The Romance of Natural History, Second Series

If it is a scene of painful interest, as surely it is to a well-constituted mind, to stand by and watch the death-struggles of one of the nobler brutes, -a dog or an elephant, for example, -to mark the failing strength, the convulsive throes, the appealing looks, the sobs and sighs, the rattling breath, the glazing eye, the stiffening limbs-how much more exciting is the interest with which we watch the passing away of a dying specie