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Untitled Article
" We learn from Sonnini , that the Turks as well as the Greeks pay groat respect to the weasel . It was formerly worshiped in the Thebais . The Greek women carry their attention eo far as wot to disturb it ; and they even treat it with a politeness truly whimsical . ' fVelcome , ' say they , when they perceive a weasel in their house . ; ' come in , my pretty wench ; no harm shall happen to you here ; you are quite at home ; pray make free , tyc . They affirm that , sensible of these civilities , the weasel does no mischief ; whereas every thing would be devoured , add they , if they did not behave to this animal in a courteous manner . ** The Pagan nations of Siberia also ( the Jakhuti for instance ) have their favourite animals : the goose , the swan , or the raven , which they treat as sacred , and forbid to be eaten by any of their tribe . '—Strahlenberq ' s Siberia , p . 383 . "—Pp . 36 ,
37-UTILITY OF ANIMAL DESTRUCT 1 VENESS . € t The mutual destruction of animals , is a great , a necessary , and most beneficial law of nature . The author of the ' Philosophical Survey of the Animal Creation , ' observes , that 'it is at least five thousand years since one part of the living * substance has waged continual war with the other , yet we do not find the law of nature has to this day occasioned the extinction of any one species . Nay , we may add , it is this which has preserved them in that state
of perpetual youth and vigour in which we behold them . Its effects are exactly the same as that of the pruning-hook with respect to shrubs which are too luxuriant in their growth , or of the hoe to plants that grow too close together . By the diminution of their number , the others arrive at greater perfection . —p . 106 / " The same author observes , that the superabundance of any one species is sufficient to spread a general mortality over the whole animal creation / 4
C The increase of some animals almost exceeds calculation . Pennant affirms , that 1 , 274 , 840 individuals may be produced from a single pair of rabbits in the short space of four years . "Mr . Charles Fothergill , in an excellent little volume , entitled , 'The Philosophy of Natural History / observes , that * the principle of increase is much more powerful , active , and effective , in the common grey rut , sometimes called the Norwegian rat , ( mus decumanus LinnJ than in any other animal of
equal size / He calculates , that if * no check on their increase should operate destructively for the space of four years , a number not far short of three millions might be produced from a single pair in that time . * ' ' Now , the consequences of such an active and productive principle of increase , if suffered continually to operate without a check , would soon be fatally obvious . We have heard of fertile plains being devastated , and large towns undermined in Spain by rabbits ; and even that a military force from .
Home was once requested of the great Augustus to suppress the astonishing numbers of the same animals , which overran the islands of Majorca and Minorca ; but if rr / ta were suffered to multiply without the restraint of powerful-, positive , natural checks , not only would fertile plains and rich cities be undermined and destroyed , but the whole surface of the earth ' , in a very few years , would be rendered a barren and hideous waste , covered with myriads of famished grey rats , against which man himself would contend in vain /—pp . 137 , 139 . " —Pp . 37 , 38 .
HUMANITY OF A SAINT ' * It is gratifying to meet with the following traits of zoophtly in the character of one of our great national saints : - A crane had one day taken its flight across the seas from Ireland , and by the time it drew near the shore of Iona , was so spent that it was obliged to alight in the water . The saint foresaw that . this was likely to be its fate , and had already ordered one of hia monks away , though it was at the most distant part of the island , to take up the poor bird , and save its life . Bring it , said he , to the nearest house , feed
Untitled Article
320 Humanity to AnhmiU .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1830, page 320, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2584/page/32/
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