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CANNIBALISM. 



entertain the slightest suspicion, that these wild 

 animals or any others, do, under any circumstances, 

 feed upon each other. They seem all to obey the 

 original law of nature already mentioned. I am 

 of firm belief, that, when left in their own freedom, 

 pigs will never feed on pigs. 



If this paramount law is not broken by the 

 brute creation ; we may well imagine, that it is 

 paramount with man, a rational animal. In this 

 light then, man cannot be considered a cannibal, 

 in the strict sense of the word ; although, some 

 instances may occur, which will occasionally cause 

 him to eat his own species. 



Were man a real cannibal, he would make use 

 of his superior powers of mind, to plot against the 

 lives of his fellow-creatures, in order to gratify 

 his appetite. He would be for ever bent on their 

 destruction, and they on his ; until the race of 

 uninstructed men generally known by the name 

 of savages, became entirely extinct. 



Moderation would be out of the case. A can- 

 nibal could not think of confining himself, once 

 in a way, to a festive dinner on his tender sister ; 

 or to a single dish of soup, made out of his old 

 grandmother. He would want more of the deli- 

 cious nutriment; and he would continue to long 

 after human flesh, wherever there was an oppor- 

 tunity of obtaining it. 



