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OP
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This week catgut was mentioned here. I dug up an old link that provides more information than you probably need to know about catgut: http://gamutstrings.com/article/article.htmIf the link doesn't work, I'll immediately delete this thread. Be right back.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
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It works. 
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What's the vegan violinist to do?
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They're doing OK, Faldage
Ode to the Vega String Quartet
(on their concert of April 23, 2001)
Incline thine ear, Euterpe,
To the offspring you adore.
O Muse of Music, witness
The talents of these four:
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What does the vegan violinist do about a lot of things? Let's see, if the vegan violinist won't use gut strings, then there are all those wonderful synthetic strings out there--wide range and wide range of debates over which are the best synthetic strings on the market.
And, if this vegan violinist can be satisfied with a fine set of synthetic strings, well, good. But what about belts and shoes? And buttons made from oil derivatives. Oil was once organic matter--plants and animals. Seems buttons made from oil derivatives would be off-limits, too. And if oil derivatives are off-limits, why, this poor vegan. This poor vegan, who won't use gut strings, is going to have to use wooden buttons and spend a lot of time backtracking to make sure something his Aunt Polly gave him doesn't have anything animal in it.
But at least he can soothe his soul--by pulling out his violin with its Obligatto strings and playing a bit. Oh, drat!!! He can't do that!! His bow has Mongolian stallion horsehair!!!! Back to the luthier for fresh synthetic (horrible quality) bow hair.
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veteran
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veteran
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And, if this vegan violinist can be satisfied with a fine set of synthetic strings, well, good. But what about belts and shoes?
Wordwind, I am not a vegetarian but I have a son who is. He's very unobtrusive about it and he makes no effort to convert others. He wears leather belts and shoes and, at first, I thought, as you do, that that his use of leather is inconsistent with his principles.
I've never asked him to explain himself on this subject. Frankly, I admire the fact that he has given up something he used to enjoy, namely, meat, because he chooses not to eat anything that has been killed for his dinner when he can eat something else.
Since this is a personal conviction, and not a religion, is it fair of us to hold vegetarians like him to an absolute standard of performance? How many sincere environmentalists get lazy every now and again and neglect to recycle their pop cans? Do we think less of them for that, or question their sincerity?
In any event, a case can be made that some animals will die without being slaughtered and, therefore, it is not dishonorable, but intelligent, to use their hides for leather rather than send those hides to landfills. It can also be argued that horsehairs can be removed from a stallion for a bow string without causing any hurt to the stallion.
Most vegetarians aren't as kookey as they may appear to many of us at first blush.
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Dear Plutarch: It is very true that many people eat far more meat than is desirable. Unfortunately there are some vegetarians who pay a high price for going to extremes. About a year ago, in DISCOVER magazine there was an article about a man my age who was jogging five miles a day, until he developed brain damage from eating no meat whatsoever. Quite recently there was an item in the news of two children being born with brain damage because their mothers ate no meat. Moderation in all things is wise. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_11494.html
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Moderation in all things is wise.
Agreed, Dr. Bill. I have talked to vegetarians about dietary deficiencies and they tell me that there is nothing available in meat which isn't available in some veggie or vitamin supplement. However, they acknowledge that they have to follow research on the subject more closely than people who eat meat.
Are they correct, Dr. Bill, or are they just fooling themselves? Is it possible to fulfill all dietary requirements without eating any meat?
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Dear Plutarch: I am woefully ignorant of the details of those two stories. But both of them
were reported by very sound physicians. To put it bluntly, to eat absolutely no meat is
insane, with a terrible result possible. Imagine how those two mothers must feel.
And any mothers that deny growing children meat are criminally negligent. Ruminant animals
need eat no meat, but humans must have some meat.
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There are levels of vegetarianism. Some will eat eggs and dairy products and others will not eat any animal products at all. Vegans will make no use of any animal product although I would suspect that not all of them will eschew the use of products derived from animals that have been dead for longer than the human race has been around.
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