Vivisection, what good has it done? / a speech delivered by G.M. Humphry at the Forty-ninth annual meeting of the British Medical Association, August, 1881.

  • Humphry, George Murray, Sir, 1820-1896.
Date:
1882
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vivisection, what good has it done? / a speech delivered by G.M. Humphry at the Forty-ninth annual meeting of the British Medical Association, August, 1881. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    path of the men who are engaged in the routine of daily practice. But we know what has been accomplished by it already. We can estimate to some extent what it is likely to do for man and for animals in the future, if those who are, often most unselfishly, devoting themselves to the study of physiology and pathology, are allowed a reasonable liberty in employing this fertile method of inquiry. We claim, therefore, that our voice should be heard when we speak in the interests of humanity, and with a knowledge of what is necessary to promote those interests. I therefore propose the resolution, in the full confidence that it will meet with your hearty approval. The resolution was seconded by W. D. Husband, F.R.C.S., of Bournemouth, and passed with only one dissentient. The following was written by Professor Humphry in reply to some comments upon his speech which appeared in a newspaper. I will only refer to the remarks in the letter which relate to Harvey and Bell, as they ought not to pass unnoticed. It is scarcely to be believed that any one would venture to assert, respecting the former, that, 'there is no evidence from Harvey's own writings on which to found the statement that his knowledge was obtained through the practice of vivisection' without having some acquaintance with his writings. Yet even a cursory glance at his great work, On the Movement of the Heart and the Circulation of the Blood, will show that there are three con- secutive chapters containing his observations on the movements of the heart and the blood-vessels in dissected living animals. Those chapters state the various animals upon which he experimented, and the knowledge he obtained through the experiments. Indeed, as Dr. Barclay observes in his recent Harveian oration, Harvey could not have obtained the sure answer to his questions—the proof of his hypothesis—if he had shrunk from observing for him- self what was going on in the circulation of living animals. ' At length,' adds Dr. Barclay, using Harvey's own expression, 'by