THE RELIGION OF NATU11K 



If his back itches he will rub it into a sore, and 

 continue to rub the sore whenever he has nothing 

 else to think of, until he has caused a wound that 

 makes one shudder to look at. Yet he goes on 

 rubbing the bleeding flesh all the same. Evidently 

 the instinct which should impel him not to aggra- 

 vate the wound is altogether obliterated by the 

 instinct which impels him to ease an itching spot 

 by rubbing. 



I have seen a monkey who, through sheer ennui, 

 ate his tail inch by inch; and I have stood before 

 his cage watching him nibble at its bleeding stump, 

 until I felt quite certain that in the satisfaction of 

 his instinct to be always busy his instinctive aver- 

 sion to injury which a human mind would trans- 

 late into terms of " pain " was at rest. Nor was 

 this in any way a case of deranged intellect on 

 the part of an individual monkey; because it is 

 well known to practical naturalists that there are 

 certain kinds of monkeys especially those known 

 as " Jews " and " Bonnets " which are not worth 

 the trouble of keeping, simply because they will 

 nibble their own tails. 



I could multiply instances; but my point is 

 merely to show that whereas it is only in exciting 

 moments that man ceases to be conscious of mental 

 pain, and is thus thrown down for the instant to 

 the level which other animals always occupy, they 



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