Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.Adams, George
Science
Essays on the Microscope: Containing a Practical Description of the Most Improved Microscopes, a General History of Insects, etc., etc.
Adams, George
Insects -- Early works to 1800; Microscopy -- Early works to 1800
others will turn over from one side to the other, as they roll down the
glass.
Several authors have described an apparatus for viewing the circulation
of the blood in the mesentery of a frog; but as the cruelty attendant on
these kinds of investigations would deprive the humane reader of a great
part of the gratification which might otherwise result from them, he
will probably rest satisfied with the accounts of such experiments to be
met with in authors; especially as there is an abundant variety of
objects on which he may exercise his ingenuity without sacrificing the
nicer feelings of humanity.[44]
[44] Whatever right mankind may claim over the lives of every creature
that is placed in a subordinate rank of being to themselves, in
respect of food and self-defence, as well as for the improvement of
science, and their judicious and ingenious application to the various
purposes of use and ornament in human life, we certainly cannot, on
the principles of reason and justice, assert a privilege to gratify a
wanton curiosity, or the sports of an inordinate fancy, by the
exercise of an unnecessary cruelty over them. The immortal SHAKSPEARE,
in a passage which has often been quoted, says,
------- the poor beetle that we tread upon
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
It may, however, be doubted whether this particular instance is
strictly conformable to fact; different animals certainly possess
different degrees of sensibility, and some are consequently more
susceptible of pain than others. It is a remarkable circumstance that
the Hippobosca equina, or Horse-fly, will live, run, nay even
copulate, after being deprived of its head; most flies will survive
that loss for some time, and the loss of a leg or two does not prevent
their appearing as lively and alert as if they had sustained no
injury. Many insects, on being caught, will freely and voluntarily
part with their limbs to escape; and it is well known that lobsters
shed their claws. Numbers of other instances might be adduced, but on
this subject it may be prudent not to enlarge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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