220 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



revolting crimes such as even the most debased and cruel 

 beasts of the field never commit. I refer to wanton wholesale 

 murder, often with torture; assault with violence, robbery in a 

 hundred cruel forms, and a dozen unmentionable crimes in- 

 vented by degenerate man and widely practiced. If anyone 

 feels that this indictment is too strong, I can cite a few titles 

 that will be quite sufficient for my case. 



Let us make a few comparisons between the human species 

 (Homo sapiens) and the so-called "lower" wild animals; and 

 let it be understood that the author testifies, in courtroom 

 phrase, only "to the best of his information and belief." 



Only two wild animal species known to me, — wolves and 

 crocodiles, — devour their own kind; but many of the races of 

 men have been cannibals, and some are so today. 



Among free wild animals, the cruel abuse or murder of 

 children by their parents, or by other adults of the tribe, is 

 unknown; but in all the "civilized" races of men infanticide 

 and child murder are frightfully common crimes. In 192 1 a 

 six-year-old Eskimo girl, whose father and mother had been 

 murdered, was strangled by her relatives, because she had no 

 visible means of support. 



The murder of the aged and helpless among wild animals 

 is almost unknown; but among both the savage and the civilized 

 races of men it is quite common. Our old acquaintance, 

 Shack-Nasty Jim, the Modoc Indian, tomahawked his own 

 mother because she hindered his progress; but many persons 

 in and around New York have done worse than that. 



Civil war between the members of a wild animal species 

 is a thing unknown in the annals of wild-animal history; but 

 among men it is an every-day occurrence. 



Among free animals it is against the moral and ethical codes 

 of all species of vertebrates for the strong to bully and oppress 

 the weak; but it is almost everywhere a common rule of action 

 with about ten per cent of the human race. 



The members of a wild animal species are in honor bound 



