18 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



" The poor beetle which we tread upon, 

 In corporal sufferance feels a pang 

 As great as when a giant dies." 



The lower the animal organization the less sensibility to 

 pain. 



What may he the mental sensations of a fish when 

 hooked and when being played, or when deposited in 

 the well of a punt, is another matter. Of course, in a 

 certain sense, it is " as bad to be killed as frightened to 

 death," and doubtless, under the above-named conditions, 

 a fish has a bad time of it ; but I think an angler, if ever 

 prosecuted by the Royal Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals, would escape conviction, on the 

 ground that it cannot be shown that fish feel pain. But 

 even supposing they do, and that their mental sensations 

 are of a particularly unpleasant character when brought 

 into contact with the angler, I shall cut the matter short 

 by boldly saying that, in my opinion, the angler is .quite 

 justified in inflicting this cruelty (if it pleases any one so 

 to term it) in the pursuit of sport. I hold that when man 

 was given dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of 

 the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon 

 the earth, he had authority given him to utilize them in 

 any and every way for his benefit, and not merely for the 

 purposes of food. He utilizes certain animals for his 

 benefit by employing them for draught purposes, though, 

 of course, he could carry and drag his own burdens. In 

 fact he utilizes them for his own comfort and pleasure. In 

 like manner he utilizes other animals for his pleasure in 

 the way of sport — in hunting, and shooting, and fishing. 

 Field sports conduce to his pleasure, and even to his well- 

 being, calculated as they are to develope the mens sanain 



