336 THE LIFE OF PASTEUR 



to return, which I did the next and following days. The dog 

 was perfectly cured in a day or two, and I became a friend of 

 the family, completely securing the Commissary's future pro- 

 tection. It was on that account that I soon after set up my 

 laboratory in his District, and for many years continued my 

 private classes of experimental physiology, enjoying the pro- 

 tection and warnings of the Commissary and thus avoiding 

 much unpleasantness, until the time when I was at last made 

 an assistant to Magendie at the College de France." 



The London Society for the Protection of Animals had the 

 singular idea of sending to Napoleon III complaints, almost 

 remonstrances, on the vivisection practised within the French 

 Empire. The Emperor simply sent on those English lamenta- 

 tions to the Academy of Medicine. The matter was prolonged 

 by academical speeches. In a letter addressed to M. Grandeau, 

 undated, but evidently written in August, 1863, Claude 

 Bernard showed some irritation, a rare thing with him. 

 Declaring that he would not go to the Academy and listen to 

 the " nonsense" of " those who protect animals in hatred of 

 mankind" he gave his concluding epitome: "You ask me 

 what are the principal discoveries due to vivisection, so that 

 you can mention them as arguments for that kind of study. 

 All the knowledge possessed by experimental physiology can 

 be quoted in that connection ; there is not a single fact which 

 is not the direct and necessary consequence of vivisection. 

 From Galen, who, by cutting the laryngeal nerves, learnt their 

 use for respiration and the voice, to Harvey, who discovered 

 circulation ; Pecquet and Aselli, the lymphatic vessels ; Haller, 

 muscular irritability; Bell and Magendie, the nervous func- 

 tions, and all that has been learnt since the extension of that 

 method of vivisection , which is the only experimental method ; 

 in biology, all that is known on digestion, circulation, the 

 liver, the sympathetic system, the bones, Development all, 

 absolutely all, is the result of vivisection, alone or combined 

 with other means of study." 



In 1875, he again returned to this idea in his experimental 

 medicine classes at the College de France : " It is to experi- 

 mentation that we owe all our precise notions on the functions 

 of the viscera and a fortiori on the properties of such organs 

 as muscles, nerves, etc." 



One more interesting quotation might have been offered to 

 the members of the Congress. A Swede had questioned 



