148 THE IMMORTALITY OF ANIMALS 



be as much designed by nature, or rather the 

 Author of nature, that animals should use their 

 reason, and be guided by it, as that the pilot, 

 in the design of the ship-wright, should direct 

 the vessel bv the use of the rudder he has fitted 

 to it. 



It is rare nowadays to find a man so heartless and 

 silly as to believe the absurd doctrine of Descartes 

 and Malebranche, that the lower animals are de- 

 void of conscious feeling. It seems impossible for 

 any intelligent person to think that a log of wood 

 and a sensitive animal are alike as to sensibility ; 

 that an animal has no more feeling under the 

 blows of a whip or the cut of a knife, than the log 

 has under the strokes of a carpenter's ax. "Why 

 is it that the one cries out with pain and the 

 other remains silent ? Is it not evident therefore 

 that the animal is sensible of pain, and the log 

 of wood has no such perception ? The expression 

 of pain is more marked than that of joy in the 

 features of lower animals, and extends even to 

 the shedding of tears in almost all animals when 

 undergoing intense agony. The physical signs of 

 pain consist of changes in circulation and temper- 

 ature, quickened respiration, dilation of the iris, 



