392 SELF-SUBMISSION OF ANIMALS TO 



was ill, ' left its usual place of abode, lay beneath her bed, 

 and refused all food, although the milk was offered from the 

 usual bottle' (Wood). 



It is sympathy in great measure that leads so many birds 

 and other animals to become foster parents, by adopting and 

 bringing up the lost, deserted, or orphaned young of other 

 individuals or species, as well as to give thank-offerings 

 comparable with those already spoken of as the fruits of 

 gratitude. 



What is of interest, moreover, animals not only feel and 

 offer, or express, but solicit sympathy in illness, ill-health, or 

 bereavement; they obviously feel its value and necessity. 

 Thus we are told of a cat that solicited sympathy on and for 

 the death of her first grandchild, and of other animals that 

 did the same in the course of their own illnesses (Wood). 



The practical expression of sympathy involves charity, 

 benevolence, generosity, and other virtues. 



2. Recognition of the helplessness or powerlessness pro- 

 duced by illness or injury. 



The result of such recognition is not necessarily sympathy 

 for, with or without assistance to, the helpless animal : on 

 the contrary, it is quite as common probably for the able- 

 bodied animal to take immediate advantage of the weakness 

 of its disabled fellow, for instance, by making prey of it. 

 This kind of heartless selfishness is extended not only to other 

 species and genera, including man himself, but to other in- 

 dividuals of their own species, in such forms as cannibalism. 

 In such cases the tyrants know their power, while their cap- 

 tive or diseased victims feel, with what anguish we cannot 

 gauge, their being at the cold mercy of the relentless strong. 



The recognition of helplessness involves that of all manner 

 of defect and ailment, mental as well as physical, and the recog- 

 nition is sometimes more speedy in other animals than in 

 man himself. Thus not only does an animal mother recog- 

 nise in her progeny physical or mental defect of a kind or 

 degree that escapes the observation of man, or before it has 

 attracted man's notice ; but she lavishes her affection as does 

 so frequently the human mother on that member of her 

 family that obviously stands most in need of her ministrations. 



