PRESERVATION OF INSECTS. 201 



more good than harm ; he therefore kills as few 

 as possible. The animosity against these tribes 

 originates in a want of knowledge of entomology. 



839. As to causing pain. To support this charge 

 it is insisted, that were we treated -as we treat 

 insects, we should suffer intense agony. This is 

 very true, but very poor argument ; because, be- 

 fore we can reason from ourselves, we must prove 

 a similarity of circumstances. If a man could 

 walk about for days without his head, and if his 

 head continued eating and drinking for days with- 

 out a body, then it would be fair to judge of the 

 sensations of an insect by the sensations of a man, 

 for the heads and bodies of insects freely perform 

 these feats. 



840. As to hardening the heart : entomo- 

 logists, with constantly regarding the beautiful 

 structure of insects, acquire such a kind feeling for 

 them that they seldom or never unnecessarily kill 

 them, and almost invariably take much more care 

 than indifferent persons to avoid doing them any 

 injury ; and the various schemes which have been 

 invented for killing insects in the most expeditious 

 manner prove, at least, that the entomologist is 

 not willing to occasion them suffering. 



