet of man is fruit and nuts
Carrington, Hereward
Food; Vegetarianism
“From the commencement of gestation, the superficial substance of
the mucous membrane of the human uterus undergoes a rapid growth and
textural modification, becoming converted into the so-called decidua.
While the ovum is yet small, this decidua is departable into three
portions: The _decidua vera_, which lines the general cavity of the
uterus; the _decidua reflexa_, which immediately invests the ovum;
and the _decidua serotina_, a layer of especial thickness, developed
in contiguity with those chorionic villi which persist and become
converted into the fœtal placenta. The _decidua reflexa_ may be
regarded as an outgrowth of the _decidua vera_ the _decidua serotina_
as a special development of a part of the _decidua vera_. At first,
the villi of the chorion are loosely implanted into corresponding
impressions of the _decidua_; but, eventually, the chorionic part of
the placenta becomes closely united with and bound to the uterine
_decidua_, so that the fœtal and maternal structures form one
inseparable mass.”
The fœtus thus united to the mother is nourished by means of numerous
arterial and venous trunks, which traverse the deeper substance of
the uterine mucous membrane, in the region of the placenta. These
are connected with the placenta by means of the umbilical cord,
which consists of two arteries and two veins. The length of this
cord is greater in the case of man and the anthropoid apes than in
any other animals, reaching in them a length of about two feet. The
strict accordance which thus appears between the placental structure
of man and the ape indicates, upon the basis of Huxley’s principles
of classification, the same physiological functions _and the same
dietetic character_. There exists a complete similarity between the
corresponding organs in each: Their extremities end in hands and feet.
Their teeth and digestive apparatus indicates a frugivorous diet.
Their breasts and manner of nursing suggest the same tender care of
the new-born creature; while the brain and mental capacity are also
of a like character—differing only in degree; indeed, the difference
between the ape and animals of the next lower grade is much greater
than between the ape and man; there being in the latter case really no
essential anatomical or physiological differences.
The fact that man has four cuspid teeth affords no evidence whatever
that he is either partially or wholly carnivorous as regards his
dietary. If in diet he is naturally omnivorous, his teeth should
have the structure and arrangement of those of omnivorous animals—as
exhibited in the hog, for example.
That the cuspid teeth do not indicate a flesh dietary, either in whole
or in part, is shown by the presence of the so-called cuspids in
purely herbivorous animals—as in the stag, the camel and the so-called
“bridle-teeth” of the horse.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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