An ethical problem; or, Sidelights upon scientific experimentation on man and animalsLeffingwell, Albert
Philosophy
An ethical problem; or, Sidelights upon scientific experimentation on man and animals
Leffingwell, Albert
Medicine, Experimental; Vivisection
Some day the question of vivisection will be merged in the larger
problem, the adjustment of man's relations to animals on the basis of
JUSTICE. We who are assembled here to-day, certainly are not
forgetful of other cruelties than those which pertain to animal
experimentation. In the awful torment endured for days by animals
caught in steel traps in order that their death may contribute to the
adornment of women and the luxury of men; in the killing of seals,
accompanied by the starvation of their young; in the great variety of
blood-sports; in the slaughter of animals, destined for human food, in
all these, as well as in the cruelties that have pertained to
physiological inquiries, we see exemplified man's present indifference
to the highest ethical ideals. We do not oppose one phase of cruelty;
WE OPPOSE THEM ALL. And we may be assured, that when the day dawns in
which humanity shall seek to govern conduct by the ideal of universal
justice, then in some more blessed age than ours, the evils of
vivisection not only, but all phases of cruelty and injustice will for
ever cease.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FINAL PHASE: EXPERIMENTATION ON MAN
There is one phase of scientific research which cannot be passed in
silence. It is experimentation upon human beings. That "no
experiments on animals are absolutely satisfactory unless confirmed
upon man himself," a well-known vivisector has asserted; and no one
acquainted with the trend of events, could doubt the coming of a time
when opportunity for such "confirmation" would be given, and when a
more precious and a less costly "material" than domestic animals would
be used for investigations of this kind. Writing many years ago, a
distinguished jurist declared that "to whomsoever in the cause of
Science, the agony of a dying rabbit is of no consequence, it is
likely that the old or worthless man will soon be a thing which in the
cause of learning, may well be sacrificed."
It is necessary at the outset, however, to draw a careful distinction
between those phases of experimentation upon man which seem to be
legitimate and right, and those other pases of inquiry which are
clearly immoral. It is, of course, to be expected that certain
experimenters upon human being will endeavour to confound both phases
of inquiry in the public estimation; and yet there is no difficulty in
drawing clear distinctions between them. Let us see what differences
may be perceived between the experimentation upon human beings which
is laudable and right, and the other phase of inquiry which Society
should condemn.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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