Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-08-25

| Deriences with the lower animals Dear
this out very fully. writes 4. I. Brews-
ter. in THE Boston Transcript" One
must not forget that the beasts. since
they have no pride to make them grin
and bear any discomfort, are free To
make az much fuss as they like. Then
too. animals are easily frightened, and
practically it is not at al, easy to dis
tinguish between the signs OF fear and
Iain.
| I learned this lesson from a cat with
which / was once Oh friendly terms.
He used to climb the :noonlit fence,
and | sometimes had to mend him mp
| afterward. Once he got n suppurating
wound near the top OF his head. This
drained internally so that large pus
| cavity formed around the eyesockct
/ and along the side Of the jaw. Most
men find this sort Of thing exceedingly
painful i certainly should choose to
miss o meal rather than to move the
| muscle in that cheek. The cat, now
| ever, did not seem to mind ii especially.
| / could not see that he even slighted
Ills face washing on that side. Yet he
| would not have the wound touched.
| After q time / discovered that he was
| simply frightened by the new expert
| ence BY going to work cautiously to
avoid alarming him, could get him to
| lie in his mistress lap, under her
| gentle restraint, and allow holes to be
| cut in his skin and the cavities drained
and washed out with hydrogen dioxida.
| Now, submit that 10 young child
could be made to behave so we'll. The
i 90 i'm n i. &c hA
habit Of obedience. the ability to under
stand what i was all about, would all
he or the side of the child. But the
child would make ten times the fuss.
because it would hurt him ten times
more. Several like experiences make
me believe that, in the stock anecdotes
the sagacious lions and elephants,
which have thorns in their paws or
Assesses in their gums. and bear
hcroically the pain Of an operation for
the sake of the anticipated relief. do
| not really endure much, after all.
| My argument then amounts to this:
We all agree that the flower when
nlucked suffers no pain. We all agree
also that it is no discomfort to the
oyster to become the initial dinner
| course-at least 1 never heard of any
| body who objected to raw oysters on
| the ground of cruelty. AS to the lob
| ster, / am not sure that we are all
| quite free from misglvings when he is
| boiled or broiled alive. At any rate,
| we agree that his feelings are not
| worth considering. On the other end of
| the scale we know that the lower races
| Of men and the least intelligent men,
bers OF civilized communities are much
less sensitive than are we. The law Of
| continuity, therefore, ;mpels US to be-
lieve that the higher brutes feel pain
| less than the lowest men, and the less
| Intelligent brutes feel it hardly at all
In short the capacity of any creature
| for suffering pain is probably closely
related to its ability to avoid it.
Turning now to the practical side Of
the question. everyday experience with
animals supports the theoretical po-
| sitioa if only the observer takes pains
TO distinguish between pain and fear.
| An animal will cry and struggle in the
| most distressing way from sheer panic
when it can hardly be in any bodily dis
| comfort. on the other hand an animal
which is not frightened will do things
| apparently painful from such INSULT
| cient motives that it is impossible to
| believe that it costs him any such price
as man would have to pay.
| Only upon some such basis as this, l
| believe. is ii possible to explain GER
| tain anomalies in the behavior Of many
| of the common domestic animals. The
balky horse. on which the most merci-
| less beating has no effect is started
| by Il few handfuls of gravel or a mild
switching with n leafy branch. The
| fighting dogs endure unlimited kicks
and Bluffs. but yield to n bucket of cold
water. Sportsmen tell us that a rab
bit. driven from its burrow by Il ferrit
| if it sees the gunner. often bolts into
the hole again; and therefore will allow
itself to be slowly torn TO shreds by the
ferret rather than face the man with
the gun. In all such cases il is i'm
possible to believe that the creature
would act as it does if its pain sense
were at all comparable to our own.
Everybody who has had to do with
animals knows how difficult it is to
drive them from their food even when |
they are not especially hungry. / had a |
little experience of this sort once upon |
time that rather opened my eyes to
one side of animal psychology / was
ministering angel to an interesting. |
numerous family of hogs. The boar
one day when his wives and children
We're being fed. broke into the seraglio. |
and of course rushed straight for the |
trough. trampling his young progeny |
recklessly under foot. I, with the |
handle of an old hoe called his atten-
ton to the moral and financial aspects |
of his conduct. put it to him. as one
Omnivora to another, whether he would |
rather wait five minutes and have his |
dinner quietly in the usual place, or
take it then and there plus the biggest
licking he ever had in his life. He.
for his part, allowed that he was being
murdered. and called upon the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ami
mails for aid. At the same time he
gave me TO understand in the most I'M
mistakable fashion that the biggest
licking I was equal to giving him was
small matter at most compared with
the delights of guzzling sour milk and
apple parings. Now the hog knew far
hn, |