CHAPTER XI VEGETABLE DIET CONDUCIVE TO THE ACUTENESS AND PERFECTION OF THE ORGANS OF SPECIAL SENSE. nature. 414. WE must not, however, rest content with comparing the respective influence of an animal and a vegetable diet upon the nervous power, or the mere organic life of man: we have further to consider him as a sentient, intellectual, and moral being; and to discover which kind of food is best adapted to develope his sensorial power, and the more important and more excellent part of his A man may possess a sound body, along with great muscular force; and yet know little of the refined pleasures of sense, and still less of the intellectual, sympathetic, moral and religious pleasures in which man's highest happiness consists. We have already seen, that all the organs of special sense, except hearing, have a direct relation to the natural food of each animal: we may therefore safely conclude, that those organs will be best developed, and their functions best executed, by a strict adherence to that diet for which the structure is specially adapted; and that all substances which contain a greater amount of stimulation than necessary, will tend to deteriorate the functions of those organs. 415. Mr. Graham says*-"It has been a matter of very frequent and extensive observation, that those who, having been always accustomed to the use of flesh-meat, abandon it entirely, and subsist on a plain and simple vegetable diet, experience a very great improvement in their special senses. I have seen many such instances within the last six or seven years; and some of them of a very marked character. This improvement, however, is generally perceived much sooner in the smell and taste, than in the sight and hearing; and, in some cases, the sudden substitution of a less, for a more stimulating diet, will cause a temporary depression of the physiological powers and functions of the system, and especially those appertaining to organic life; and while this depression, or species of indirect debility, continues, the special senses, and particularly sight and hearing, are often (to a considerable extent) involved in a general effect, and their functional powers are commensurately diminished ;-in consequence, however, of a relaxation of the anatomical mechanism of the organs, rather than an abatement of the sensorial power: but as soon as the vital properties of the body become perfectly adapted to the character of the new diet, the general tone of the system is elevated, and the functional powers of the special senses greatly improved ; -provided always, that the vegetable diet is of a proper kind and condition, and the individual is not intemperate in quantity, nor improper in his regimen and habits in any other respect; for every species of excess is necessarily injurious to the special senses, and none more so * LECTURES. Vol. II. P. 299. than gluttony and licentiousness." Dr. Lambe-who has paid great attention to the subject, and has noted the effects of a vegetable diet in a great variety of casesconfidently states, that "not only are the special senses improved by the disuse of flesh, but this improvement pervades every organ, and influences every function of every part of the system. Observation shows that there is no organ of the body which, under the use of vegetable food, does not receive a healthy increase of its peculiar sensibility, or that power which is imparted to it by the nervous system.” 416. These remarks were strikingly illustrated in the person of Caspar Hauser, previously mentioned (132); who is supposed to have been confined in a narrow dark dungeon, from early childhood, to the age of seventeen ; when he was released, and was found at the gates of Nuremburg, on the 26th of May, 1828. During the whole time of his confinement, he subsisted on coarse brown bread and water exclusively; and for a long time after he was found, he possessed considerable acuteness and power of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. "It has been proved, by experiments carefully made," says his learned biographer, "that in a perfectly dark night he could distinguish different dark colours, such as blue and green, from each other. He could walk any where as well in the dark as in the light; and was astonished to see others groping and stumbling along in the dark. When, at the commencement of twilight, a common eye could not distinguish more than three or four stars in the sky, he could already discern the different groups of stars; and could distinguish the different single stars of which they were composed, from each other;-according to their magnitude, and the peculiarities of their coloured light." 417. Much of this ability to distinguish objects and colours in the dark, was undoubtedly owing to his eyes having been long accustomed to deprivation of light: he consequently experienced great inconvenience, at first, from the full light of day; but, as his eyes became gradually more used to the light, his power and distinctness of vision did not diminish; and he became as remarkable for these properties by day, as he had previously been by night; and could distinctly see small objects, far beyond the reach of ordinary vision. "His sight", says his biographer, “was as sharp in distinguishing objects near, as it was penetrating in discerning them at a distance. In dissecting plants, he noticed subtile distinctions and delicate particles, which had entirely escaped the observation of others." His senses of hearing, smell, taste, and touch, were equally remarkable; as the following extracts from his biography attest: 418. "His hearing was scarcely less acute than his sight. When walking in the fields, he once heard, at a distance comparatively great, the footsteps of several persons; and he could distinguish these persons from each other by their walk." He could distinguish apple, pear, and plum trees from each other, at a considerable distance, by the smell of their leaves. After he had become accustomed to eating flesh, he could no longer distinguish sounds with so great a nicety as before; and there can be little doubt, from the testimony of his biographer, that his change of diet considerably diminished the acuteness of all his senses. Many other examples might be given, if necessary, to prove the great influence which a natural diet has in perfecting the organs of special sense; and instances are not uncommon of persons experiencing a great exaltation of the senses, after discontinuing a flesh diet, to which they had been long accustomed; and adopting, a plain, simple, and nutritious vegetable diet. This improvement, however, cannot be expected to take place suddenly after the change; nay, the first effects might perhaps be a diminution of sensibility, particularly of sight and hearing, until the system became used to the less stimulating diet;-as was shown to be the case with regard to corporeal strength (253): but in neither case is there any real loss of power;—as a little time and patience will sufficiently testify. |