xxxii INTRODUCTION, 



In conclusion, I would once more urge upon my 

 readers the duty incumbent upon them of never need- 

 lessly depriving any animal of its life, or inflicting 

 upon it unnecessary pain. If it be true that to man it 

 has been given to have *' dominion over the fish of the 

 sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living 

 thing that moveth upon the earth," it is also true that 

 the gift entails upon him a very grave responsibility, 

 and he who wittingly and ruthlessly inflicts torture 

 upon any creature, however humble it may be, is 

 thereby degraded to a level lower than that of the 

 victim of his tyranny. 



The moral stamped on every page of Nature's book, 

 if rightly read, will teach humility of mind and tender- 

 ness of heart ; and though, as Cowper wrote — 



** An inadvertent step may crush the snail 

 That crawls at evening in the public path ; 

 Yet he that has humanity, forewarned, 

 Will tread aside, and let the reptile live. 

 For they are all, the meanest things that are, 

 As free to live and to enjoy that life, 

 As God was free to form them at the first, 

 Who in His sovereign wisdom made them all." 



