378 MISCELLANEA. [1875. 



the man to go faster, "Why," said the driver, "If I 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 



