Vivisection : is it necessary or justifiable? : being two prize essays published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vivisection : is it necessary or justifiable? : being two prize essays published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 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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    this end, a Prize of lifty pounds was offered last year for an Essay in English, and a preinium of one thousand francs for an Essay in French, on the folloAving propositions :— I. Is vivisection necessary or justiffable (when performed as at certain Veterinary Schools) for the purpose of giving dexterity to the operator ? II. Is it necessary or justiffable for the general purposes of Science, and if so under what limitations ? It must be obvious that in all these measures the Society tUd not act upon any foregone conclusion, except that there existed great and reprehensible cruelty in the performance of experiments upon animals, and that important limitations were needed in the practice of vivisectors. In its invitation to the Congress it announced itself “ anxious to provide an opportunity for an impartial con- sideration of the difficult C|uestion of vivisection, or the practice of cutting of live aniiuals for .scientific purposes,” and Physiolo- uists of all nations were earnestiv entreated “to discuss these matters at the Congre.ss, and vindicate the operations as necessary and ju.stiliable, or deprecate them as unnecessary for mankind and unjust to the victims.” The conditions stated in the Prize Essay advertisements were that the treatise .should be sound, conclusive, and convincing in evidence and argument; and as upwards of half of the tliirty-two MSS. forwarded in competition to the Secretary were written more or less in defence of vivisections, it was sufficiently understood that the Society jiroposed to consider both sides of the discussion. In the appointment of Judges every effort was made to secure