86 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. IV. No. 82. 



cases, been rendered futile by the sound 

 common sense of tlie communitj^ In Eng- 

 land alone, of all civilized countries, has a 

 certain amount of success crowned the ef- 

 forts of fanatical agitators and, by the en- 

 actment of a restrictive law, a serious blow 

 has been inflicted upon English physiology. 



In the presence of such an agitation it is, 

 of course, to the members of the medical 

 profession that the community, distressed 

 by the constant repetition of tales of im- 

 aginary atrocities, will naturally turn for 

 the assurance that teachers of the medical 

 sciences are not brutes and criminals, and 

 that medical students are not young ruffians 

 who delight in blood and suffering. It is, 

 therefore, important that physicians should 

 be at all times ready to explain to the laity 

 how, as Dr. J. Gr. Curtis has happily ex- 

 pressed it, ' in the slowly woven fabric of 

 achievement pure science and applied sci- 

 ence, biology and medicine, have always 

 been warp and woof.' 



It requires no professional training to 

 comprehend that a knowledge of the bodily 

 functions in their normal state is essential 

 for the understanding and treatment of 

 those derangements of function which con- 

 stitute disease, and that physiology, which 

 deals with these normal functions, must, 

 therefore, form the basis upon which med- 

 ical science and medical practice alike must 

 rest. Now nearly all the phenomena of 

 life which form the subject matter of physi- 

 ology are either physical or chemical in 

 their character. In fact physiology must 

 be regarded as the physics and chemistry 

 of living bodies. Therefore, just as the 

 physicist and the chemist build upon the 

 basis of experiment the solid superstructure 

 of their sciences, so the physiologist can 

 hope to advance firmly and successfully to 

 the discovery of the laws of life only on the 

 condition that the same experimental 

 method supplies the stepping stones for his 

 progress. 



Self-evident as this proposition seems to 

 the student of nature's laws, certain per- 

 sons are ready to deny the legitimacy of 

 the experimental method of research when 

 applied to living bodies, while they admit 

 it to be absolutely indispensable in the case 

 of non-living matter. The cause of this at- 

 titude of mind is not difficult to discover. 

 In fact, it has its origin in the noblest feel- 

 ings of human nature, in the sentiment that 

 bids us be merciful as we would obtain 

 mercy. Those who hold these views, pro- 

 foundly impressed by what they conceive 

 to be the painful nature of experiments per- 

 formed on living animals, and by the alleged 

 indifference to animal suffering shown by 

 the experimenters, have not hesitated to 

 bring charges of cruelty against those who 

 are engaged in seeking to penetrate the 

 mystery which still surrounds the actions 

 and reactions of living organisms, and thus 

 to lay, broad and deep, the foundations on 

 which the medical science of the future is 

 to be built up. 



I have used the words '■ misguided ben- 

 evolence ' in speaking of this agitation, and 

 there is no doubt that many, though un- 

 fortunately not all, of the persons engaged 

 in this crusade are benevolent in their dis- 

 position and conscientious in their attitude, 

 but it should be remembered that, as Mr. 

 Roosevelt recently remarked, " Conscience 

 without common sense may lead to folly 

 which is but the handmaiden of crime." 



In judging of the moral and mental atti- 

 tude of those who are engaged in this mis- 

 chievous agitation it is important to dis- 

 tinguish carefully between the leaders and 

 the followers. The former are fortunately 

 very few in number, but by their activity 

 and apparent ubiquity they easily create an 

 impression of being in much larger force- 

 Dominated by the single idea that vivisec- 

 tion is an ' abominable thing and hateful in 

 the sight of God,' they presume to teach 

 lessons of humanity to the members of a 



