the greatest number of individuals; it may be
proper to premise a few words upon this subject,
before we enter on the history of that large
portion of the animals of a former world, whose
office was to effect the destruction of life.
The law of universal mortality being the
established condition, on which it has pleased
the Creator to give being to every creature upon
earth, it is a dispensation of kindness to make
the end of life to each individual as easy as
possible. The most easy death is, proverbially,
that which is the least expected ; and though, for
moral reasons peculiar to our own species, we
deprecate the sudden termination of our mortal
life ; yet, in the case of every inferior animal,
such a termination of existence is obviously the
most desirable. The pains of sickness, and decrepitude
of age, are the usual precursors of
death, resulting from gradual decay: these, in
the human race alone, are susceptible of alleviation
from internal sources of hope and consolation
; and give exercise to some of the highest
charities, and most tender sympathies of humanity.
But, throughout the whole creation of
inferior animals, no such sympathies exist; there
is no affection or regard for the feeble and aged ;
no alleviating care to relieve the sick; and the
extension of life through lingering stages of
decay and of old age, would to each individual
be a scene of protracted misery. Under such a
BENEFICIAL TO THE HERBIVOROUS. 1 3 1
system, the natural world would present a mass
of daily suffering, bearing a large proportion to
the total amount of animal enjoyment. By the
existing dispensations of sudden destruction and
rapid succession, the feeble and disabled are
speedily relieved from suffering, and the world
is at all times crowded with myriads of sentient
and happy beings; and though to many individuals
their allotted share of life be often short,
it is usually a period of uninterrupted gratification
; whilst the momentary pain of sudden and
unexpected death is an evil infinitely small, in
comparison with the enjoyments of which it is
the termination.
The inhabitants of the earth have ever been
divided into two great classes, the one herbivorous,
the other carnivorous; and though the existence
of the latter may, at first sight, seem
calculated to increase the amount of animal
pain; yet, when considered in its full extent,
it will be found materially to diminish it.
To the mind which looks not to general results
in the economy of Nature, the earth may seem
to present a scene of perpetual warfare, and incessant
carnage: but the more enlarged view,
while it regards individuals in their conjoint
relations to the general benefit of their own
species, and that of other species with which
they are associated in the great family of Nature,
resolves each apparent case of individual