183*2.] Original Autograph Letters. 501 



may thereby show to you and to them how much I have respect, esteem, 

 and love for you all. I shall never forget your kindnesses they are im- 

 pressed in my heart, and you shall always find me grateful. I have re- 

 mitted your letter to Mr. Dubois, that I find a very worthy and amiable 

 man. I told him that I should be enchanted to have his assistance in the 

 studies I pursue, but unfortunately he is on the point to return to his 

 native town, Bordeaux. This will be for me a very great loss, as, after 

 the short conversation that I have had with him, it was easy to discover 

 that he is a person of great science, above all in the branch which I cul- 

 tivate, anatomy. If you come to Paris you will find me in my ancient 

 dwelling, where you made me a visit last time, but my apartment is now 

 more commodious, as I have taken two other large rooms, which I have 

 the intention to destine entirely to dissection. Be persuaded of one 

 thing, my dear friend, unless that a man makes many and daily experi- 

 ments upon living bodies, he shall never become skilful or high in this art. 

 I can procure as many dead from the hospitals as I want, and for very 

 little money ; but in order not to spend too much in living- animals, I 

 have made an arrangement with a butcher in our quarter, that will 

 procure me sheep, calves, pigs, and even oxen, if I should want them. 

 According to the damage I shall have done to the flesh, I must pay in 

 proportion, as he shall take all back. I am afraid you should not be able 

 to make so satisfactory an arrangement in your town. Paris gives me, 

 without doubt, great facilities to study, and I advise and invite you to 

 come here. Your great talents will be to me. of an immense succour 

 in the work I prepare to be published next year. You say that you do 

 not love to see poor innocent animals suffer from the scalpel ; my heart is 

 as tender as yours, and I likewise do not love to make a creature suffer, but 

 it will be impossible to understand the secret, thorny, and now inexplicable 

 wonders of the human body, unless that you try to catch nature at her work, 

 and this cannot be done if you do not a little evil to obtain a great good, 

 and thereby be benefactors to the human race ; in the muscles and vari- 

 ous properties of the blood I have made some important discoveries, but I 

 should never have succeeded, unless I had cut off the heads and limbs of 

 a great number of animals. At first, I avow, that it gave me much pain, 

 but by little and little I have accustomed myself and I console myself 

 with the idea, 'that what I do is for the good of mankind. If you live 

 many years which I pray heaven to accord you you shall see the study 

 upon living animals universally followed, and in England and in France. 

 We must study nature in all its movements : if I was a lawgiver, I would 

 propose, for the good of my country and of the world, that those criminals 

 which were condemned to death should have a choice such as this to 

 undergo some operation upon their bodies which might perhaps cause them 

 to die, but if the operation succeeded, and that the man lived, then he 

 should be, according to the case, or pardoned, or the punishment miti- 

 gated by banishment or imprisonment. Persons have assured me that 

 an Italian prince followed this principle in order to find antidotes for 

 poisons, and he succeeded so well that he discovered remedies for the 

 most deadly. But I must terminate : I embrace you with the sincerest 

 sentiments of esteem and friendship. 



MARAT." 



