The Logic of Vegetarianism

The Logic of Vegetarianism, by Henry S. Salt, (Second edition, revised) London: Geo. Bell & Sons. 2s. 6d. net.

Mr. Salt’s book has long been one of the most powerful and convincing statements of the vegetarian position from the logical point of view. It was published some seven years ago, and we have never seen or heard of a successful attempt to refute it. Brilliant essayists like Mr. Chesterton have failed to make any impression upon it. The obvious reason is that in the matter of logic the vegetarian has it all his own way. The only logical argument that can be used in defence of meat-eating is the Scotchman’s reason for whiskey-drinking—“Because I like it.” Mr. Salt has revised, and in parts somewhat amplified, his book. Each phase of the subject is dealt with in dialogue form—the most convenient and valuable form for this purpose. He riddles remorselessly our opponents’ sophistries. The structural argument, the health argument, the humanitarian, the economic, the æsthetic, the religious—each is in turn presented lucidly, cogently and briskly. Sometimes,—as in the dialogue between the meat-eater and the cannibal—there is a rich vein of humour. No one could accuse the author of setting up controversial dummies to knock down easily, for—as we remarked when reviewing the first edition—there is not an argument against vegetarianism used here which we have not, time after time, seen brought forward by our opponents. Even the Esquimaux “argument” is included. Any unprejudiced person who may read this book will be forced to agree with Mr. Salt that “it is an issue where logic is as wholly on the one side as habit is wholly on the other, and where habit is as certainly the shield of barbarism as logic is the sword of humaneness.”