DARWIN. 161 



English physiologists were false. From all that I have 

 heard, however, I fear that in some parts of Europe little 

 regard is paid to the sufferings of animals, and if this be 

 the case I should be glad to hear of legislation against 

 inhumanity in any such country. On the other hand, I 

 know that physiology cannot possibly progress except by 

 means of experiments on living animals, and I feel the 

 deepest conviction that he who retards the progress of 

 physiology commits a crime against mankind. Any one 

 who remembers, as I can, the state of this science half 

 a century ago, must admit that it has made immense 

 progress, and it is now progressing at an ever-increasing 

 rate. 



"What improvements in medical practice may be 

 directly attributed to physiological research is a question 

 which can be properly discussed only by those physi- 

 ologists and medical practitioners who have studied the 

 history of their subjects ; but, as far as I can learn, the 

 benefits are already great. However this may be, no 

 one, unless he is grossly ignorant of what science has 

 done for mankind, can entertain any doubt of the in- 

 calculable benefits which will hereafter be derived from 

 physiology, not only by man, but by the lower animals. 

 Look, for instance, at Pasteur's results of modifying the 

 germs of the most malignant diseases, from which, as it 

 so happens, animals will, in the first place, receive more 

 relief than man. Let it be remembered how many lives, 

 and what a fearful amount of suffering have been saved 

 by the knowledge gained of parasitic worms through the 

 experiments of Virchow and others on living animals. 

 In the future every one will be astonished at the in- 

 ii 



