[14]
Now there is, I think, good reason to believe that all this is greatly
exaggerated; that the supposed "torments" and "miseries" of animals have
little real existence, but are the reflection of the imagined sensations
of cultivated men and women in similar circumstances; and that the
amount of actual suffering caused by the struggle for existence among
animals is altogether insignificant. Let us, therefore, endeavour to
ascertain what are the real facts on which these tremendous accusations
are founded.
In the first place, we must remember that animals are entirely spared
the pain we suffer in the anticipation of death--a pain far greater, in
most cases, than the reality. This leads, probably, to an almost
perpetual enjoyment of their lives; since their constant watchfulness
against danger, and even their actual flight from an enemy, will be the
enjoyable exercise of the powers and faculties they possess, unmixed
with any serious dread. There is, in the next place, much evidence to
show that violent deaths, if not too prolonged, are painless and easy;
even in the case of man, whose nervous system is in all probability much
more susceptible to pain than that of most animals.
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