Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 22.djvu/260

248 In 1120 the Bishop of Laon issued a letter of excommunication against the caterpillars and the field-mice. Under Francis I an official advocate was provided for these animals, and pleadings were allowed between them and the farmers. In 1356, at Falaise, a sow having killed a child and begun to devour it, the judge condemned it to perish by the sword. As it had eaten an arm and part of the head of the child, one of its feet was cut off and its "face" was mutilated. Then it was dressed in man's clothes before being led to punishment, and the executioner received his customary fee of ten sous and a pair of gloves. In 1543 the consuls and aldermen of Grenoble published a decree demanding the excommunication of the snails and caterpillars. In 1585 the Grand Vicar of Valencia ordered the caterpillars, with which the country was infested, to evacuate his diocese. In 1587 an action was brought against the insects which were ravaging a field near Saint Jean de Maurienne, and they were condemned. Jean Milon, an officer of Troyes, pronounced the following sentence on the 9th of July, 1516: "Having heard the parties, and granting the request of the inhabitants of Villenove, we admonish the caterpillars to retire within six days; and, in case they do not comply, we pronounce them accursed and excommunicated."

M. Benoist Saint-Prix has collected eighty sentences of death and excommunications that were pronounced between 1120 and 1741 against every species of animals, from the ass to the grasshopper. He adds that, while in some countries animals have been employed as executioners, they have frequently been admitted in France as witnesses in suits. Who does not remember the history of the dog of Montargis, and the duel that Charles V ordered to be fought between the faithful animal of Aubrey of Montdidier and the assassin of his master, Richard Macaire?

The recital of these facts and a comparison of what has taken place in our time permit us to appreciate the great modifications that have been produced in the feelings of mankind. We have furthermore learned that, until our epoch, an erroneous idea prevailed regarding the offenses or crimes committed by animals. The actions of animals toward other animals had passed almost unperceived, and did not seem worthy of being noticed. It could not, therefore, enter the head of any person to investigate their moral bearing. The animal was adjudged and punished only when his offense bore upon man or society.

It appears to us that the time has come for a scientific study of certain criminal acts of animals, for the purpose of comparing them with similar acts committed by men and punishable by our laws. It is a study in comparative criminal psychology. We believe that such a work may have a higher bearing than that of a mere effort of scientific curiosity; and it seems to us, with Georges Leroy, that the moral condition of wolves may throw light upon that of men.

According to Georges Leroy, three motives influence the animal