PRESERVATION OF INSECTS. 261 



more good than harm ; he therefore kills as few 

 as possible. The animosity against these tribes 

 originates in a want of knowledge of entomology. 



839. As to causing pain. To support this charge 

 it is insisted, that were we treated as we treat 

 insects, we should suffer intense agony. This is 

 very true, but very poor argument ; because, be- 

 fore we can reason from ourselves, we must prove 

 a similarity of circumstances. If a man could 

 walk about for days without his head, and if his 

 head continued eating and drinking for days with- 

 out a body, then it would be fair to judge of the 

 sensations of an insect by the sensations of a man, 

 for the heads and bodies of insects freely perform 

 these feats. 



840. As to hardening the heart : entomo- 

 logists, with constantly regarding the beautiful 

 structure of insects, acquire such a kind feeling for 

 them that they seldom or never unnecessarily kill 

 them, and almost invariably take much more care 

 than indifferent persons to avoid doing them any 

 injury ; and the various schemes which have been 

 invented for killing insects in the most expeditious 

 manner prove, at least, that the entomologist is 

 not willing to occasion them suffering. 



