3/8 MISCELLANEA. [1875. 



the man to go faster, "Why," said the driver, "If 1 had 

 whipped the horse this much, driving Mr. Darwin, he would 

 have got out of the carriage and abused me well." 



With respect to the special point under consideration, 

 the sufferings of animals subjected to experiment, nothing 

 could show a stronger feeling than the following extract from 

 a letter to Professor Ray Lankester (March 22, 1871) : 



" You ask about my opinion on vivisection. I quite agree 

 that it is justifiable for real investigations on physiology ; but 

 not for mere damnable and detestable curiosity. It is a 

 subject which makes me sick with horror, so I will not say 

 another word about it, else I shall not sleep to-night." 



An extract from Sir Thomas Farrer's notes shows how 

 strongly he expressed himself in a similar manner in con- 

 versation : 



" The last time I had any conversation with him was at my 

 house in Bryanston Square, just before one of his last seizures. 

 He was then deeply interested in the vivisection question ; 

 and what he said made a deep impression on me. He was a 

 man eminently fond of animals and tender to them ; he would 

 not knowingly have inflicted pain on a living creature ; but 

 he entertained the strongest opinion that to prohibit experi- 

 ments on living animals, would be to put a stop to the know- 

 ledge of and the remedies for pain and disease." 



The Anti-Vivisection agitation, to which the following 

 letters refer, seems to have become specially active in 1874, 

 as may be seen, e.g. by the index to ' Nature ' for that year, 

 in which the word " Vivisection," suddenly comes into promi- 

 nence. But before that date the subject had received the 

 earnest attention of biologists. Thus at the Liverpool Meet- 

 ing of the British Association in 1870, a Committee was ap- 

 pointed, which reported, defining the circumstances and 

 conditions under which, in the opinion of the signatories, ex- 

 periments on living animals were justifiable. In the spring of 

 1875, Lord Hartismere introduced a Bill into the Upper 

 House to regulate the course of physiological research. Short- 

 ly afterwards a Bill more just towards science in its provisions 



