Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/539

 UTILITARIAN ECONOMICS 5 2 5

their entire lives, are incessantly threatened with the same fate. It is, therefore, no wonder that animals are "wild." They seem to resort to every conceivable device to escape these dangers, and nature through innumerable instincts seems to aid them in their efforts. Some are fleet of foot or swift of wing ; others have delicate senses of hearing, sight, or smell ; others have wonderful powers of concealment ; and still others are endowed with numberless arts of imitation, feigning, and deception. All this is independent of the countless organic devices for protec- tion shells, armors, spines, bristles, musk sacs, ink bags, and all the forms of imitative coloring.

Nearly all animals are always on the alert. Some, as hares, sleep with their eyes open. Thousands are nocturnal in order to evade diurnal enemies, and are thus denied all the enjoyments of a life in the open daylight and sunshine. All are constantly ready to fly at the least sign of danger, and even those that prey upon others must themselves watch lest stronger or more cun- ning ones deprive them of their spoils. Even if there were no other animal to fear, there would remain the fear of men, " ces monstres nos eternels ennemis." 1 This fact, that one half of the animal world lives by devouring the other half, has perhaps been too frequently dwelt upon, but it still stands in all its sullen hideousness before the defenders of a moral order. In this sub- world of animal life the primary motive is fear.

But if the human race cannot realize its condition, the animal races cannot be expected to do so. Their sole thought is to escape from danger. It is not to be supposed that they have any idea of preserving life. What they seek to avoid is simply pain, not death. Dr. Patten is therefore perfectly right when he says that animal existence (in the wild state) represents a "pain economy." When we realize that it is pain only that animals fear and fly from, we can understand what is meant by the instinct of self-preservation. As pain leads to death, to escape it is to escape death and to preserve life. For thus was it ordered in the primary adaptation which brought feeling and

1 VOLTAIRE, " Le Chapon et la Poularde," Dialogues, etc., p. too.