XIV. INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR 



should regard it as the proudest monument he could 

 desire. Had he lived, he might, with his means, 

 abilities, and purposes, have accomplished a work not 

 incomparable to that of him whose name will ever be 

 associated with the cause of humane treatment of our 

 dumb companions. 



Perhaps in no other direction has the advance of 

 civilization been shown more markedly, in our coun- 

 try, than in the laws and societies for the protection of 

 animals. Those of us whose memories go back a 

 score of years will easily recall how much more com- 

 mon cases of public brutality were then than they are 

 now. It is more than a change it is a revolution. 

 Not so long ago one might witness, in any large city, 

 the most shocking and devilish brutality to horses, 

 when to venture a remonstrance was to be answered 

 with a curse or perhaps threatened with a blow. All 

 that, at least in our older and larger cities, is prac- 

 tically changed. Laws regulate, more or less effec- 

 tively, our relations with the lower animals, as with 

 each other ; and in most civilized communities a citi- 

 zen witnessing a case of brutality to animals may 

 interfere as in any other case of public crime, and the 

 law and authorities will support him and bring the 

 offender to justice. Societies have been formed to 

 procure and enforce these laws, there being now up- 



