50 DOGS 



human point of view. If pain and suffering, that is to 

 say, are largely man-made, they are equally avoidable by 

 man. It has been calculated that if man went to work 

 upon them with a will, infectious diseases could be stamped 

 out in fifty years. It is likewise with that amount by 

 far the largest amount in the total sum of suffering caused 

 by human folly, blindness, stupidity, or wickedness. The 

 fault is in ourselves, not in our stars. 



Lastly, I strongly disagree with " N." that wild 

 animals dread viz., anticipate pain. As Wallace justly 

 wrote : " Animals are spared from the pain of anticipating 

 death; violent deaths, if not too prolonged, are painless 

 and easy ; neither do those which die of cold or hunger 

 suffer much ; the popular idea of the struggle for existence 

 entailing misery and pain on the animal world is the reverse 

 of the truth." Or Darwin : " The vigorous, the healthy, 

 and the happy survive and multiply." It is not death, 

 but the fear of death, which is woeful unto us. And where 

 animals do suffer acutely from loss of mates or offspring, 

 they are blessed with the healing oil of short memories. 



