"
This absence of pain is not peculiar to those seized by wild beasts, but
is equally produced by any accident which causes a general shock to the
system. Mr. Whymper describes an accident to himself during one of his
preliminary explorations of the Matterhorn, when he fell several hundred
feet, bounding from rock to rock, till fortunately embedded in a
snow-drift near the edge of a tremendous precipice. He declares that
while falling and feeling blow after blow, he neither lost consciousness
nor suffered pain, merely thinking, calmly, that a few more blows would
finish him. We have therefore a right to conclude, that when death
follows soon after any great shock it is as easy and painless a death as
possible; and this is certainly what happens when an animal is seized by
a beast of prey. For the enemy is one which hunts for food, not for
pleasure or excitement; and it is doubtful whether any carnivorous
animal in a state of nature begins to seek after prey till driven to do
so by hunger. When an animal is caught, therefore, it is very soon
devoured, and thus the first shock is followed by an almost painless
death.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96