Vivisection : a speech delivered by Professor Humphry at the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting, Ryde, August 1881.

  • Humphry, George Murray, Sir, 1820-1896.
Date:
[1881]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vivisection : a speech delivered by Professor Humphry at the Forty-Ninth Annual Meeting, Ryde, August 1881. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    fore, are In the habit of torturing and actually killing the human body simply for the purpose of doing good to others. Well, gentlemen, to my mind, if there be demoralisation connected with this matter, it is the demoralisation connected with false statements and imperfect knowledge. I do not know that there is anything in the course of my life which has shaken my feelings with regard to the uprightness, the integrity, and, above all, the fairness of Englishmen, so much as the manner in which this subject of vivisection has been paraded before the public, fortified with exaggeration, with carelessness, with false statement. Certainly no demoralisation asso- ciated with vivisection is at all to be compared with the demoralisation and damage which is done to the minds and thoughts of the community by the statements which are made against it. I am glad to hear that a resolution similar to the one I propose was passed at the International General Con- gress, and I believe it was passed unanimously. It is an ab- solute necessity that vivisection shall be practised, just as it is necessary that dissection of the human body shall be done. If it be not done in a legitimate way, it will be done in some other way. Is it not, then, far better that what must be done should be done in a recognised manner, by Englishmen, sup- posing them to be less prone to inflict unnecessary suffering than foreigners ? Here let me say that I do not make any im- putations against foreigners, but remark that the instances of such inflictions are usually adduced from abroad ; perhaps, because they therefore are not easy to disprove ? Is it not better that it should be done in England under such reason- able regulations as may be found desirable ? and English physiologists are as anxious as any other persons that all un- necessary suffering should be prevented. Is it well that Englishmen should be compelled to go abroad, as is even now in some instances the case, for the purpose of prosecuting that method of research which they know to be essential to the advancement of their science ? Vivisection must not be viewed from the side of sentiment only. It must be regarded as a matter upon which the welfare of mankind is eminently dependent—so much so, that we must not allow our feelings for the lower animals to sway our judgment, and must no longer allow the exaggerated statements which are made respecting it to pass unchallenged. Disease is increasing with civilisation ; and, unless we meet disease—the disease which civilisation causes—by the powers which civilisation gives us, our people will degenerate ; and bear in mind, and