438 VIVISECTION [CHAP. XII 



Letter 769 especially by that on night-sweating, and almost more by 

 others on digestion. I have seldom been made to realise 

 more vividly the wondrous complexity of our whole system. 

 How any one of us keeps alive for a day is a marvel ! 



Letter 770 T. Lauder Brunton to C. Darwin. 



50, Welbeck Street, London, Nov. 2ist, 1881. 



I thank you most sincerely for your kind letter and your 

 offer of assistance to Dr. Ferrier. There is at present no 

 subscription list, as the British Medical Association have 

 taken up the case, and ought to pay the expenses. Should 

 these make such a call upon the funds of the Association as 

 to interfere with its other objects, the whole or part of the 

 expenses will be paid by those who have subscribed to a 

 guarantee fund. To this fund there are already a number 

 of subscribers, whose names are taken by Profesor Gerald Yeo, 

 one of the secretaries of the Physiological Society. They 

 have not subscribed a definite sum, but have simply fixed a 

 maximum which they will subscribe, if necessary, on the under- 

 standing that only so much as is required shall be asked from 

 each subscriber in proportion to his subscription. It is proposed 

 to send by-and-by a list of the most prominent members of 

 this guarantee fund to the Times and other papers, and not only 

 every scientific man, but every member of the medical profes- 

 sion, will rejoice to see your name in the list. Dr. Ferrier has 

 been quite worn out by the worry of this prosecution or, as 

 it might well be called, persecution, and has gone down to 

 Shanklin for a couple of days. He returns this afternoon, and 

 I have sent on your letter to await his arrival, knowing as I 

 do that it will be to him like cold water to a thirsty soul. 



Letter 771 To T. Lauder Brunton. 



Down, Nov. 22nd, 1881. 



Many thanks for your very kind and interesting letter. . . . 



I write now to beg a favour. I do not in the least know 



what others have guaranteed in relation to Dr. Ferrier. 1 



1 In a letter dated Nov. 27th, 1881, Sir Lauder Brunton wrote in reply 

 to Mr. Darwin's inquiry as to the amount of the subscriptions : " When 

 I ascertain what they intend to give under the new conditions viz., that 

 the subscriptions are not to be applied to Ferrier's defence, but to the 

 defence of others who may be attacked and to a diffusion of knowledge 

 regarding the nature and purposes of vivisection, I will let you know. . . ." 



