THE RIGHTS OF ANIMALS 



213 



slaying. Our tables bear the products of the slaughter- 

 houses. While the anatomist's work may be revolting, it is 

 only so because his tasks are done deliberately and for a 

 purpose that is not yet properly appreciated. 



It is a curious fact that many a person who enjoys hunting 

 or fishing, and who slays or maims with much pleasure and to 

 no substantial profit, is horrified to see a student dissecting 

 a living frog, guinea-pig, or cat, in order that he may learn 

 new truths or himself behold what others have discovered. 

 Of the two aims, momentary pleasure or intellectual profit, 

 which is the nobler? In which work is the mind the most 

 likely to become careless as to the rights of the dumb beast ? 

 To my understanding, the present turn of sympathetic peo- 

 ple against vivisection indicates that the movement of the 

 emotions has, as is often the case, been diverted from the 

 fittest path. So far from natural science tending in any way 

 towards cruelty, it has been the very guide in the develop- 

 ment of the modern affection for living beings. By showing 

 something of the marvels of their structure and history, it 

 has increased in a way no other influence has ever done the 

 conception which we form as to their dignity and the wonder- 

 ful nature of their history. It is in the true interest of mercy 

 to disseminate in every way we can knowledge as to the 

 real nature of animals, leaving this knowledge to bring forth 4 

 the good fruit which it ever bears. In this connection it 

 should moreover be said that the naturalist, like the surgeon, 

 instinctively seeks to make his work as little painful as may 

 be to the subjects of his experiments. In almost all cases, 

 the animal is made unconscious. Moreover, all we know of 

 the life of the lower animals leads us to suppose that while 

 they suffer much as we do, their pains are of a physical sort, 



