An essay on the beneficent distribution of the sense of pain / by G.A. Rowell.

  • Rowell, G. A. (George Augustus), 1804-1892.
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the beneficent distribution of the sense of pain / by G.A. Rowell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/56 (page 14)
    in the Fellows5 Garden at Worcester College, and although it was chained to nearly one spot for some years, it was but slightly offensive; whereas had a dog or cat been kept under like circumstances for so long a time, the stench would have been intolerable. The difference in the degree of offensiveness of the ex¬ crements of the seal and otter, affords an apt illustration in support of my views. Both creatures live alike on fish, but they differ considerably in other respects; the otter frequenting some cave or hole, bringing forth its young in a blind and very helpless condition, and its excrements are highly offensive ; but the seal merely frequents the sea¬ shore, and its young, when born, is able to go at once with its dam into the water, where they chiefly reside: there is therefore, in this case, no necessity for an offensive odour to compel cleanliness, and from all I can learn the excre¬ ment of the seal has none. Much more might be advanced on this part of the sub¬ ject, but I believe enough has been stated to shew, that offensive effluvia are not a mere matter of chance, but given only where necessary, and for beneficent purposes; and if in matters like these, such as man would almost consider beneath his notice, we see the well-being of animals has been so fully provided for, it is fair to assume, that the like provision for their comfort and happiness has been made with respect to the sense of pain, and that this sense also is only given where necessary and useful. The provision for the cleanliness of some animals when in a young and helpless condition is singular; and al¬ though a consideration of them may not be necessary with respect to the subject in question, a statement of a few of them may afford grounds for reflection. It has been shewn, that the excrements of animals, which have the power of locomotion from their birth, are not offensive, and the same seems to be the case with respect to some others up to a certain stage; as with dogs, foxes, cats, and the like, the excrements are eaten bv the mother, so long as the young are in a helpless state; but nothing would prevent their becoming offensive as soon as the ani-