TREATMENT OF AXIMALS. 



573 



numerous. Cats are the subjects concerning 

 winch other warnings are given, in regard to 

 torturing or cruelly worrying. Fishmongers are 

 reminded that it is a punishable offense, which 

 many persons commit, of " putting living lobsters 

 and crabs into cold water, and then placing them 

 on a fire until the water is heated to boiling tem- 

 perature, thereby causing them to endure horrible 

 and prolonged suffering." 



That the feathered tribes should share the 

 protection which the issuing of these placards is 

 intended to subserve, is natural enough ; seeing 

 that the Sea-bird, Wild-bird, and Wild-fowl Acts 

 were due in a great measure to the society. One 

 placard states that it is a punishable offense to 

 kill or wound any such birds (including the young 

 in nests) within the prohibited period; and that 

 those who sell such killed birds are also pun- 

 ishable. Another placard administers a similar 

 warning in regard to wild-fowl, enumerating thir- 

 ty-six species, all of which are to be safe from 

 the gun, the snare, and the net, from the 15th of 

 February to the 10th of July, under penalties 

 which are prescribed in the act of 1876. Bird- 

 fanciers are reminded that one of their fraternity 

 was imprisoned for fourteen days for depriving a 

 chaffinch of its sight as a means of improving its 

 singing. Poultry-dealers are, in another hand- 

 bill, cautioned against plucking live poultry, a 

 cruel practice which, if proved, subjects the of- 

 fender to three months' imprisonment. Carrying 

 live fowls to market by their legs, with their heads 

 hanging downward ; and exposing fowls to hot 

 sunshine with their legs tied together — have 

 brought the offenders into trouble. In another 

 placard the patrons of pigeon-matches are warned 

 that occasional cruelties practised by them or 

 their servants come within the scope of the law. 

 In one of the society's publications, the cruelty 

 of bearing- reins for carriage-horses is significant- 

 ly pointed out. 



The society has been encouraged in its benev- 

 olent exertions by a letter from her Majesty the 

 Queen, addressed in lSY-l to the Earl of Harrow- 

 by, in his capacity as president. There was an 

 assembly in London of foreign delegates repre- 

 senting similar associations, on the occasion of 

 the holding of the half-century jubilee of the 

 parent society. Her Majesty requested the presi- 



dent to give expression publicly to her warm in- 

 terest in the success of the efforts made here and 

 abroad for the purpose of diminishing the cruel- 

 ties practised on dumb animals. "The queen 

 hears and reads with horror of the sufferings 

 which the brute creation often undergo from the 

 thoughtlessness of the ignorant, and she fears 

 also sometimes from the experiments in pursuit 

 of science. For the removal of the former the 

 queen trusts much to the progress of education ; 

 and in regard to the pursuit of scierice, she hopes 

 that the advantage of those ansesthetic discover- 

 ies from which man has derived so much benefit 

 himself, in the alleviation of suffering, may be 

 fully extended to the lower animals. Her Majes- 

 ty rejoices that the society awakens the interest 

 of the young by the presentation of prizes for 

 essays connected with the subject, and hears with 

 gratification that her son and daughter-in-law 

 show their interest and sympathy by presenting 

 those prizes at your meetings." 



Looking to the distinguished patronage of the 

 society from her Majesty downward, its vast array 

 of supporters, and the large number of societies 

 which it has helped to originate at home and 

 abroad, we naturally rely upon it for promoting a 

 consolidation and expansion of the laws against 

 cruelty to animals. These laws, as has been seen, 

 are composed of shreds and patches, brought into 

 existence with difficulty, and in many respects 

 imperfect. The time appears to have come when 

 the whole should be combined in a statute ap- 

 plicable to all parts of the United Kingdom. 

 That certain actions should be deemed cruelties 

 punishable by law in England and not in Scotland, 

 is anything but creditable, and not a little ludi- 

 crous. This is a point to which the attention of 

 legislators should be seriously invited. From the 

 fragmentary and confused condition of the stat- 

 utes, we have experienced much difficulty in ascer- 

 taining what, as a whole, the law really is. This 

 chaotic state of things detracts, we think, not a 

 little from the glory which may be freely claimed 

 by the English for their legislation in behalf of 

 animals. A consolidated act with all reasonable 

 improvements would be something to point to 

 with satisfaction, and probably go far to insure a 

 legalized system of kind treatment of animals all 

 over the globe. — Chambers's Journal. 



