Research Defence Society.

  • Cromer, Evelyn Baring, Earl of, 1841-1917.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Research Defence Society. 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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    The following letter wa^r published in the newspapers onj April 24th, 1908°^ IReseareh defence Society. R Sir, A Society has been formed, with the name of the Research Defence Society, to make known the facts as to experiments on animals in this country ; the immense importance to the welfare of mankind of such experiments ; and the great saving of human life and health directly attributable to them. The great advance that has been made during the last quarter of a century in our knowledge of the functions of the body, and of the causes of disease, would have been impossible without a combination of experiment and observation. The use of antiseptics, and the modern treatment of wounds, is the direct outcome of the experiments of Pasteur and Lister. Pasteur’s discovery of the microbial cause of puerperal fever has in itself enormously reduced the deaths of women in child-birth. The nature of tuberculosis is now known, and its incidence has materially diminished. We owe the invention of diphtheria anti-toxin entirely to experiments on animals.