The Nineteenth Century , No 182, Apr 1892 [‎45r] (94/244)

1892
VEGETABLE
579
by Professor 0 to an audience of all tliat is most intelligent and
distinguished in this city. I had been struck by his extraordinary
vigour and clearness. The words dropped like pearls from his lips,
and though the voice was scarcely raised it appeared to search out
the remotest corners of the hall. Every rounded-off sentence pre
sented a vivid picture to the mind. The subject was the chancellor
Prince Metternich, and we all felt when, after an hour and a half, Pro
fessor 0 ended apparently quite as fresh and collected as when
he began, that we not only knew the Prince personally, but that we
understood his politics and the workings of his mind far better than
his contemporaries had done. The thing which, however, impressed
me most, was the sense of power held back, and to the good as it
were, which the Professor gave me whilst speaking, and even after he
had finished. When, therefore, the next day he told me that he
never touched animal food, I was very curious to hear his experiences.
He told me that some years before he had been very ill, nigh
unto death, and given up by all the doctors. Then came one who
said he could cure him. All the strong soups and beef jellies and
raw minced meat were eliminated and replaced by fruit and light
farinaceous food, but fruit especially, and he soon got well and strong
—so well and strong, indeed, that he determined to go on with his
simple fare, especially as he felt an unwonted ease and extraordinary
lucidity of the intellect when working. His wife, he told me, soon
followed his example, and also his daughters and sons-in-law. At
last his servants came and said they would like to be vegetarians too,
as it seemed to agree so well with their masters. I felt that where
so clever a man was so fully convinced of the expediency and effi
ciency of this diet that he carried his whole family and household
with him, he must have gone into the question deeply, and have the
very best reasons upon which to found his belief. I could not enter
with him into further discussion, as he had to leave Vienna, but he
sent me some books on the subject. These books were German, and
they would be well worth translating, for their whole tone is like a
bracing mountain air. In every one of them vegetable diet is the
foundation whereon is built an edifice of hygiene, which if we could
or would but strictly follow might bring us to a pinnacle of animal
spirits and bodily vigour only to be compared to the centaur of
Henri de Gruerin. To those who have not read this charming frag
ment, let me recommend it as a tonic on a day of languor and pros
tration. The thorough enjoyment of life and strength in which
the centaur revels whilst careering over wind-swept plains, down
breezy mountain-sides, plunging into deep green forests with the
scent of the earth and wood flowers in the air, is better than any
dose of sal-volatile or quinine. These little German books, for none
of them are very long, have mainly for their object to bring us back
to a healthier and simpler mode of life. They are full of cold water