Man, has, of course, two “eye teeth,” which are more or less pointed, and that I do not deny. But these teeth are comparatively so small, when compared with the corresponding canines of the real carnivora, as to be altogether insignificant. When we examine the mouth of a person with normal teeth, we find that the teeth are almost exactly similar in size and shape—so much so, in fact, that any person ignorant of the fact that we have “carnivorous teeth” in our heads (supposedly) cannot pick them out from the others! He does not experience any such difficulty in selecting the carnivorous teeth of the tiger or the cat! Strange, is it not? Even the omnivorous hog has teeth so much larger as to be totally dissimilar to those of man. Man’s teeth are so uniform that all traces of his carnivorous nature have entirely disappeared. The only reply that can be made to this criticism is that, although man’s carnivorous teeth are considerably smaller than those of the pure carnivora, they are still there, none the less, and consequently man is entitled to live upon a certain amount of meat—though not to make it his chief or exclusive diet, as do the pure carnivora. The very fact that he has such teeth in his head at all is proof positive, it will be urged, that man should, or at least can, without injury, live upon flesh to some extent. For otherwise how came these teeth into his head?
The answer to this is very simple. The gorilla—a typical example of the frugivorous animal—has these teeth much more strongly and markedly developed than man; and yet he does not feed upon flesh to any appreciable extent; and in fact lives almost entirely upon fruits, nuts, roots, etc. If we were to argue that man must eat meat, because of the carnivorous teeth in his head, much more must we insist that the orang and the gorilla should live upon flesh-food—and yet we know that these animals in their natural state do not eat flesh-foods at all, or only when they cannot obtain their own food in abundance! They are clearly frugivorous by nature; and, inasmuch as their eye-teeth are far more developed than are the same teeth in man’s head, we must come to the conclusion that man is certainly not adapted to a flesh diet, on account of his teeth or because of them. He is more certainly frugivorous than the gorilla—were we to judge by the teeth alone! They are mere rudiments—atrophied relics of bygone ages. Their use has ceased to be. Orangs and gorillas have some need of their teeth for purposes of cracking nuts, for digging up roots, for attack and defence, and perhaps other purposes in extreme necessity. But we have no need of teeth for any of these reasons, and hence the teeth are not developed in us, to any such great extent. All reason and analogy, therefore, clearly indicate that our teeth are far more indicative of a frugivorous diet than any animal living.
“I can never mention vegetarianism to a flesh-eating medical gentleman,” said Dr Trall,[3] “who does not introduce the teeth argument as the conclusion of the whole matter, as he asks triumphantly, ‘What were carnivorous teeth put in our jaws for if not to eat flesh?’
“I have an answer. They were never put there at all! If they really exist in particular cases, it must be by some accident. They were no part of the original constitution of humanity. And in truth, they have no existence at all, except in the imaginations of medical men—in medical books and journals, in the public newspapers, and the jaws of carnivorous animals....
“And now I propose to put this matter of teeth to the proof. Hearing may be believing, but seeing is the naked truth. I ask medical men to show their teeth; to open their jaws and let their teeth be seen. Let us have the light to shine in upon this dark and perplexing question. I appeal from their statements to their faces; from their books and schools to their own anatomy.
“Is there a person here who believes that, in the anatomy of his teeth, he is only part human? that he is a compromise of human and brute? Let him come forward and open his mouth.... I think, if we make a careful examination, we shall readily discover that he is, ‘toothically considered,’ neither perdaceous nor beastial; that he is, dietetically, neither swinish nor tigerocious; neither dogmatical nor categorical; nor is he exactly graminivorous, like the cattle; he is not even sheepish—but simply, wholly, and exclusively human!
“True, there are some resemblances between the teeth of men, women and children, and the teeth of cats, dogs, lions, tigers, hogs, horses, cattle, crocodiles, and megalosauruses. But there are differences, too! And the differences are just as significant as are the resemblances. There is a resemblance between a man’s face and the countenance of a codfish. There is also a striking difference. There is some resemblance between a man’s features—especially if he does not shave—and the features of a bear. There is some resemblance between a woman’s hair and a peacock’s feathers; between a man’s finger-nails and a vulture’s talons; between his eye-teeth and a serpent’s fangs. But, luckily for us, they are not the same, nor precisely alike. Man resembles, more or less, every animal in existence. He differs, too, more or less, from all animals in existence....
“There is one class of scholars who are competent and qualified by their studies to give an opinion on the question of the natural dietetic character of man. I mean naturalists, who have studied comparative anatomy with a special reference to this question. And it gives me pleasure to inform medical gentlemen that all of them without a single exception, with the great Cuvier at their head, have testified that the anatomical conformation of the human being, teeth included, is strictly frugivorous.
“There are indeed specimens of the human family who very closely resemble carnivorous animals, not only in their teeth, but also in their expressions of face and habits of eating—the Kalmuck Tartars, for example. But it is precisely because they have for many generations fed on the grossest animal food and offal, that their forms and features became coarse, brutal and revolting. No such example can be found in any nation or tribe whose dietetic habits have long been wholly or even chiefly vegetarian. I repeat, if these persistent advocates of a flesh-diet based on the anatomical argument will but come forward and let us look into the interior of their countenances, we will show them that they are much better than they supposed themselves to be. We will prove that they are higher in the scale of being than they have given themselves credit for. They have been altogether too modest in their pretensions. In consequence of a little mistake in the anatomy of their masticators, they have humbled themselves quite unnecessarily. Instead of ranking themselves high above the highest, of the animal kingdom, and close on to the borders of the angel kingdom, where God placed them, they have degraded themselves to the level of the scavengers....”
Further, it is interesting in this connection to note that anthropoid apes, as soon as they are deprived of their natural food and their natural life, soon become diseased and die. Says Dr Hartmann: