Csetera de genere hoc mirande ruulta videmns, 

 QutP violiire fidem quasi sensibiis omnia qnanunt : 

 Neqmdquam ; quoiiiam pars horum masiuia fallit 

 Propter opinatus aniini quos addimus ipsei 

 Pro \-isis ut siut, qua; non sunt seusibus visa. 

 Nam niliil fegrius est quam res seceruere apertas 

 Ab dubiis, animus quas ab se protiuus addit. 



Lucretius, De Rcrum Naiitra, Lib. iv. 1. -104. 



Tlie life of the brute has commonly one immense compensation m its 

 favour ; the perfection of the individual existence is so rarely sacrificed 

 to the prosperity of the race. It is not uecessai-y, m order that one 

 hippopotamus should cut his food conveniently, that another liippopotamus 

 should lead an unhealthy existence like a Sheffield giinder ; nor does the 

 comfort of any bird's nest require that another bu'd should slowly poison 

 itself in preparmg acetates of copper, sulphurets of merciu-y, or oxides of 

 lead. The pride and beauty of a brate are never based ujion the enduring 

 misery of another brute. The wild di-ake's plumage, splendid as it is, 

 suggests no painful thought of consumptive weavers, of ill-paid lace- 

 makers, of harassed over-worked milliners : and the most sensitive of us 

 may enjoy the sight of it without painful thoughts ; for it is God's free 

 gift, causing no lieai-t-bm-nLug of envy, no cai-e uor anxiety of any kind, 

 — P. G. HAMEr.TOX, Cliaptcrs on AnimaJs. 



yVe are then in a world of spirits, as well as in a world of sense ; and 

 we hold cormmmion with it, and take part in it, though we are not con- 

 scious of doing so. If this seems strange to anyone, let him reflect that 

 we ai-e mideniably takiug part in a third world, wliieh we do indeed see, 

 but about which we do not know more than about the Angelic hosts ; — the 

 world of brute animals. Can anytliiug be more marvellous or startUng, 

 unless we were used to it, than that we should have a race of beings about 

 ws, whom we do but see, and as Uttle know their state, or can describe 

 their interests, or their destiny, as we can tell of the inhabitants of the 

 Eim and moon ? It is indeed a very overpowering thought, when we get 

 to fix omr minds on it, that we familiarly use, I may say hold intercourse 

 with, creatures who are as much strangers to us, as mysterious, as if they 

 were the fabulous, uueartlily beings, more powerful than man, yet his 

 slaves, which Eastern superstitions have invented. — Kewman, Parochial 

 Sermons, 'The Invisible World.' 



