180 Dr Drumraoiid on Humanity to Animals. 



ing, and fatigue. Then look at the merciless rate of travelling, 

 and the inhuman loads which have to be dragged along under 

 the perpetual torture of the whip. Lift up the collar, and see the 

 red raw flesh, which, at every step, receives a new wound from 

 the pressure and friction of that part of the harness. Recollect 

 the pain produced by the slightest touch on your own skin, 

 when rendered raw by a blister or other means, and try to con- 

 ceive what must be the sufferings of thousands of stage-coach 

 and other horses, under the united miseries arising from abraded 

 skin, excessive fatigue, daily cutting with the whip, and often, 

 what is equally bad, the wanton brutality of ostlers and stable- 

 boys ! 



If an animal were tied to a stake, and flogged regularly four 

 hours a day, who would not exclaim against the brutality of the 

 act ? Yet the horse, in innumerable instances, sufl^ers far worse, 

 and no one cares. Besides a much longer infliction of the whip, 

 in many cases, there is the excessive fatigue, a feeling even worse 

 than pain ; it is suffering of a very intolerable kind : yet so little 

 is our humanity, that driving a horse to death, if he be old at 

 least, and his strength gone, so that the pecuniary sacrifice is not 

 great, is a matter of almost perfect indiffierence ; and in stage- 

 coaches, generally' speaking, the horses are driven with calculat- 

 ing nicety ^^so far as nature will hold out, without actually giving 

 way altogether under the accumvilated suffering and exhaustion. 



The want of humanity to animals, which is every where so 

 glaring, cannot, I think, be a natural defect of the human mind, 

 but is the off*spring of a wrong education, and an unjust and ar- 

 rogant conceit that man is the only being of any consequence in 

 this world ; and that it matters not what becomes of others, or 

 what they may suffer, provided he reap the slightest benefit. 

 Some anatomists even hold out as one reason for making expe- 

 riments on animals, their not being destined to immortality. But 

 if they be indeed *' the beasts which perish," should not justice 

 teach us to render their temporary lot as easy as possible ? Man 

 may persecute man, but hope will still lie in the bitter cup, and 

 visions of brighter times will illumine the present gloom of misery. 

 The slave, writhing under the whip of a savage master, may in- 

 dulge in the inspiring thought of being at length released by 

 death from the cruelty of his persecutor, and of enjoying for 



