The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-03-04
DO ANIMALS SUFFER
INTERESTING DEMONSTRATION
.= IN THE NEGATIVE.
They Knew Fear, But Do Not Experi-
ence Actual Physical Pain--Anec-
dotes to Prove This Which Over
throw Many Old Notions About 1t.


I think that most Of our common
experiences with the lower animals
bear this out very fully. One must not
forget that the beasts, since they have
no pride to make them grin and bear
any discomfort, are free to make as
much fuss as they like. Then, too, ami
mails are easily frightened and prac-
ticaly 1t is not at all easy to 6istin-
guish between the signs of fear and
pain. .z,<..-. i ~
! learned this lesson form cat with
which + was once on friendly terms
He used to "climb the inoon-lit fence"
and I sometimes had to mend him up
afterwards. Once he got a suppurat-
ing wound near the top of his head.
This drained internally so that large
pus cavity formed around the eyesock-
/ ct and along the side of the jaw. Most
J men find this sort Of thing exceedingly
painful i certainly should choose to
miss meal rather than to move the
nlusrins in that cheek. The cat, how
ever, did not seem to mind especially.
i coule not see that he even sighted
his face washing on that side. Yet he
would not have the wound touched.
After a time I discovered that he was
simply frightened by the new exper-
fence. Fly going to work cautiously
to avoid alarming him I could get him
to lie in his mistress's lap, under her
gentle restrain, allow holes to be cut
in his skin and the cavaties drained
and washed out with hydrogen dioxide.
Now submit that no young child
could be made to behave SO we'll. The
advantage of trust in his parents the
habit Of obedience, the ability to I'M
derstand what it was all about, would
all be on 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 heroieally the pain of an opera
tion for the sake of the anticipated
relief, do not really endure much af-
ter all.
My argument then amounts to this:
we I'LL dSEGG LIldt ClS iiOWeT Wn6fl
plucked suffers no pain. We all agree
also that it is no discomfort to the
oyster to become the initial dinner
course-at least 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 misgivings 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
member of civilized communities are
much less sensitive than are we. The
law of continuity therefore impels us
to believe 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 it's ability to avoid it,.
Turning now to the practical side of
the question, everyday experience
with animals supports the theoretical
position if. only the observer takes
pains to distinguish between pain and
fear. An animal will cry and strug-
Gle in the most distressing way from
sheer panic when it can hardly be in
any bodily discomfort. On the other
4 hand an animal which is not