Animal Rights History »» Dr. James Macaulay

Plea for Mercy to Animals

PLEA

FOR

MERCY TO ANIMALS

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THE SHEPHERD'S CHIEF MOURNER.
From Painting by] [Sir E. Landeaseer.

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PLEA

FOR

MERCY TO ANIMALS

BY

JAMES MACAULAY, A.M., M.D., EDIN.,
EDITOR OF THE "LEISURE HOUR."


"Not one of them is forgotten before God."


London:
S. W. PARTRIDGE & CO., 9, PATERNOSTER ROW.

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to

THE BARONESS BURDETT–COUTTS,

PRESIDENT OF THE LADIES' COMMITTEE

OF THE

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

THIS LITTLE BOOK IS INSCRIBED,

WITH THE HOPE THAT IT MAY ASSIST HER LADYSHIP AND HER WORTHY FELLOW–LABOURERS IN THEIR BENEVOLENT EFFORTS FOR THE PROMOTION OF HUMANITY TO ANIMALS

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SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS.

I
CLAIMS OF THE LOWER ANIMALS TO HUMANE TREATMENT FROM MAN.

The term cruelty to animals includes all kinds of needless suffering caused by man — Wanton cruelty less frequent than heedless cruelty — Injury done by want of thought as well as want of heart — Heathen nations and the depraved heart unmerciful — Jeremy Bentham on the rights of animal creation to humane treatment — The duty of humanity grounded on revealed religion as well as natural law — Dr. Chalmers on the duty of humanity to animals in relation to Christianity — Dr. George Wilson on the place of this duty iii Christian ethics — Precepts of mercy to animals in the Mosaic code of laws — Other Scripture precepts and lessons on the subject — The dominion of man over the lower animals delegated trust, not an absolute right — Lord Erskine's appeal — Motives to humanity from reason and revelation — God's providential care of all His creatures — Instinct and reason — Instinct not always an involuntary impulse — Modifications of instinct — Anecdotes of instinct — Instinct in man — Intelligence in animals — Fidelity, sagacity, and other qualities in animals — Have animals a future existence? . . 7

II.
VARIOUS FORMS OF NEEDLESS SUFFERING INFLICTED BY MAN.

Sufferings of animals used for the food and other necessary uses of man — Railway transit of cattle — Sea transit — Modes of slaughtering cattle, sheep, poultry, and other animals — Cruelties to animals used to assist the labour of man — Right of animals labouring for man to the day of rest—Cruelties to animals for the amusement of man — Brutal sports — Field spurts . . 31

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III
MEANS OF PREVENTION, LEGAL AND EDUCATIONAL.

History of British legislation on cruelty to animals — Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals — Jubilee Meeting, 1874 — Operations and influence of the Society — Statutes for protection of animals from cruelty — Legislation should include cruelty to wild as well as domesticated animals — Influence of literature and art — Cowper's poetry — Hogarth's "Four Stages of Cruelty" — Education of the young — Study of natural history — Prize essays — Baroness I Burdett–Coutts and the Ladies' Committee — Class-books and school training — "The Animal World," and other useful publications . . 49

IV.
VIVISECTION, AND EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING ANIMALS.

Meaning of vivisection — Opinion of Celsus, the Roman physician — of Dr. Johnson — the French experimenters, M M. Brachet and Bouillard — Introduction to England of vivisection as practised in French schools — Cruelties in London schools of physiology — Testimony of teachers of physiology to the needlessness of such experiments — Demonstrations of ascertained facts needless and cruel — Use of chloroform and other anæsthetics — Examination of alleged results of vivisection — Fallacies of this mode of research — Testimony of Sir Charles Bell, Dr. Barclay, Dr. Hoggan, Dr. Fletcher, Dr. George Wilson, Dr. Carpenter, MM. Legallois and Colin, Baron Cuvier, Dr. C. Bell Taylor, and others — Prosecution of Norwich vivisectors — Experimental researches on living animals — Classes of experimental physiology in schools of medicine — Proposed methods of checking vivisection — "Physiological laboratories" — Appeal to the medical profession and to public opinion . . . 66