IX. 4 



THE RECOIL UPON MAN OF HIS 

 INFLUENCE UPON ANIMAL LIFE 



THERE is one last aspect of man's influence upon animals 

 to which I would refer: it might more properly be called 

 the influence of animals upon man, for great as is man's 

 faith in his own independence, he is subject to the recoil of 

 his own actions and influences as surely as the animals he 

 handles. 



Man himself would be in a sorry plight indeed were the 

 plaint of the melancholy Jacques the whole truth, that we 



Are mere usurpers, tyrants, and what's worse, 

 To fright the animals and to kill them up 

 In their assign'd and native dwelling place. 



Fortunately there is another side to the matter. Man has 

 not always been the usurper and tyrant, and just in the 

 degree that he has avoided tyranny, he has benefited in a 

 spiritual sense from the recoil of his own influence. On the 

 whole these indirect reactions have been to the advantage 

 of mankind. 



A few examples of the material and spiritual influences 

 that have played upon Man and his welfare, as the result of 

 his interference, direct or indirect, with the animal kingdom, 

 will indicate how deeply human life is affected thereby. 



RECOILS ON HEALTH 

 FLIES AND DISEASE 



Take the case of health. Only a few examples from 

 the hosts available can be given. Man, by his deposition 

 of garbage, stable-manure and rotting organic matter has 

 enormously increased the numbers of the Common House 

 Fly (Musca domestica], to which he has furnished suitable 

 breeding-places without number. But the Fly from its very 



