The following volume embraces the testimony, direct or indirect, of more than a HUNDRED individuals-besides that of societies and communities-on the subject of vegetable diet. Most of this one hundred persons are, or were, persons of considerable distinction in society; and more than FIFTY of them were either medical men, or such as have made physiology, hygiene, anatomy, pathology, medicine, or surgery a leading or favorite study.
When I commenced putting together the materials of this little treatise on diet-thirteen years ago-it was my intention simply to show the SAFETY of a vegetable and fruit diet, both for those who are afflicted with many forms of chronic disease, and for the healthy. But I soon became convinced that I ought to go farther, and show its SUPERIORITY over every other. This I have attempted to do-with what success, the reader must and will judge for himself. I have said, it was not my original intention to prove a vegetable and fruit diet to be any thing more than safe.
But I wish not to be understood as entertaining, even at that time, any doubts in regard to the superiority of such a diet: the only questions with me were, Whether the public mind was ready to hear and weigh the proofs, and whether this volume was the place in which to present them. Both these questions, however, as I went on, were settled, in the affirmative. I believed, and still believe, that the public mind, in this country, is prepared for the free discussion of all topics, provided they are discussed candidly, which have a manifest bearing on the well-being of man; and I have governed myself accordingly.