Great Testimony against scientific crueltyColeridge, Stephen
Philosophy
Great Testimony against scientific cruelty
Coleridge, Stephen
Vivisection
It may be true that Professor Sanderson at present holds no
certificate, nor does Dr. Michael Foster, who occupies a similar
position at Cambridge, but Dr. Michael Foster has "assistants" who
hold from time to time certificates, and quite lately, "under his
guidance," a lady, Miss Emily Nunn, has been poisoning frogs till
their skin comes off. There is nothing to prevent Professor
Sanderson from employing assistants. The mind may be the mind of
Professor Sanderson, but the knife may be the knife of such a man as
Dr. Klein, who was his former assistant at the Brown Institution, and
who has publicly declared that "he has no regard at all for the
sufferings of the animals."
Your obedient servant,
STEPHEN COLERIDGE.
12 OVINGTON GARDENS, LONDON,
_March_ 13_th_, 1885.
On the publication of this letter the Dean of Christ Church of that day,
Dean Liddell, wrote to me a long rambling letter which I could not then,
and cannot now, publish because it concludes with these words:--
I have written this not for publication. I will not engage in
newspaper controversy. I write to you, out of respect for the name
you bear,--not in anger but in sorrow.
To this I replied:
To my letter in the Press you have no word to offer. In it I quote
verbatim Professor Sanderson's own description of one of the many
wanton torments that he has inflicted upon the good creatures of God.
I ask how medicine is advanced by the agonies of the dogs he has
slowly suffocated, and I get no answer (though I have sent the letter
to him and some twenty other vivisectors) but this expression from
you of sorrow that the name I bear should be ranged on the side of
this man's opponents.
Sir, I am a young man, unskilled in polemics and unpractised in the
art of advocacy, no match for one of mature age, ripe experience, and
stored learning; but if an enthusiasm for mercy, a belief that human
life itself is not fitly bought by the torturing of the helpless, an
amazement that any Christian, nay that any man should call one of
these tormentors "friend," be sentiments the holding of which by one
of my name fills you with sorrow if not with anger, it without doubt
is plain that our name is but a name to you, and that your respect
for it should have been withdrawn when it first came into prominence.
I do not believe you know what things these men have done; it is a
terrible task for any man to read their literature; if you had done
so I do indeed believe that not your sorrow only but your anger would
be deeply roused, but--not against me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account