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( 15 ) were placed at their disposal, with costly appliances and apparatus. A local cess was imposed by Provincial Governments for this special purpose, and thus indirectly every person was inade to contribute to and share in the commission of this horrible Himsa. And it is not certain whether the value of the crops saved was less or greater than the amount of expenditure incurred in these big schemes. Again it is possible that statistics carefully made may prove to demonstration, that taking into consideration the vast extent of India as a whole, a flight of locusts, which is an occasional visitation, is not such a dire distress as it is imagined to be. The locusts are ephemeral insects, they do not live long, the period during which they cause damage of crops is limited, and the extent of damage occasioned would not produce a famine of grain, or some such calamity in the country; and it may also be possible that the excrement and dead bodies of locusts dying may prove fertilising agents and the next crops may more than compensate the damage. If man is careful and industrious enough, no pests will cause any such damage as is insufferable or very significant.
Himsa in the name of Science. Himsa, again, is committed on an extensive scale in the name of science for the avowed benefit of mankind. Vivisection is extolled as a virtue because it is pursued by eminent scientists, and under the patronage of the Government of many countries. But if truth had its way, it should be declared to be a crime. The preparation of vaccination lymphs cause such amount of pain and agony to a young and healthy calf, that a person, whose heart retains its natural tenderness and has not been hardened by the continued callous practice, can hardly endure its sight.
The “Abolitionist” of London, says: “Let us leave no stone unturned during 1932 to abolish this horrible practice of torturing sentient creatures for our supposed benefit. In Austria, vivisection institutions have been permitted only in Vienna, Graz, Styrea, Innsbruck, and Tyrol. And even there, vivisection merely for the purpose of illustrating physiolo
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