Morning journal and courier., 1892-08-16

great duration, Is naturally brief and lis-
BILE to an infinite number of accidents
without remedy and sudden dangers un-
foreseen, the subject of the last DAYS of
the nobler sorts of beasts has a certain
pathetic interest. No doubt all animals,
from the healthy and natural lives thew
lead, have strange powers of self-cure In
case of accident. Those whose profession
1t Is to prepare the skeletons of wild beasts.
| large and small, for museums aud labora-
| tories speak with surprise of the number
of injuries and fractures which the bones
exhibit, but which have set themselves in
a rough but effective fashion. But the
| chapter of accidents" In animallif spares
none, from the stags which die with horns
locked together on the mountain side to
the locusts which impsle themselves upon
the bsrbed wire of the Transvaal farms, or
the cicalss which rend their wings upon
| the thorns Of the mimosa- Death BY yio-
lence seems to be the rule In the lower
| forms of animal life, except in the case of
sudden plaques or changes of season.
Only to the largest quadrupeds has human
| fancy conceded the boon of q natural and
| perhaps painless death; and the remote,
untrodden jungle, where the elephants go
to die, lies still among the undiscovered
| countries"
The ssddest side of these millions of un-
| recorded deaths, from the human and hu-
| name point of view, is that the creatures,
for the most part, suffer unsided and die
alone. There IL, however, good reason to
believe that this is not always the case;
and that there are many instances of ami
| NAL sympathy, and some of animal aid,
for animal suffering. On the other hand
it must be admitted that there is often
strong and apparently natural impulse
among animals, as among savage men, to
hasten the death of a sick comrsde, which
in some cases takes the form of deliberate
and premeditated murder of the sufferer
If even humsn sentiment at the sight of
fellow-creatures' suffering be snalyzed, the
two emotions OF pity and DISCUS, are con-
stantly at war. Pity is generally prior,
but, except in the highest natures, it weak
| ems with time. pity" says Cobbett, ssis
not a lasting emoiion;" and instead of pity
passing to love, disgust often becomes die
like, after long contemplation of disease
and deformity- The ruder the state of
society tke harsher becomes the law; for
we may assume that the dislike of the
weak and sickly by the healthy and Wig
orous is an indirect If most unpleasing
form of the law of natural selection.
Maternal affection must, of course. be ex-
cepted from this general tendency. So |
long as any young creatures are dependent |
upon their parents, the tendency of the
old is to give most to the young who need
most. The devotion of bird or animal va
ries directly with the helplessness of their |
offspring. But We must look further, and
consider the relations of the pon-relsted,
the conduct of society to the individual,
and of different species to one another
In SO doing We may find something paral-
lei to our own development; for domesti-
cation, the animal equivalent to civiliza-
ton, does certainly produce an increased
tendency towards the emotions of pity
and benevolence. But In animal commu-
mites there seems to exist little sense of
pity when the weakness of member in
conveniences or endangers the safety of
the whole. Bulls and wild stations will |
fight for the herd, but that is the price of |
their own supremacy. The wounded and |
sick are usually driven away and perhaps |
killed. The wild COWS of Chillineham i
Park, and the deer at Windsor, still hide |
their calves and fawns. AS in the days of |
the Psalmist, the cslvihg hind discover /
eth the thick bushes" and does not ven
ture to show its fawn till 1t can keep MP i
with the herd. Shakespeare, In Gas You /
Like 1t" does no injustice to the general /
Indifference of deer to their injured com
rades; and the stag, ''left and abandoned /
by his velvet friends" which excited the |
pity of Jaques, suffered the general fate |
of wounded deer.
But there are exceptions to the rule
The scene of the wounded stag, attended |
by the kinds, which Sir Edwin Landseer
painted in his beautiful picture called
!. Highland Nurses" was, We believe. actu-
ally witnessed by the painter or his host.
But the Storch Gericht condemns without
mercy those that cannot join in the south |
ern migration; ducks and cansries peck |
sick and siling birds to death, and pigs are |
born bullies, the smallest of the litter
the "petment," !" as il is called in East Ang-
lila being invariably bitten and deprived |
of its food. Csrniyorons animals rarely |
injure sick or wounded member of their |
tribe, though wolves, when pressed by |
hunger, devour the weakest, and jsckals |
will at once assemble and tear to pieces |
wounded member of the pack. But we |
lately heard a curious instance of the in |
stinct to destroy the injured among the |
larger cats Some rough ground in Oudh |
was being driven by besters, when a chez |
tab appeared before one of the guns and |
was badly wounded. Another cheetah ap-
peared Immediately after, and came up to
the first, which It seemed to urge to follow
| it. The wounded cheetsh was unable to
| move, and the second, on discovering this,
/ sprang on 1t, caught it by the throat and
killed it, and WAS shot as 1t bounded away
| after this deliberate murder.
Monkeys, with some notable exceptions,
| are some degrees worse than savage men
| in their treatment of the sick. On the
new Jumna canal at Delhi monkeys swarm
in the trees upon the banks, and treat
their sick comrades in true monkey fash
ion. The colony by the canal, being over
| crowded, and as q consequence unhealthy,
did, and probably does still, suffer from
various unpleasant diseases. When one
monkey is SO obviously unwel as to offend
/ the feelings of the rest few of the larger
monkeys watch it, and, taking q favorable
| opportunity, knock it into the canal. II
1t is not drowned at once the sick monkey
is pitched in sgain after it regains the
trees, and either drowned or forced to keep
| aloof from the flock. AT the Geological
| gardens the monkeys torment a sick one
/ without mercy; and unless it is at once re-
| moved from the cage it has little chance of
recovery. The small monkeys bite and
| pinch it; the larger ones swing it round
by its tail; and when quite exhausted or
dead, as many monkeys as can find room
cit on its body. Frank Buckland's mon
keys, SO far as we remember, exhibited
| considerable affection towards one another
when i'll. But that may have been due to
the civilizing influences of society Gene
rally speaking, monkeys NOPE and seek
solitude when sick. But 'fSally," the
II
ness behaved exactly as q human being
might in similar circumstances While
the large gibbon in the next cage, which
died just afterwards, retired to the far
thest corner and refused all assistance,
Sally came to the bars in front. where abe
could most easily receive her medicine and
| food, and took her bAlsam of anise-seed
for bronchitis as her keepers dictated.
Only when very i'll did she retire to her
kennel, aud even then would reach ont her
hand to the doctor" But there is not
much faith in 'physicking" at the Zoo.
Prevention is better than cure. though one
bear generally takes castor oil, which II
likes, when suffering fronts bad throat;
and a very fine bird, the African hornbill,
| would allow medicine tn be given to Ii by
its keeper. A lady visitor was good enough
to leave a prescription to cure the savage
Indian wild dogs of mango But Is she
left no directions as to whether the reme-