( 552 ) 
[September, 
ANALYSES OF BOOKS. 
Wieder die Humanasters ! Rechtfertigung eines Vivisectors .* 
By Friedrich Goltz, Professor in the University of Strass- 
burg. Strassburg : Karl J. Triibner. 
For this incisive and decisive little work we must bespeak the 
careful attention of our readers, and of all persons who are de- 
sirous of forming an honest opinion on the so-called “ Anti- 
Vivisecftion ” question. A word may be needed concerning the 
title. As the poetaster is a caricature of the true poet, and the 
philosophaster of the genuine philosopher, so the humanaster is 
a burlesque on the man of rational humanity. This word, pro- 
posed by the Rev. Henri Tollin, of Magdeburg, is no less happy 
than Prof. Owen’s term “ Bestiarian.” 
Turning from the title to the subjedt, we must introduce the 
reader to a man and a book. The book is the “ Torture-Cham- 
bers of Science, ”f the official manual of German bestiarians. 
The man is its author, a certain Ernst von Weber, a “ knight of 
high orders,” as he seldom forgets to inform the public. To get 
an idea of this man we must imagine our leading British besti- 
arians all blended together into a “ thick and slab ” compound. 
Now Prof. Goltz has admittedly performed a number of experi- 
ments upon dogs, chiefly with a view to elucidate the organisa- 
tion of the brain and its relations to the entire nervous system. 
He has described these experiments and their results in a special 
work. In the Introduction to this work he has expressly stated 
that all the subjects upon which he operated were, before the 
commencement of the experiment, brought profoundly under the 
influence of chloroform, and were hence absolutely unconscious 
of pain. 
The “ Knight of high orders,” however, in compiling his 
“ Torture-Chambers,” has quoted numerous passages from the 
work of Prof. Goltz, as proofs of the cruelty of physiologists, 
and these quotations have naturally produced a sensation of 
horror among the lay public. But our “ Knight ” has carefully 
concealed the fact that the animals had been subjected to an 
anaesthetic, leading, or at least allowing, his readers to suppose 
that they were in their normally sensitive state. Herr Von 
Weber has therefore here been guilty of the suppressio veri in a 
manner which would have been discreditable even to a pettifogger 
or a professional agitator. But he has gone still further ; in two 
passages of his “Torture-Chambers ” (edit. 5th, pp. n and 26) 
* Against the Humanasters ! Justification of a Vivise&ionist. 
t Die Folter-Kammern der Wissenschaft. 
