114 ON THE SENSATIONS OF INSECTS. 



luxuriance of his roses. As to the quotation from Scripture 

 which I have lieard, — " We must not do evil that good may 

 come," — it can only be from want of reflection that it can be 

 applied to the present case. Is it, in itself, an evil to kill an 

 insect? 



But I must not go on. I have already ti'espassed on the 

 attention of my audience, and must beg pardon of those to 

 whom I have communicated nothing new. I will only say, in 

 conclusion, that as there must always remain some doubt with 

 respect to the feelings of insects, it is right that they should 

 have the benefit of the doubt. Their life should not be wan- 

 tonly taken from them, — it is the only one they have. I have 

 never tried any experiments at their expense ; what I have 

 observed has occurred when I was killing them for the cabinet. 

 The speediest mode of putting them to death should always be 

 resorted to ; and it yet remains to confer a great obligation on 

 Entomologists by discovering a mode which, without injury to 

 their colours, shall be instantaneous. 



Addendum. — The remarkable vitality of insects might have 

 been adduced, not only as a proof of their want of sensibility, 

 but as a point of resemblance between them and plants. It 

 is said that flies which have been bottled in wine, and have 

 remained in the bottles several years, have come to life again 

 on being released and exposed to the sun. There are some 

 interesting facts mentioned in the Quarterly Review, in an 

 article on D wight's Travels in America, which bear upon 

 this analogy between insects and plants. It may, indeed, be 

 asked, without irreverence, what became of the insects in the 

 deluge ? It is not said that any thing but beasts, fowls, and 

 reptiles were taken into the ark. Insects seem to have been 

 left on the same footing with plants, — some individuals of each 

 kind being likely to recover after the immersion. 



