PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE 51 



ardent. His Travels contains numerous episodes, set down simply 

 and without the slightest hint of self-consciousness, of his reac- 

 tions to animals. He tells us that the feeling of pity grew upon 

 him with age; that in his youth, for instance, when he accom- 

 panied his father on a journey into East Florida, he once almost 

 stepped on a rattle-snake, then, hot with resentment, cut off a 

 sapling and instantly "dispatched him." "At that time," he 

 confesses, "I was entirely insensible to gratitude or mercy" 

 {Travels, 271). He tells us how in later life he tried vainly to 

 save the life of a bear cub, whose " continual cries " over the 

 body of its parent affected him " very sensibly." " I was moved 

 with compassion, and charging myself as if accessary to what 

 now appeared to be a cruel murder, and endeavoring to prevail 

 on the hunter to save its life, but to no effect! for by habit he 

 had become insensible to compassion towards the brute crea- 

 tion" (pp. xxvi-xxvii). He tells us that on another occasion he 

 pleaded for the lives of a herd of deer — and just as vainly, for 

 his old friend, "though he was a sensible, rational and good 

 sort of man, would not yield " to his philosophy (p. 200) . And 

 he tells with pride that once he did succeed in saving the life 

 of a " formidable " rattle-snake which had suffered him and his 

 friends " to pass many times by him during the night, without 

 injuring us in the least" (p. 269). He expresses his horror at 

 the "barbarous sport" he witnessed of beating out the brains 

 of a young wolf with the butt of a gun (p. 398). He is happy 

 that he succeeded in extorting a promise from a trader that his 

 injured horse, "my old slave" as he affectionately calls him, 

 whom he was obliged to leave behind, would be treated gently 

 and not be made into a pack-horse (p. 443). He regrets that 

 the "unfortunate" trout, which he must eat, must be caught 

 by cheating (p. 108),^^ and he confides that even though a 

 savanna crane made excellent soup, yet he is resolved that as 

 long as he can get any other necessary food he will "prefer their 

 seraphic music in the ethereal skies" (p. 221). And, finally, he 

 prays to the " sovereign Lord " Whom it has pleased to " endue 

 man with power and pre-eminence here on earth, and establish 

 his dominion over all creatures," that man's understanding "may 



" a. Thomson, Spring, II. 403-441. 

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