MAN'S RIGHT OVER ANIMALS. 759 



too mucli stress upon tlie opinions of even such distinguished workers 

 as these. Men who devote their lives to investigation cultivate a 

 love of truth for its own sake, and endeavor instinctively to clear up, 

 and not, as is too often the object in business and politics, to obscure 

 a difficult question. So far the opinion of a scientific worker may 

 have a special value ; but I do not think that he has a claim, superior 

 to that of other educated men, to assume the attitude of a prophet. 

 In his heart he knows that underneath the theories that he constructs 

 there lie contradictions which he can not reconcile. The higher mys- 

 teries of being, if penetrable at all by human intellect, require other 

 weapons than those of calculation and experiment. 



Without encroaching upon grounds appertaining to the theologian 

 and the philosopher, the domain of natural science is surely broad 

 enough to satisfy the wildest ambition of its devotees. In other de- 

 partments of human life and interest, true progress is rather an ar- 

 ticle of faith than a rational belief ; but in science a retrograde move- 

 ment is, from the nature of the case, almost impossible. Increasing 

 knowledge brings with it increasing power, and, great as are the tri- 

 umphs of the present century, we may well believe that they are but 

 a foretaste of what discovery and invention have yet in store for man- 

 kind. Encouraged by the thought that our labors can not be thrown 

 away, let us redouble our efforts in the noble struggle. In the Old 

 "World and in the New, recruits must be enlisted to fill the place of 

 those whose work is done. Happy should I be if, through this visit 

 of the Association, or by any words of mine, a larger measure of the 

 youthful activity of the West could be drawn into this service. The 

 work may be hard, and the discipline severe ; but the interest never 

 fails, and great is the privilege of achievement. 



MAK'S EIGHT OYER ANIMALS. 



By CHAKLES RICHET. 



THERE is no such impassable gap between man and the animals 

 that they can not be considered brothers in creation, and there- 

 fore liable to certain reciprocal obligations. As it is our duty to be 

 just and sympathetic toward men, it is equally our duty not to be 

 wicked or cruel toward animals. Whoever believes that he has a 

 right to cause death or suffering to innocent beasts for his own pleas- 

 ure is unworthy to be called a man. This precept is, however, 

 limited by the consideration of what is useful to us. A dangerous or 

 noxious animal may be destroyed without pity ; for, whatever may 

 be our duties toward the animal, our duties toward man are greater. 

 Thus, no one would think of having any mercy on the phylloxera, the 



