Library of Animal Rights History » Animal Welfare-Animal Rights Activists-Advocates-Quotes Against Cruelty to Animals

Elizabeth [Bessy] Kent

1828-Jul | Miss [Elizabeth] Kent, "Considerations on Botany, as a Study for Young People," Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology 1 (1828-Apr): 124-35; Digitized by Google.

Considerations on Botany

Let boys be encouraged in the pursuit of a species of knowledge so agreeable to them as the habits of animals; let them be supplied with books, and assisted in any little difficulties that occur to them, and a great majority will, of their own accord, devote to it even the leisure so precious to them; nor will it be too bold to say, that boys thus accustomed to think of the feelings and instincts of a variety of living creatures, will never shock humanity by the cruelty of thoughtless sports.

Most persons extend their affections, more or less, beyond their own species: men love horses and dogs; some have taken delight in pet bears or tigers; ladies keep rabbits, squirrels, silkworms, birds, &c. None of these playthings affords so much amusement as flowers, with equal innocence. It may seem very startling to question the innocence of such pursuits; but what would be our opinions on the subject, could we, for a moment, fancy ourselves in the place of any one of these imprisoned favourites? Is it by choice that the giddy squirrel has forsaken the trees in which he used to frolic? Does he prefer the confinement of his cage; or, is he content to exchange his liberty for the pleasure of being gazed upon, when he cracks the nuts we may occasionally choose to bestow upon him? Is the lark that soars higher than the clouds, as he welcomes the morning with his sprightly song, well pleased to be imprisoned in that gloomy cage, with just space enough allowed him to hop off and on that handful of turf? Is the nightingale, who derives his birth from a land of roses, happy in being shut up in a wooden box, one half of which admits no light, during our cold and foggy winter; happy in being debarred from that annual flight to which nature urges him, in being doomed to solitary imprisonment, at a time when he should be cheering his patient mate with his song? No, no—let us not blind our minds to the evident truth, that whatever pleasure we may derive from these little victims, is obtained at their cost; such pleasure is not innocent.

Botany has this advantage over some other branches of natural history, that it offers no temptation to cruelty. I cannot but believe that the many cruel experiments which divers naturalists have made upon various living creatures, have had a good end in view; and that those who have made them, have thought themselves authorised so to do, and believed that the end sanctioned the means. This is a great question, and one I will not attempt to discuss; I leave it to those whom it most concerns, to settle as they best can: it does not concern the general student. But there are lesser sins to which the inconsiderate might be tempted, in the zeal of enquiry; and we fear that the study of birds, insects, &c., are not a little likely to offer such temptations. In the vegetable world we have all the interest of continual change, progress, reproduction, life, and death, without the fear of inflicting pain.

1828-Dec | E. [Elizabeth] Kent, "Retrospective Criticism: To Great Humanity to Animals," Magazine of Natural History, and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology 1 (1828-Dec): 407-8.

Retrospective Criticism, To Great Humanity to Animals

Whatever may be our theories on such subjects, whatever the analogies, or arguments upon which we found them, it is dangerous to act upon opinions that we cannot prove; and surely it is better even to run into a little excess on the humane side of the question, than to run the risk of inflicting unnecessary pain. I agree with the writer that "she who can read the account of a cool and deliberate bloodshed of some hundreds of fellow-creatures, and call the perpetrator a hero," yet calls him a brute, and a monster, who, for useful purposes, "kills a few insects" is merely squeamish; and perhaps a little affected; but let us hope that women will ever preserve that "fastidiousness," if fastidiousness it be, which shrinks from inflicting pain on any living creature. If an animal must suffer death, let it be given without torture; and, above all, let us not make the sufferings of any creature, however low its rank in the creation, a source of heartless sport.