42 



ous as well. The inconsistency of this argument 

 will be at once apparent when it is pointed out that 

 the very fact, which is evidently forgotten, of animals 

 being under a high state of domestication is a direct 

 interference with the laws of nature itself. As soon 

 as animals are domesticated, absolutely natural laws 

 become impossible because of the necessarily impaired 

 character of their several instinctive faculties, conse- 

 quent on their circumscribed environment. It is well 

 known that the instincts of animals in a state of nature 

 are much more acute than those of animals under 

 domestication. The enforced '' struggle for life " 

 necessitates an intense development of the instinctive 

 faculties of wild animals, without which existence 

 would become impossible. With animals under 

 domestication, the historic phrase of Darwin and 

 Spencer largely ceases to operate, at least, it is only 

 intelligible in a very comparative sense, because the 

 faculty of self-preservation is reduced to the common- 

 est instinctive function, viz. : — that of eating. In this 

 way, naturalists and stockbreeders regard animals 

 from an entirely different standpoint ; the observa- 

 tions of the former are based upon animals in a state 

 of nature, and the observations of the latter upon 

 animals under domestication. This naturally leads 

 to a sharp division of opinion between the more 

 advanced thinkers of both classes ; and to arrive at 

 a common-sense view of the treatment of farm animals 

 it is necessary to steer a medium course, by blending 

 the observations of distinguished naturalists and ob- 



