258 THE REV. THEODORE WOOD, F.E.S., ON 
nerves than almost any other part of the frame, the insect 
had suffered no pain. 
It may, perhaps, be argued that these moths, when thus 
pinned, were sleeping, and that—as has frequently happened 
in the case of vagrants who have resorted to a lime-kiln for 
warmth, and have been overcome by slumber—very severe 
injuries may be received during sleep, of which the sufferer, 
although of high nervous or ganization, is entirely un- 
conscious. But cases in which the injury is caused by the 
sudden application of great bodily violence do not come 
under this category. One cannot imagine a human being 
continuing wrapped in slumber while a lamp- -post, or even a 
hedge stake, was being driven through his body. And the 
further fact that the wounded insects, when replaced upon 
the fence, frequently settle themselves again to slumber, 
effectually disposes, I think, of the objection. 
There is very little indeed, in fact, to show that insects 
experience the sensation of pain, as we understand the 
expression, and very much which tends to show that they 
do not. Probably the great poet who tells us that— 
“the poor beetle that we tread upon, 
In corporal sufferance feels a pang as great 
As when a giant dies.” 
is as Incorrect as poets usually are when they venture 
upon statements relating to natural history. 
Upon the molluscs, perhaps, itis unnecessary to dwell. Their 
nervous organization is very little higher than that of the 
insects, and susceptibility to pain still appears to be wanting. 
Even when we pass the half-way house of the animal 
kingdom, indeed, and ascend from the higher invertebrates 
to the Jower vertebrates, we find that the sense of pain is 
apparently absent. The seemingly complete indifference of 
fish, for example, to bodily injury or mutilation, is well- 
known. Not long ago, in one of the journals devoted to 
outdoor sports, an account appeared, on the authority of Mr. 
Cholmondely Pennell, of a perch which in some mysterious 
manner was hooked thr ough the eye, and managed to break 
away, leaving its eye behind it. Yet, so little did it appear 
to suffer from that which in a mammal or a bird would have 
been a most serious and painful injury, that in the course of 
a few minutes it returned, and, attracted by its own eye, 
which still remained upon the hook, swallowed it, and was 
captured and brought to land! 
