THE RELIGION OF NATURE 



not only of pain at the time, but also of manifest 

 dread of its recurrence. 



Such questions as these are often put to me: 

 "Why does a horse go lame, and, when it has a 

 gall, shudder all over at the approach of the 

 harness? Why does a chased hare turn almost 

 black from fear? Why does a dog lick itself if 

 stung or hurt, and exhibit terror afterwards when 

 it hears a bluebottle buzz? Why does a bird often 

 die when robbed of its young? Why that look of 

 terror in a chased creature's eye? Why does a 

 worm wriggle when being threaded on a hook? 

 Why that intense fear depicted in cattle and sheep 

 when being driven to the slaughterhouse, and 

 endless other instances? " 



These nine questions may be taken as a fair 

 sample of the phenomena which may be quoted by 

 many readers as obstacles to acceptance of the 

 belief that animals, other than man, are uncon- 

 scious of " suffering " ; and in answering them 

 one by one, I may be able to show how deceptive 

 to the human point of view such appearances 

 may be. 



With regard to the first question : a horse goes 

 lame, because it inherits the useful and natural 

 instinct to tread as lightly as possible with an 

 injured limb the nerves telegraphing the fact of 

 injury to the brain and to throw as much of its 

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