USEFULNESS OF ANIMALS TO MAN. 



comfort and assistance ; for he had the dominion 

 of them consigned to him, and was commissioned 

 to subdue them. Having used their products for 

 food and clothing, conjointly with the fruits and 

 seeds of the vegetable world, and their bodies for 

 the carriage of his burdens, after a long age of 

 abstinence he began to feed on their flesh; and 

 they have continued his faithful and assiduous ser- 

 vants, contented with their destiny, and submissive 

 to his desires. He gives them food and shelter in 

 payment of service, attending them with diligence 

 and care : all this may be for his own emolument 

 and pleasure, yet the well-being of the creature, 

 had it continued wild, would not have required it : 

 most of them live longer, and have more enjoyment 

 in a wild and unreclaimed state, than when domes- 

 ticated with him. By art, and for profit, he has 

 in many instances altered the very nature of the 

 animal, and created ailments, rendering his cares 

 and attentions necessary, which in a state of nature 

 are not required. The lives of many of them, even 

 when subjected to the best of treatment, are' con- 

 sumed with labour and fatigue ; and when their 

 unhappy destiny consigns them to the power of 

 poverty and evil passions, what an accumulation of 

 misery and suffering do these wretched creatures 

 undergo ! If these arguments have any foundation 

 in truth, it will appear, that animals are not neces- 

 sarily dependent on man, and generally derive no 



