THE RELIGION OF NATURE 



fawning ways natural to a spaniel on finding that 

 he was not ill-used for snapping was sudden, but 

 that is always characteristic of animals' changes 

 of mood, when one natural instinct overcomes and 

 replaces another. 



So far I have dealt only with errors which are 

 liable to arise in our minds from our natural 

 tendency to look at things from the human point 

 of view a tendency which has been mischievously 

 encouraged by nursery teaching, by popular 

 " nature " writing, and by many scientific 

 authorities. 



It is possible, however, to fall into error on the 

 other side. For instance, several correspondents 

 independent observers of nature to whom my 

 conclusions appeal quote, in support of these, 

 instances of hooked fish breaking away but sub- 

 sequently taking another bait, with the first hook 

 still in their mouths, as evidence that they do not 

 feel pain. But it is not real evidence. 



A fish must eat to live ; and we may be sure that, 

 neither in taking the first bait nor the second, 

 did the hooked fish suspect the hook. Something 

 indeed must have seemed to be wrong with the first 

 mouthful; but it did not satisfy the creature's 

 hunger and there was no precedent for supposing 

 that the same unpleasant accident what it was, 

 of course, the fish could not imagine would hap- 



[96] 



