﻿Sir 
  Victor 
  Horsley. 
  

  

  xlv 
  

  

  In 
  this 
  year, 
  having 
  become 
  engaged 
  to 
  Miss 
  Eldred 
  Bramwell, 
  Horsley 
  

   had 
  to 
  decide 
  the 
  lines 
  of 
  his 
  future 
  career, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  interesting 
  to 
  note 
  

   that 
  in 
  a 
  letter 
  he 
  announced 
  his 
  intention 
  to 
  practise 
  as 
  a 
  surgeon 
  on 
  the 
  

   grounds 
  that 
  : 
  " 
  the 
  most 
  solid 
  work 
  in 
  Pathology 
  has 
  been 
  done 
  by 
  men 
  

   in 
  practice, 
  and 
  at 
  least- 
  one 
  will 
  have 
  an 
  idea 
  as 
  to 
  what 
  is 
  more 
  likely 
  

   to 
  be 
  practically 
  useful 
  in 
  the 
  way 
  of 
  research." 
  Only 
  men 
  like 
  Horsley 
  

   with 
  the 
  extraordinary 
  energy 
  and 
  powers 
  of 
  concentration 
  on 
  the 
  scientific 
  

   aspects 
  of 
  practice 
  could 
  combine 
  the 
  two 
  departments 
  with 
  such 
  brilliant 
  

   success. 
  

  

  From 
  1884 
  to 
  1890 
  Horsley 
  acted 
  as 
  Professor 
  Superintendent 
  of 
  the 
  

   Brown 
  Institution 
  and 
  this 
  period 
  was 
  probably 
  the 
  most 
  fruitful 
  of 
  his 
  

   scientific 
  career. 
  Although 
  this 
  institution 
  has 
  had 
  many 
  distinguished 
  

   superintendents 
  since, 
  it 
  has 
  never 
  flourished 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  degree 
  as 
  when 
  he 
  

   was 
  its 
  spiritual 
  fire. 
  During 
  these 
  six 
  years 
  he 
  attracted 
  a 
  company 
  of 
  

   researchers, 
  but 
  he 
  himself 
  studied 
  (1) 
  The 
  Localisation 
  of 
  Function 
  in 
  the 
  

   Brain 
  and 
  the 
  Pathology 
  of 
  Epilepsy 
  in 
  Canine 
  Chorea 
  ; 
  ' 
  (2) 
  The 
  Thyroid 
  

   Gland 
  with 
  especial 
  Eeference 
  to 
  Myxoedema 
  and 
  Cretinism 
  ; 
  (3) 
  The 
  

   Protective 
  Treatment 
  of 
  Kabies. 
  

  

  His 
  work 
  on 
  the 
  localisation 
  of 
  the 
  brain 
  was 
  carried 
  on 
  first 
  with 
  Sir 
  

   Edward 
  Sharpey-Schafer 
  and 
  later 
  on 
  with 
  the 
  late 
  Dr. 
  C. 
  E. 
  Beevor. 
  

  

  His 
  work 
  on 
  the 
  thyroid 
  gland 
  and 
  rabies 
  was 
  all, 
  or 
  nearly 
  all 
  of 
  it, 
  

   carried 
  out 
  by 
  himself 
  at 
  the 
  Brown 
  Institution. 
  The 
  scientific 
  acumen, 
  

   courage, 
  strength 
  of 
  will 
  and 
  determination 
  of 
  the 
  man 
  was 
  shown 
  in 
  a 
  

   remarkable 
  manner 
  in 
  his 
  successful 
  efforts 
  to 
  stamp 
  out 
  rabies 
  in 
  this 
  

   country 
  by 
  the 
  muzzling 
  of 
  all 
  dogs. 
  Fortunately, 
  Mr. 
  Walter 
  Long 
  was, 
  at 
  

   the 
  time, 
  President 
  of 
  the 
  Local 
  Government 
  Board, 
  and 
  to 
  these 
  two 
  men, 
  

   who 
  had 
  the— 
  courage 
  of 
  their 
  convictions, 
  the 
  nation 
  owes 
  a 
  deep 
  debt 
  of 
  

   gratitude 
  for 
  resisting 
  the 
  clamorous 
  attempts 
  made 
  by 
  the 
  public 
  to 
  relax 
  or 
  

   abolish 
  the 
  Acts 
  until 
  it 
  was 
  deemed 
  safe 
  so 
  to 
  do. 
  

  

  It 
  was 
  a 
  similar 
  but 
  more 
  protracted 
  and 
  bitter 
  struggle 
  that 
  took 
  place 
  

   later 
  between 
  Horsley 
  and 
  a 
  section 
  of 
  the 
  public 
  and 
  their 
  leader, 
  Miss 
  Frances 
  

   Power 
  Cobbe, 
  who 
  were 
  militating 
  to 
  obtain 
  total 
  abolition 
  of 
  vivisection. 
  

   He 
  was 
  able 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  their 
  arguments 
  were 
  based 
  upon 
  a 
  suppressio 
  veri, 
  

   whereas 
  his 
  arguments 
  in 
  favour 
  of 
  vivisection 
  were 
  all 
  the 
  more 
  effective 
  on 
  

   account 
  of 
  his 
  own 
  valuable 
  researches 
  upon 
  living 
  animals. 
  He 
  conclusively 
  

   demonstrated 
  not 
  only 
  the 
  great 
  benefit 
  humanity 
  had 
  derived 
  from 
  

   experiments 
  upon 
  animals, 
  but 
  that 
  the 
  animals 
  themselves 
  would 
  be 
  

   relieved 
  from 
  suffering 
  by 
  the 
  knowledge 
  obtained 
  from 
  legalised 
  vivisection. 
  

  

  The 
  dawn 
  of 
  the 
  function 
  of 
  eudocrine 
  glands 
  arose 
  in 
  England 
  with 
  the 
  

   clinical 
  recognition 
  of 
  the 
  association 
  of 
  thyroid 
  insufficiency 
  with 
  the 
  con- 
  

   dition 
  termed 
  myxoedema. 
  Claude 
  Bernard, 
  in 
  his 
  ' 
  Physiologie 
  Operatoire," 
  

   1879 
  edition, 
  published 
  the 
  year 
  after 
  his 
  death, 
  speaking 
  of 
  the 
  thyroid 
  and 
  

   supra-renal 
  glands 
  says 
  : 
  " 
  Yet 
  we 
  know 
  absolutely 
  nothing 
  of 
  the 
  function 
  

   of 
  these 
  organs." 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  satisfaction 
  to 
  British 
  biological 
  science 
  to 
  recognise 
  

   that 
  the 
  functions 
  of 
  these 
  two 
  glands 
  were 
  first 
  illuminated 
  by 
  the 
  brilliant 
  

  

  