Essays in medical sociology, Volume 2 (of 2)Blackwell, Elizabeth
Science
Essays in medical sociology, Volume 2 (of 2)
Blackwell, Elizabeth
Prostitution; Sexual ethics; Social medicine
As two opposite methods of dealing with rabies had been ably supported
by Professors Roux and Fleming, I called attention to the fact that
nothing had been said in the discussion of the sufferings necessarily
inflicted upon animals where the Pasteur method advocated by Professor
Roux was adopted, and I stated that in a Pasteur Institute dogs were
kept in a state of madness. I therefore recommended that Municipal and
County Regulations, with their excellent results, as shown by Professor
Fleming of London, and Professor Ostertag of Berlin, should be adopted
rather than Pasteurian methods.
In illustration of the sufferings of dogs when made mad, I referred
to my visit to the Rue Dutôt on June 2, 1889, where, after inspecting
the Hall of rabbits, guinea-pigs, and pigeons used in experiments for
rabies, anthrax, etc., I went to the cages of three dogs also used for
experiments in rabies, who were in various stages of madness, one dying
after its ten days’ agony; a second in the full fury of madness; a
third in frantic terror clinging to the bars of his cage, imploring to
be let out.
Professor Roux’s statement in opposition to my recommendation of the
humaner methods of dealing with rabies seemed to infer that dogs were
not rendered mad in a Pasteur Institute or in dealing with rabies. But
when I stated to the Professor that I had myself seen this series of
three dogs being made mad, he replied: ‘Oh, you might have seen a great
many more, but they are not to inoculate people.’
Now, it is well known from experience that it is too dangerous to
inoculate direct from the dog to the human being. But the fact that
dogs are constantly made mad for experiment in the Pasteur Institute,
or in any institute that adopts Pasteurian methods, should be honestly
acknowledged, not evaded. The fact that this frightful disease of
rabies is kept up for purposes of experiment, although the virus be
transmitted in changed form through other animals for the inoculation
of human beings, is in itself a grave fact, and it bears directly on
the point which I dwelt on at the Congress--viz., that in choosing the
method of protecting humanity from a rare but frightful disease, the
method that does not involve sufferings to animals should be adopted by
a Christian nation.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD IN BIOLOGY
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 89
CHAPTER I
THE GROWTH OF CONSCIENCE 91
CHAPTER II
CONSCIENCE IN MEDICINE 95
CHAPTER III
THE MORAL ELEMENT IN RESEARCH 98
CHAPTER IV
RIGHT AND WRONG METHOD 101
CHAPTER V
THE NECESSITY OF MEDICAL RESEARCH 104
CHAPTER VI
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