= 
NOUVEAU DICTIONNAIRE D'HISTOIRE NATURELLE, &c. 
fnd have spoken of it in so loose a man- 
her, as to make it impossible to determine 
what species he meant. 
Mr. Dalzell laments, in his preface, 
that the subject of animal reproduction 
has been less studied in Britain than on 
the continent; and that there are few 
or no original experiments in English. 
We confess that it is not With us an oc- 
casion of regret. When we read that 
four hundred and twenty-three snails 
were compleatly, and three hundred 
und twenty partially, decapitated by 
Spallanzani, in one course of experi- 
ments, and are told that a prodigious 
number have suffered the same fate, with 
# great variety of other mutilations, from 
the scalpel ard scissors of other obser- 
vers, our pity for the sufferers’ over- 
balances the pleasure of an increased 
acquaintance with the power of nature ; 
and turning with horror from the man- 
gling operations, as from the guillotine ef 
a Robespierre, we instinctively ask, cui 
bono? We well know that this ques- 
tion has often been put to the curious 
naturalist by the ignorant and foolish : 
but we must also insist that there are 
occasions on which it may laudably be 
adopted by the wise. 
feeling of our frame is counteracted, 
and no actual good sacrificed, there are 
no researches into the hidden treasures 
of nature, however idie and unprofitable 
they -may at present appear, which 
ought to be despised. An increase of 
knowledge will in time always lead to 
4 
7 
increase of power. But when the inves- 
tigation cannot be pursued without in- 
flicting torments on sensitive beings ; 
and when there is also no apparent like- 
lihood of producing benefit either to 
ourselves or to them by the proceeding, 
that christian benevolence which ought 
to extend to all the creatures of God, 
will surely restrain our hands, and direct 
us to studies more consonant with its 
benign spirit. 
Mr. Bonnet, indeed, fearing that the 
mind of the compassionate reader would 
When no natural. 
867 
revolt at some of his experiments, begs 
him to consider, ‘‘ that animals which 
after losing one or several limbs, continue 
gradually devouring the prey presented, 
undoubtedly cannot experience the sen- 
sation of pain to the excess which our’ 
own sensations lead us to imagine; and 
that we are very insufficient judges of 
what passes within an animal so remote 
from us in the scale of livihg beings.’”? 
We are willing to hope that the humane 
sentiment of our great poet may not be 
physically just. But though we'should 
not admit that 
«« = the poor beetle which we tread upon, 
In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great 
As when a’giant dies ;” 
still it cannot be denied that a snail 
has some feeling : it cannot be supposed 
that it lives as comfortably without a 
head as with one, and that the time res 
quired to renew the amputated part is a 
pleasant part of its existence. 
It is certain, that till the process is 
completed, it is unable to eat; and we 
know not that we have any right wan- 
tonly to deprive a sentient creature of an 
enjoyment, which some philosophers, if 
we may judge from their appearance at 
a good dinner, seem to place, in: their 
scale of human felicity, but a few degree$ 
below the point of summum bonum. 
Let us, then, rest satisfied with the exe 
periments which have already been made. 
‘They have established the fact; and have 
left no room for reasonable doubt.—— 
They have proved that the impartial 
parent of every being has made up to 
the lower tribes of animals, in tenacity of 
life, what has been denied to them in 
delicacy of feeling. Henceforward, let 
snails and newts, and all their cold-blood- 
ed brethren, enjoy the undisturbed pos- 
session of the ‘limbs which their Creator 
has given them: 
And if a few inferior joys 
Be ail of life they share, 
Let pity plead within our breasts 
‘That little all to spare, 
Ant. VAI. Nouveau Dictionnaire d’ Histoire Naturelle appliqué aux Arts, principalement 
a P Agriculture F a ? Economie rurale SF domestique. 
& d’ Agriculteurs, 8vo. 
BOMARE’s dictionary of natural 
history has, for a considerable time, 
been the standard work of its kind in 
France, and has been received with re-. 
spect in other parts of Europe. It is the 
work of a real naturalist, and contains 
Par une Société de Naturalistes 
an immense number of interesting de» 
tails. But the three kingdoms of naturé 
occupy too. wide a space, to be discerned 
in all their parts by the eye of any one 
man. Inthe animal kingdom, the in- 
sect order alone would find abundaat 
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