OF THE BRUTE CREATION. 
655 
contemptible brutes should partake with him in that divine light 
which reminds him of his illustrious origin?” To suppose that 
brute animals are sentient, that they are alive to pleasure and pain, 
and yet that their existence is limited to this earth a few years, 
would be, thinks Racine, to accuse heaven itself of injustice. 
We believe that opinions such as these have led to the practice 
of the most abhorrent cruelties. A correspondent of “ The Asso- 
ciation for promoting rational Humanity towards the Animal Crea- 
tion” was present at one of Majendie’s exhibitions. “ A Blenheim 
spaniel,” he writes, “ was brought upon the table. The doctor 
patted it, and then it put its paws upon his shoulder. ‘ You see,’ 
said Majendie, ‘ that we are good friends!!’ He began by cutting 
off the hair with his scissors, close to the neck, while the dog made 
several attempts to lick the operator’s face, and to play with the 
scissors. ‘ It is singular,’ said the doctor, ‘ that this breed never 
bite;’ and he then began to dissect from the jaw-bone to the point 
of the shoulder, pausing at intervals to name the muscles, and to 
pat the agonized dog, who looked with supplication at his tor- 
mentor, and licked his hands!” 
The Chevalier Ramsay was of opinion that fallen angels under- 
went their punishment in the bodies of brutes, wherein they were 
incarnate, and incarcerate, as sentient sufferers and conscious 
spirits. If this should be true, and some men being what they are, 
there are cases in which the animal soul would be degraded instead 
of advanced, for in many instances the beast would be the most 
rational and humane of the two — the ox would be worthier than 
his butcher — the horse than his rider — the cock than the cock- 
fighter ; and the poor dog, than a friend in the shape of an expe- 
rimenting physiological vivisector. “ Majendie,” says Mr. Youatt, 
“ is not contented with stating to his pupils the conclusions to which 
he has arrived on certain points, and the circumstances by which 
he was induced to abandon former opinions on the subject ; but 
actually repeats on living animals, in every course of lectures, the 
experiments which he had instituted ” 
The dog is the principal victim selected for these experiments, 
and those are generally chosen who possess the reputation of 
being lively, docile, and intelligent. And for what infamous pur- 
poses ! Frequently to have thick gimlets, and sometimes burning 
irons, forced into their brains, and then to be watched, in order to 
discover how they will eat, drink, and ivalk, and to ascertain how 
long under such circumstances they will retain their powers of in- 
telligence. 
And fiends such as these, not only hope to be forgiven, but 
claim to themselves a sole exclusive heaven; 
