Читать книгу The Natural Food of Man - Hereward Carrington - Страница 7

“In carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous animals, the mammary glands are located upon the abdomen, while in the higher apes and man they are located on the chest. This is an interesting anatomical fact to which there is no exception.

“In carnivorous animals the colon is smooth and non-sacculated. In the higher apes and man the colon is sacculated. In herbivorous animals the colon is sacculated, as in man.” (The great importance and significance of this fact will be apparent presently, when we come to consider the physiological arguments against flesh-eating.)

“In carnivorous animals the tongue is very rough, producing a rasping sensation when coming in contact with the flesh. In the higher apes and man the tongue is smooth.

“In carnivorous animals the skin is not provided with perspiratory ducts—hence the skin does not perspire in the dog, the cat, and allied animals. In the ape, the skin is provided with millions of these glands, and in man they are so numerous that if spread out, their walls would cover a surface of eleven thousand square feet. In the pig, an omnivorous animal, only the snout sweats. In horses, cows and other vegetable-eating animals, the whole skin sweats, as it does in man.” (The great importance of this fact will be apparent when we come to consider the physiological arguments against a flesh-diet: see p. 55.)

“Carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous animals are all supplied with an extension of the backbone—a tail. In the higher apes, as well as in man, the tail is wanting.

“Carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous animals go on all fours, and their eyes look on either side, while many of the higher apes walk nearly or entirely upright, as does man, and their eyes look forward.[9]

“Carnivorous animals have claws, herbivorous and omnivorous have hoofs, while apes and men have flat nails, not found in any other animal. Carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous animals are all quadrupeds, or four-footed, while the higher apes and man are provided with two hands and two feet. The hinder or lower extremities of the ape are sometimes erroneously called hands; according to Dr Huxley, they are, from both bony and muscular structure, properly classified as feet, and not as hands.

“In carnivorous animals, the salivary glands are small, and the saliva which they secrete has little effect upon starch, while in the apes and man the glands are well developed and the saliva is active” (see pp. 47-48).

In addition to all the facts that have been pointed out, there are others of lesser interest, but all of which, nevertheless, go to confirm the fact that man is closely related to the apes, and consequently intended for a fruitarian diet, and that he is in no wise related to the carnivora or their diet. Metchnikoff has summarised many of these facts, extending the work of Darwin, Huxley, Haekel, etc. These other, minor, facts might perhaps be summarised as follows:—

There is an exact agreement between the skeleton of man and the higher apes—all the bones corresponding, each to each, while there is a great dissimilarity between man and any other animal whatever. The nerves, the viscera, the spleen, the liver, the lungs, the brain, the skin, nails and hair—all present the closest possible analogy and similarities. The eyes are strikingly similar, while the chemical and microscopical character of the blood is also very similar in man and the higher apes. This fact is of especial importance and significance, when we bear in mind that only apes and men are subject to certain blood diseases—to which all other animals are impervious. In structure, as in habits, man and the apes are in many respects remarkably alike, and proportionately dissimilar to all other animals.