Appetence and Emotion. 393 



even giving a slight wince to show he was in pain." And, 

 again,* "I heard the rush of the shot through the air, and 

 then a heavy thud behind me. I thought at first it had 

 gone into the field-hospital ; but, on looking round, found 

 it had carried away the lower jaw of one of the artillery 

 camels, and then buried itself in the ground. The poor 

 brute walked on as if nothing had happened, and carried its 

 load to the end of the day." 



With regard to this question, then, of the susceptibility 

 of animals to pleasure and pain, no definite answer can be 

 given. That they feel more or less acutely we may be 

 sure ; how keenly they feel we cannot tell ; but it is better 

 to over-estimate than to under-estimate their sensitiveness. 

 In any case, whether their pain be acute or dull, whether 

 their pleasures be intense or the reverse, we should do all 

 in our power to increase the pleasures and diminish the 

 pains of the dumb creatures who so meekly and willingly 

 minister to our wants. 



That the bodily feelings and wants occupy a large 

 relative space in the conscious life of brutes can scarcely be 

 questioned. On the one hand are the dull pains resulting 

 from the organic wants and appetences, and driving the 

 animal to their gratification; the keen pleasure that 

 accompanies this gratification, when intelligence is so far 

 developed that it can be foreseen, being a pull in the same 

 direction. And on the other hand are the pleasures of 

 the normal and healthy exercise of the sense-organs and 

 bodily activities giving rise to the pleasures of existence, 

 the joys of active and vigorous life. In the main, these 

 bodily feelings, or sense-feelings, as they are sometimes 

 called, seem to cluster round three chief centres — food, sex, 

 and the free exercise of the bodily activities, including in 

 some cases what seems to be play. Give a wild creature 

 liberty and the opportunity of gratifying its appetites; 

 allow its bodily functions the alternating rhythm of healthy 

 and vigorous exercise and restorative repose ; and its life 

 is happy and joyous. It is not troubled by the pressure 



* Pajre 104. 



