4580 Insects. 



I do always put my foot on 'em, and zao I do kill 'undreds o' 'em on 

 the heath;" but its habits and transformations having been shown 

 and explained to him, he was much struck, and promised to cease his 

 thoughtless warfare. 



But, after all apology has been made for entomologists, it must be 

 admitted that they have a double character, one as " collectors," the 

 other as " true investigators :" numbers there are merely of the former, 

 who collect either for the sake of possessing some rarity or for having 

 a fine series of beautiful objects, or for the excitement and difficulty 

 of their capture : numbers, again, combine all this with a true love 

 and admiration of them as creatures and as a scientific study. Many, 

 again, collect for all the above reasons, and the additional one of 

 making a profit by their sale, while many do so for the purposes of 

 profit alone; all these motives are justifiable, and those who collect 

 for any of the above reasons, other than for study, if of an intelligent 

 disposition, are, from the necessary observations they must make in 

 their pursuit, in a fair way to become in time something more than 

 mere collectors ; and, in fact, I doubt whether all entomologists cannot 

 trace their present love of the science to some of these motives. 



I might here (and it would be, indeed, a pleasant task) trace the 

 general tendencies of the study of insects on the minds and habits of 

 its devotees, and the numberless moral lessons, unheeded by those 

 who neglect the wise man's command, " Go to the ant, thou sluggard, 

 consider her ways, and be wise," that this study forcibly impresses us 

 " that the works of the Lord are great," and that the sanction imme- 

 diately following " sought out of all them that have pleasure therein," 

 is peculiarly applicable; but my object now is but to show cause 

 against the stigma of cruelty attaching to the pursuit of Entomology, 

 by considering whether insects feel what we call " pain," in anything 

 like the degree appreciable by ourselves or other warm-blooded ani- 

 mals, under similar inflictions or laceration of their parts : and here 

 the question arises, " What is pain ?" which I define to be <e Un- 

 pleasant sensations experienced by living organized creatures on 

 violence being offered to their parts." Sensation, from all we can 

 find out by observation, is the peculiar result of a living nervous 

 organization ; it is not of necessity connected with life, for in that 

 case all the vegetable kingdom may lay claim to it, and if we exclude 

 this portion of creation from its influence, where, between it and the 

 animal kingdom, is the line to be drawn, on one side of which is 

 sensation and the other side none ? Thus, sensation may be defined 



