390 G. A. Rowell on the 



Pigs make a sad outcry when being killed, but I believe it 

 is caused by fear and the uncomfortable way in which they 

 are held, rather than by pain. I once saw a large pig which 

 had been stuck, get away from the men who were holding it, 

 and there was not the least cry after it had got out of their 

 hands, although it was bleeding to death : when smaller pigs 

 are killed by sticking them, and then letting them run about 

 till they drop, there is no cry after they are let go ; and if 

 stuck skilfully, without taking hold of them, there is no more 

 noise than a mere grunt or squeak, about the same as there 

 would be if the pig had a slight blow with the end of a stick ; 

 and I have no doubt that a pig may feel more pain from a 

 heavy blow, than from being killed in the usual manner. 

 When it is considered that the nose of a pig is so very useful 

 to the animal from its habit of routing in the earth, and may 

 therefore, be very sensitive, it does seem probable that the 

 opinion is correct, that a pig feels more pain from having a 

 ring put through its nose, than in being killed. 



I have stated these cases to shew that the pain felt by 

 brutes is much less than would be felt by man under similar 

 injuries. My object is to shew the probability, that as the 

 sense of pain is not so necessary or useful to brutes, they have 

 it in a less degree. 



In the next class of animals to which I shall allude, that 

 is, rabbits and hares, I will endeavour to shew that the use 

 of the sense of pain is, in a great degree, or almost com- 

 pletely, superseded by other senses, and that their sense of 

 pain is very trifling, compared to that of most other quadru- 

 peds. There can be little doubt that, although so very prolific, 

 very few rabbits or hares in a wild state die of old age, as 

 they are the food of a large class of beasts of prey. Foxes, 

 wild-cats, martins, pole-cats, stoats, and weasels, could not 

 exist without them ; they are their natural prey, against the 

 least of which the rabbit or hare has no means of defence 

 when once caught ; therefore, the sense of pain would be of 

 no use to them, either to warn them from danger or to cause 

 them to exert themselves to escape ; but a slight examination 

 of the form of both rabbits and hares will shew that they 

 have other means of defence : their eyes are not placed in the 



