Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-20
REGARD OF TIE AsoIENrs PoR ANIMALS.

In ancient Egypt, when a cat died in the
house, the inhabitants shaved their eye
brows If dog died, they shaved their
whole body. In Athens, one of the laws
OF Triptolemus declared that no one had
right to lntilct wrong upon living Great
ure. The Greeks were aware OF TIM tender
and atfectionate care which the young of
the stork exhibited for their old parents,
and recorded that, when the latter lost
their feathers from age, the young stripped
themselves of their down for them and fed
them with the food they collected. This was
the origin of the Greek law called "the
law of the stork, T" by virtue of which child
rem were obligated to take care Of their
aged parents, and those who refused to do
SO were declared infamous. How different ia
IL In our modern societies Pierquin re-
MARKS with reason that, as man rises, he
treats animals as if they were correspond
ingly degraded. For a long time they had
the same rights. During the middle ages
they we've allowed part in religious cere-
monies. At Milan they figured In the fes-
rivals OF the kings; and professions of an
imals appear in the bss reliefs of the cathe-
drals of Strasburg, Mans and Vienne
(lserel. On Holy Wednesday all the clergy
of the church of Rheims went to Saint
Remi to make station there the canons,
preceded by the cross, were arranged in
two lines, each drawing a herring after him
with a cord and each one was intent upon
saving his own fish, and stepping upon that
of the canon in front of him (Anquetil,
Historic de Reims"). At Paris, the pro-
cession of the fox was as much enjoyed as
the festival of the ass. The animal,
dressed in kind of surplice, wearing the
inter, had his place In the midst of the
clergy; fowl was put within his reach
he often forgot his pIous functions to spring
upon the bird and devour it in the pres
ence of the faithful. Philip the Fair was
very fond of this procession (SanvaI, "An-
tiquites de Paris"(. Only few years ago,
the procession OF the fat OK remained,
survival from the pagan feasts, real piece
of wrecksge from vanished civilizations.
While the rights Of animals were thus rec.
ognized, their duties toward man did not
escape the earlier legislators, who severely
punished their crimes and attempts upon
human life, The law of Moses (Exodus
xxi. %, 29) recites " If an OK gore man
or woman, that they die !: then the OK
shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall
not be eaten ; but the owner OF the OK
shall be quit. But if the OK were wont to
push with his horn in time past. and it
hath been testified to his owner, ard ne
hath not kept bin in, but that he hath
killed q man or q woman, the OK shall be
stoned, and his owner also shall be put to
DEATH" Judgments based on this princi-
ole are recorded at Athens and R1Ae. Ac-
cording to Pierquin, Democritus wished an
animal, which had occasioned come major
damage, to be punished with death. Un-
der Domitian, according to she report Of
Martial, the ingratitude Of . lion toward
its master was severely penished. Colu-
mella and Varro say that the ancient Eo-
mans regarded the OK as the companion of
the laboIs of man, and that the act OF kill
ing one was regarded as homicide and
D lnished in the same way and the OK en-.
loyed the same privilege in Attiea and the
Peloponnesus. IL is also said that the
Arabs in the mountains of Africa formerly
cruciGed lions, guilty Of murders, upon
trees, az warning to otaefs, Popuisg Sc:s
encs Monthly.