x ^ 5 - ' Physiology and its Opponents. 603 
1 hat the lower animals do not feel pain as do we is no 
mere assumption. Mr. E. Gurney wrote in the “ Fortnightly 
Review ” for December, 1881 “ Dogs kept at physiological 
laboratories for the purpose of experiments display no such 
horror of the operating-room aswas described in a sensational 
paragraph sent the round of the papers some time ago. A 
dog released from experiment has been known to jump up 
upon the operating-table and sit there to inspect a companion 
having his turn, showing thatnoverypainful impression could 
have been left upon his mind by that he had undergone. ” 
The following incident, taken from “ Physiological Cruelty, 
or FaFt v. Fancy,” * is vouched for by an eye-witness : — 
/‘A house-dog met with an accident by which a large 
piece of the skin and flesh above the eye-brow was cut and 
hung loose over the eye. His master, a surgeon, determined 
to stitch it. Now it is well known that — the skin being ex- 
ceedingly sensitive — stitching is one of the most painful 
parts even of serious operations. The dog was taken into a 
shed, muzzled, and the cut stitched up. All the time it was 
being done he was straining and struggling to get away, 
though never whining nor crying. The instant he was 
released he dashed into a corner of the shed and seized a 
bone which he had had his eye upon, and which had possessed 
his soul while he had been undergoing the operation without 
anaesthetics.” 
Such cases, to which many more might be added, prove 
that even such comparatively highly developed animals as 
dogs are far less sensitive than is civilised man. It is doubt- 
less true that every animal is sentient, and we should be 
very reluctant to deny the same attribute to plants. But 
there is a continuous and gradual fading away of sensitive- 
ness from the higher forms of life to the lower. 
(To be continued.) 
* Tinsley Bros. 
2 , $ 
