SUMMARY (Ridvan Askin, edited Deborah Madsen):

The booklet's introductory “Preliminary Observations” explicitly present it as “a convenient and inexpensive Manual or Text Book, systematically arranged, covering the entire field of arguments in behalf of the Vegetarian Philosophy” (2). That is exactly what it is. The argument in favor of veg*ism is divided into the following twelve sub-arguments (and chapters):

Generally, all food should be derived exclusively from the plant kingdom, and “[n]o food should be used which necessitates slaughter. Even animal milk and its products, and eggs, would better be discarded; and preparations of oat milk, etc., the sap of the South American 'cow tree,' nuts, vegetable oils, etc., substituted” (2), although Allen points out that the pamphlet will focus on the (ab)use of meat. These introductory remarks emphasize “the injurious, brutalizing, and debasing influences connected with killing, cooking and devouring [animals]” (2).

As the booklet's subtitle suggests, the twelve chapters collect quotations from well-known scientists, philosophers, writers, religious leaders, and public figures on behalf of veg*ism (including A. Bronson Alcott, Frederick William Evans, Orson Squire Fowler, Benjamin Franklin, John Harvey Kellogg, J. Howard Moore, Henry David Thoreau, and Russell Thacher Trall). In other words, a thirteenth argument, based on authority, is running through the whole text. The twelve sub-arguments can be summarized:

1. Human anatomy, which resembles vegetarian simian anatomy, is predisposed towards veg*ism.

2. The veg*n diet is the healthiest.

3. Conversely, the use of animal food, often diseased itself, provokes disease.

4. Animal food is detrimental to mental health; it fosters our “animal faculties” and thus incites mental instability and crime (10).

5. Animal food, like alcohol, affects the brain is such a way as to excite and stimulate “beastliness and sensualism” (13), that is, self-gratification, egotism, and violence. Allen derives an explicitly ethical argument from the influence of meat on the human body, particularly the brain. He emphasizes the necessary intersection of veg*ism and Temperance, because only the former will enable and complete the latter (16). He further underscores the ethical consequences of carnism when he notes that “the act of slaughtering animals blunts moral sentiment” (16).

6. Chemically, it is absolutely unnecessary to eat meat, as all animals ultimately derive their nutrition from plants, whether directly or indirectly, through animals that are themselves plant eaters. Meat eating is thus second-hand nutrition at best. Allen then proceeds to outline the nutritional benefits of individual items of plant or plant-based food, including whole wheat bread (Graham bread), relative to flesh and animal food.

7. Much less land is required for plant-based nutrition. Allen also argues against the use of animal fertilizers.

8. Vegetable food is much more economical, in terms of both money and labor. The chapter contains a table listing the “PROPORTIONATE COST IN LAND AND IN DOLLARS OF TYPICAL ARTICLES OF DIET” (25).

9. Animal food deadens one's taste; conversely, with plant-based food “pleasure in eating is greatly increased” (26).

10. Humans intuitively tend towards fruit for nutrition, with fruit understood “in its broad sense, to include nuts and grains” (28).

11. History, too, shows the superiority of the veg*n diet, with most of the world population subsisting on plant-based nutrition in all ages. Allen proceeds to discuss famous historical figures who were veg*n.

12. Veg*ism is on the rise worldwide. Eventually, it will become a necessity, given the rising world population and the agricultural and economic advantages of a purely plant-based nutrition. “Then will the earth become one vast garden of fruits and flowers,” Allen concludes, “where purity, love and innocence may repose in peaceful bowers; and the perhaps mythical 'Eden' of the past will become a substantial verity at last!” (35).

The booklet ends with two supplementary items, a list of edible plants and a poem by Emily M. Guthrie titled “Vegetarian Life.”