1880—1882 337 



Darwin on vivisection, for the anti-vivisectionist propaganda 

 was spreading on every side. Darwin, who, like Pasteur, did 

 not admit that useless suffering should be inflicted on animals 

 (Pasteur carried this so far that he would never, he said, have 

 had the courage to shoot a bird for sport) — Darwin, in a letter 

 dated April 14th, 1881, approved any measures that could be 

 taken to prevent cruelty, but he added: *'0n the other hand, 

 I know that physiology can make no progress if experiments 

 on living animals are suppressed, and I have an intimate con- 

 viction that to retard the progress of physiology is to commit 

 a crime against humanity. . . . Unless one is absolutely igno- 

 rant of all that Science has done for humanity, one must be 

 convinced that physiology is destined to render incalculable 

 benefits in the future to man and even to animals. See 

 the results obtained by M. Pasteur's work on the germs 

 of contagious diseases: will not animals be the first to 

 profit thereby? How many lives have been saved, how much 

 suffering spared by the discovery of parasitic worms following 

 on experiments made by Yirchow and others on living 

 animals ! ' ' 



The London Congress marked a step on the road of progress. 

 Besides the questions which were discussed and which were 

 capable of precise solution, the scientific spirit showed itself 

 susceptible of permeating other general subjects. Instead of 

 remaining the impassive Sovereign we are wont to fancy her, 

 Science — and this was proved by Pasteur's discoveries and 

 their consequences, as Paget, TyndaU, Lister, and Priestley 

 loudly proclaimed — Science showed herself capable of associat- 

 ing with pure research and perpetual care for Truth a deep 

 feeling of compassion for all suffering and an ever-growing 

 thirst for self -sacrifice. 



Pasteur's speech at the London Medical Congress was 

 printed at the request of an English M.P. and distributed to 

 all the members of the House of Commons. Dr. H. Gueneau 

 de Mussy, who had spent part of his life in England, having 

 followed the Orleans family into exile, wrote to Pasteur on 

 August 15, ^*I have been very happy in witnessing your 

 triumph; you are raising us up again in the eyes of foreign 

 nations." 



Applause was to Pasteur but a stimulus to further efforts. 

 He was proud of his discoveries, but not vain of the effect they 

 produced; he said in a private letter: "The Temps again 



