They fastened upon the work of Graham and his followers, claiming that eating meat created great over stimulation of the body's physiological processes. Thus, 19th century vegetarians saw that by abstaining from eating meat, they were really being kind to themselves, as well as to the animals they saved. Graham ignored the pioneering physiological research on human digestion published by William Beaumont in the 1830’s. Other leaders of the vegetarians' cause cited mankind's original simple diet as being the reason for their supposed good health.