Grand was a physician at the École de Médecine de Paris (Paris School of Medicine).[1] He was an associate editor of the 1895 volume Annual of the Universal Medical Sciences and Analytical Index.
He was the president of the Sociéte Végétarienne de France (SVF) from its formation in 1899.[2] He was elected to the management committee in 1905 with biologist Jules Lefèvre and other physicians.[3] By 1906 there were 800 members of the Society.[2] The Society published his book La Philosophie de I' alimentation in 1901.[2]
Grand made anatomical, physiological and ethical arguments for vegetarianism.[4] In 1900, he was chairman and a speaker at the International Vegetarian Congress organized in Paris.[5] In his speech he commented "that vegetarianism contributes powerfully to making the better man; that it ensures his intellectual capacity; softens his relations with his fellow men and makes them more fraternal".[4] He argued in his essays that meat is responsible for the degeneration of the French nation.[6] He stated that a vegetarian diet could prevent the misuse of alcohol. [7] A paper he wrote on vegetarianism was read at the International Vegetarian Union's 1926 congress.[8] He was an opponent of vivisection.[9]
Theosophy
He combined theosophy and vegetarianism in his book Hygiene rationnelle vegetarisme, published in 1912. Grand stated that humans have a responsibility to protect animals. His vegetarianism incorporated theosophical ideas of an astral body and reincarnation.[2] He lectured on theosophy in Amsterdam.[2]
Selected publications
Du régime végétarien comme moyen préventif et curatif de l'alcoolisme (1899)
^Edman, Johan (2015). "Temperance and Modernity: Alcohol Consumption as a Collective Problem, 1885–1913". Journal of Social History. 49 (1): 20–52. doi:10.1093/jsh/shv029.