Against vivisection : a lecture / by Annie Besant.

  • Besant, Annie, 1847-1933.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Against vivisection : a lecture / by Annie Besant. 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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    ing the action of drugs within them, and then from tliis watching of the action of drugs, passing on to inflicting all kinds of tortures, not for the sake of discovering even remedial measures against dis- ease, but merely to increase theoretical knowledge, and to enlarge the intellectual treasure of the hu- man mind. After the vivisection which was fol- lowed in order that this action of drugs might be noticed, came the vivisection which simply tested the powers of endurance of the creature, which tried to take what were called the moral qualities of the animal, and see whether those could be subjected and destroyed by physical agony ; so that when we read the records of what has been done by men of science, both in Italy and in France, we begin to wonder if human beings are concerned, or devils incarnate in human shape, taking joy and delight in torture. The practice is divided into three great classes. The first that I allude to, where less pain has been caused, is the action of drugs on the lower animals with a view to using them on men for the curyig of diseases. These experiments, while cruel to some extent and futile, as many of us believe, are by no means simply all we mean under the title of vivisection. The second class of experiments in vivisection, as now carried on in Europe, are those