bility to pain. He has
pleasures denied to, and he has pains not shared with him by, the rest
of the creation. He enjoys most, and he suffers most. From man, the
scale of creation descends, and in its descent, as animals are less and
less perfect, so is meted out equal but smaller proportions of pleasure
and pain, until we arrive to the Mollusca and Zoophyte, beings existing
certainly, but existing without pleasure and without pain--existing only
to fill up the endless variety, and add the links to the chain of nature
necessary to render it complete. The question which naturally will be
put is, "how do you know this? it is assertion but not proof." But
arguments are always commenced in this way. The assertion is the
_quid_, the _est demonstrandum_ always comes afterwards. I handle my
nose, flourish my handkerchief, and proceed.

Man is the most perfect of creation. What part of his body, if
separated from the rest, can he renew? No part, except the hair and the
nail. Reproduction can go no further. With the higher classes of
animals, also, there is no reproduction: but even at this slight descent
upon the scale, we may already point out a great difference. Although
there is no reproduction, still there are decided proofs of inferiority;
for instance, a hare or rabbit caught in a trap, will struggle till they
escape, with the loss of a leg; a fox, which is carnivorous, will do
more; he will _gnaw_ off his own leg to escape. Do they die in
consequence? no, they live and do well; but could a man live under such
circumstances? impossible. If you don't believe me, gnaw your own leg
off and try. And yet the conformation of the Mammalia is not very
dissimilar from our own; but man is the more perfect creature, and
therefore has not the same resources.

I have hitherto referred only to the _limbs_ of animals; I will now go
further. I had a beautiful little monkey on board my ship. By accident
it was crushed, and received such injury that the backbone was divided
at the loins, and the vertebra of the upper part protruded an inch
outside of its skin. Such an accident in a man would have produced
immediate death; but the monkey did not die; its lower limbs were of
course paralysed. The vertebra which protruded gradually rotted off,
and in six weeks the animal was crawling about the decks with its fore
feet. It was, however, such a pitiable object, that I ordered it to be
drowned. Now, if we descend lower down