44 The Study of Animal Life part i 



herbivorous animals " which have been tormented and 

 devoured by carnivores " ; of both alike " subject to all the 

 miseries incidental to old age, disease, and over-multiplica- 

 tion" ; of the "more or less enduring suffering" which is 

 the meed of both vanquished and victor ; of the whole 

 creation groaning in pain. " There is good reason to 

 believe," says Mr. Wallace, " that the supposed torments 

 and miseries of animals have little real existence, but are 

 the reflection of the imagined sensations of cultivated men 

 and women in similar circumstances ; and that the amount 

 of actual suffering caused by the struggle for existence 

 among animals is altogether insignificant." "Animals are 

 spared from the pain of anticipating death ; violent deaths, 

 if not too prolonged, are painless and easy ; neither do 

 those which die of cold or hunger suffer much ; the popular 

 idea of the struggle for existence entailing misery and pain 

 on the animal world is the very reverse of the truth." He 

 concludes by quoting the conclusion of Darwin's chapter on 

 the struggle for existence : " When we reflect on this 

 struggle, we may console ourselves with the full belief that 

 the war of nature is not incessant, that no fear is felt, that 

 death is generally prompt, and that the vigorous, the 

 healthy, and the happy survive and multiply." Yet it was 

 Darwin who confessed that he found in the world " too 

 much misery." 



We have so little security in appreciating the real life — 

 the mental and physical pain or happiness — of animals, that 

 there is apt to be exaggeration on both sides, according as 

 a pessimistic or an optimistic mood predominates. I there- 

 fore leave it to be settled by your own observation whether 

 hunted and captured, dying and starving, maimed and half- 

 frozen animals have to endure " an altogether insignificant 

 amount of actual suffering in the struggle for existence." 



But I think we must admit that there is much truth in 

 what Mr. Wallace urges. Moreover, the term cruelty can 

 hardly be used with accuracy when the involved infliction 

 of pain is necessary. In many cases the carnivores arc 

 less " cruel " to their victims than we are to our domesti- 

 cated animals. We must also remember that the " struggle 



