I875-] 



VIVISECTION. 



199 



p. 157, of English edition), and these cases illustrate, I think, 

 the sterility of Amblystoma. Would it not be worthwhile to 

 examine the reproductive organs of those individuals of whig- 

 less Hemiptera which occasionally have wings, as in the case 

 of the bed-bug? I think I have heard that the females of 

 Mutilla sometimes have wings. These cases must be due to 

 reversion. I dare say many anomalous cases will be hereafter 

 explained on the same principle. 



I hinted at this explanation in the extraordinary case of 

 the black-shouldered peacock, the so-called Pavo nigripennis 

 given in my ' Var. under Domest. ; ' and I might have been 

 bolder, as the variety is in many respects intermediate between 

 the two known species. 



With much respect, 



Yours sincerely, 



Ch. Darwin. 



THE VIVISECTION QUESTION. 



[It was in November 1875 that my father gave his evidence 

 before the Royal Commission on Vivisection.* I have, there- 

 fore, placed together here the matter relating to this subject, 

 irrespective of date. Something has already been said of my 

 father's strong feeling with regard to suffering f both in man 

 and beast. It was indeed one of the strongest feelings in his 

 nature, and was exemplified in matters small and great, in 

 his sympathy with the educational miseries of dancing dogs, 

 or in his horror at the sufferings of slaves. 



* See Vol. I. p. 141. 



f He once made an attempt to 

 free a patient in a mad-house, who 

 (as he wrongly supposed) was sane. 

 He had some correspondence with 

 the gardener at the asylum, and on 

 one occasion he found a letter from 

 a patient enclosed with one from 

 the gardener. The letter was ra- 



tional in tone and declared that 

 the writer was sane and wrongfully 

 confined. 



My father wrote to the Lunacy 

 Commissioners (without explaining 

 the source of his information) and 

 in due time heard that the man had 

 been visited by the Commissioners, 

 and that he was certainly insane. 



[Some 



