TIIK AIM AND OI3JKCT 
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wish and the interest of his employer. A somewhat different one 
— a compound one — yet essentially the same : the wish and the 
interest of the master being substituted for the charities of pri- 
vate life and the claims of society. The restoration of the patient 
to health and usefulness ! This deserves consideration, for it is 
a doctrine to which all of us do not, I am afraid, assent; and 
which certainly does not always correspond with our treatment 
of our quadruped servants. There is no doubt that, by Divine 
right, man holds supremacy over the brute, so far as his food, 
his convenience, his interest demand ; but not to do with him 
according to his pleasure; not to commit any wanton outrage 
upon him ; not to render his life a misery, and his death one 
of torture. In the opinion of too many, the inferior animals are 
considered as mere machines created for our use-- they have the 
same feelings of pain as ourselves, but they are placed without 
the pale of justice - they are made for our use and purpose, and 
we may sacrifice them when we please to our caprice or brutality. 
Such is the feeling of too many persons. We will not accuse 
them of being barbarians ; but we will tell them that they betray 
most woful ignorance on one of the most important subjects that 
could engage the attention of man. Will they tell us what code 
of law, human or divine, bestowed on them the right to use 
their dumb slave with cruelty and injustice? On what principle 
should there exist a plea for justice and an acknowledged right 
in favour of the man, and none with regard to the brute ? Is 
common feeling a different thing in them and in us? Is there 
one kind of justice for men and another for brutes? But these 
questions shall not be pushed farther. The law of the land has 
begun to recognize the jus animalium. It will not now permit 
the claim of property to be urged against it. It will permit no 
man to use even his own with cruelty and injustice. It has 
entered on this glorious career of legislation, and it will pursue 
its course until the brute receives, in return for the benefit which 
he bestows on man by his services, sufficient nourishment and 
merciful treatment, and a death as little painful as circum- 
stances will permit. 
Well, then, the life and health of his quadruped patients are 
