Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1910-12-29
ANIMALS
SUFFER No PAIN
As Free from Suffering as Plants,
Asserts Grand Old Man"
of British Science.

London, Dec. 27.--Among all tho
there is none who wears his eighty
seven years more lightly than the
great naturalist. Alfred Russell wal
lace. Though nearly ninety, his nat
ural force Is not abatcd, and his inter-
est In the world and it's affairs past,
present and future, is as keen as ever.
lie is the Grand Old Man" Of British
science.
He shares with Darwin the right to
rank as the discoverer OF the great
law of evolution by the survival of
the fittest which revolutionized the
thought of the 10TH century. But 80
years have passed since Darwin's body
was laid to rest in Westminster Alb
hey, whereas Or. Wallace Is still
among us hale ana hearty
His latest work. "The Way Of Life"
shows no trace Of senility. Twelve
years ago pr. Wallace built himself
a now house. an enterprise few men
undertake after passing thrce-scorc
years and ten. Ills neighbors shrug
ged their shoulders. But Dr. Wallace
knew better He has lived in the
house for dozen years, and there
seems no reason why he may not live
in il for a dozen years more.
Tn most remarkable thing about DR..
Walnco's latest book is that it salutcs
the 10Th century with a glad ovangcl Of
none. nay # assured confidence in the
future of our race The old hell Of the
orthodox Wa bad enough, the new he'll
of Ilaeckel and Huxloy was even worse.
l,.,1I in, tt,1
the whole creation seemed to shrek
against the belief I'm q hencficent Crea-
tor. There was no God ~ If there were
Il God. he was an omnipotent iiend, who
had created this world as, he'll Of
never lending purposele~s torture for all
sentiment things. That in brief, was
the desolatc and comfortlcsS doctrine Of
| 18th century materialtsm.
PAIN a NECESSITY or NATURE.
Against this gloomy pcssimsm Or
! Alfred Russell Wallace raises the stand
ard of victorious revolt. Against the con-
| ception of the world as a hell in which
| pain exists perpetually. he sets forth the
.theory that pain is strictly limited, and
| that it's beneficial results are eternal.
| His chapter is Nature Cruel" might
be read with advantage from every pull
pit. Pain, according to DR.. Wallace. i,
one of the essential factors Of evolution.
1t was developed in the animal world for
| a purpose. and is always strictly sub
| ordinated to the law of utility.
| He argues with great force that it Is
preposterous to imagine that the lower
| animals suffer acutely as we do our
extreme sensibiity to pain IS necessary
! Go 80 a
veloped irreparable injury is often inhict-
ed before the danger is discovered.
The probability is" says DR.. Wallace
that there is as great gap between
man and the lower animals in sensitive
ness to pain there Is In their intellect
ual and moral faculties" TO endow A
| worm or an oyster with the acute sensi-
| tveness Of a highly developed mamma
would have been fatal to It's survival. II
| order to be fit to survive, man needs tC
be keenly sensitive to pain But in order
| for the majority Of created things to sur.
vive long enough to fulfil their destin!
and he eaten, they need not suffer pair
at all. Even the process Of being eater
need not necessarily involve pain.
| DEATH A COMFORT TO OYSTER.
1T may even have been not merely alb
solutely painless. but slightly pleas urable
as in the case of the oyster, a sensation
| of warmth, a quiet loss of the little con
seriousness they had. and nothing more
little sleep and forgetting
The sharp fangs and claws anC
stingS with which nature arms -
many of her creatures are TO nr Wal
lace as bcnefcent as the instruments
| In a surgeons outfit. Some of then
produce anaesthesia all of them ar,
devised to avoid bunglng whic,
might inlet painful wounds instead
| of merciful death Excepting amonl
the highest vertebrates there Is NJ
there is in vegetables. which als'
have life
Moreover. we have in this last bool
Of Dr. Wallace's restatemcnt in sci
entihc terms Of the cheerful optim
ism OF the Apostles. and the founder
of all the greater religions. TO Dr
| Wallace's WITHDRAWING eve, the Noc
of the creation has been a prepare
tion for the evolution Of man, and tn
earth life of man is but prepare
ton for a future life in which he vii
he able to realize all the latent pc
tentialities Of his infinitely Ysrie
character In place OF the earth hel
OF Haeckel and Huxley. Wallace re-
veals to us new heaven and ney
earth of which the earth is n
antechamher of heaven.