ON THE RIGHTS OF BEASTS. 12Q 



headlong energies are illumined and regulated 

 by the reafoning faculty, which is deftined to 

 expand and improve by ufe and culture ; and 

 the firft fentiment of a good heart will be thofe 

 of pride and exultation, at the fenfe of its fupe- 

 riority over the mere animal fyftem. 



Whilft the idea is fuffered to prevail, that 

 pleafure, or profit, may be lawfully derived 

 from the mod barbarous outrages on the feel- 

 ings of brutes, it is vain to expect, reformation. 

 For inftance, if a furgeon may lawfully dhTect 

 a wretched animal alive, or by ftudiouily 

 wounding its mod fenfible parts, keep it in a 

 continued flate of the moft exquifite and ago- 

 nizing torture, even for whole days and nights, 

 under the pretext of making an experiment for 

 the profit of fcience; it is certain that the feel- 

 ings of animals will never be permitted to fland 

 in the way, when profit of any kind is the ob- 

 ject ; not only that the general principle (which 

 is in its nature univerfal and unalterable) will 

 then fully authorize the practice, but that the 

 bulk of mankind, the mere creatures of cuf- 

 tom, will be but too ready, in all collaterals, 

 to follow the example. 



There is a certain dangerous fpecies of fo- 

 phiftry, of which the men of all ages have been 

 the dupes and the victims ; it is that of judging, 

 in the moft important of all points, by an erro- 

 neous analogy : becaufe they perceive it to be 



vol. 1. . k a duty 



