The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-10-19
CRIMINAL BEASTS.
A CURIOUS STUDY OF MANS DEAL
lNGS WITH THE RRuTES.

EMMY Heard A Arguments Over the Guilt
or Innocence of IA Bird or a Lizard or
an Insect-An Interesting Book.
A book which will delight all lovers of the
curious and grotesque, as well as provide
food for serious thought, has appeared ut
Naples under the title OF Criminal Beasts"
Its author. Signor d'Addosio, describes it
as a mere attempt to deal with the subject.
He prepared it without assistance, and nd.
mits that it only imperfectly covers the
ground he has outlined. Yet it presents a
perfectly astounding array Of facts and
veracious incidents relating to the sup
posed amcnability of brutes to the civil law.
The reader is first reminded that the
ancient laws of the Egyptians, Indians.
Pcrsians, Hebrews and Greeks attributed
rights and duties to animals, and decided
that equally with men animals were sub
ject TO praise or blame, reward or punish
ment. For this reason severe penalties
were instituted against men who took the
life of animals, maltreated or hurt them
without reason, and equally severe penal
ties were awarded TO animals for acts hurt
full to the lives or property of men Little
by little these laws, which nourished
when mankind was still childlike and in
race became aware Of its immense supe-
riority, and finally the cold and reasoning
Romans denied to animals any rights and
duties, and pronounced them to be void
of conscience or personality, without,
however, deciding that they were mere
machines.
Then came reaction. The Middle
Ages, distinguished for the predominance
of imagination over reason, leaped back at
bound to superstition and barbarism,
and all rights and duties were restored to
animals, together with such responsibility
that when they committed any act hurtful
to man or his works they were summoned
as criminals and subjected to the rigor of
the law. In the Sixteenth century this
humanizing of animals began again to de-
crease, until in the Seventeenth century it
entirely disappeared.
After this historical sketch, Signor
d'AddOso considers the advance of science
in relation TO the animal kingdom. The
theory Of evolution, which ascrihes to
brutes the rudiments of human attributes,
is carefully reviewed, The modern school
of science, says the author, declares that,
in common with mankind, animals possess
reason will, conscience, language, senti-
ments and sociability, and that the whole
tity and not in quality. The modern penal
school now begins to ask; "What is
crime" and itself replies that crime is
natural phenomenon, common to plants
and animals equally with men. Now,
| slyly observes Signor d'Addosio, If this
| theory be carried out to its logical conse-
| qucnce, 1t would result that m animal
! which sinued against human society ought
| to be punished for its crime, as it was in
the Middle Ages. ...... .....
The curious lawsuits which were in tile
! Middle Ages so often instituted against
members of the animal kingdom were
sometimes penal, sometimes civil. The
| former were directed against animals that
had destroyed human life, or resorted 20
magic and diahOlical works, when the ac-
cused were put in prison, tried, sentenced,
condemned and executed according to all
the formalties Of lawsuits against human
criminals This civil suits were directed
against such animals or insects rs attacked
and damaged corn fields, vineyards, or
chards, meadows and SO on, or in any other
way We're hurtful to the possessions of
men.
When prayers and professions had been
resortcd 10 in vain an appeal was made to
the local ecclesiastical judge, who cited the
destroyers to appear before him and nomi-
mated advocates for and against. The in
habtants OF the damaged district did the
same, and the trial took place with solcm-
nifty and with all the tedious details and
long winded arguments of medieval jus
tice and jurists. The sentence generally
condemned the accused insects or animals
to leave the invaded territory within a
given date, on pain of curses and eXcom-
munication, and almost always assigned
some uncultivated place where they could
retire and live Us they pleased. Often when
the Great ures had been deaf 10 the sentence
a new trial and verdict were undertaken to
carry out the eXcommunicuton.
There are given in the book, on the an.
thority Of official records, accounts OF Il
vast number Of trials of horses, cattle
fowls, dogs, goats snakes, leeches, etc
The mRjDrtyof cases are taken from the
records OF French courts, though Italy
furnishes a gnudly number. In Maple,
itself, for example, an ass was solemnlS
tried and condemned to be burned tt
death, Il proceeding which called forth /
scotling poem from wit of the period
Civil suits were generally directed against
vermln, such Us ealcrpillars, grubs, leeches
locusts, rats, mice and SO on
In l45l II suit was instituted against thu
leeehcs which infested the ponds in TIN
ncighborhood OF Berne, in Switzerland, ant
the bishop Of Lausanne, in his instruction
10 his parish priests Of Berne, which in
! stfaetionS were sulcmnly approved of b!
/, the professors of tho University Of IIcdel
= burg, mentioned that it would be advisa
J hle q procure some ri H. aquatic worm
S and place them before thd magistrates.
< This wn~ done, and the lecchrs, both thosl
present and tbo-c absent, were ordered I,
ltiIyr the places they had So boldly iEfsstel
| within three days On pain Of mourning tn
: maledicion OF God .-Ncw York Tribune