The Pros and Cons of Vivisection Part 9

APPENDIX C

THE RESEARCH DEFENCE SOCIETY

In January 1908, a Society with the above name was formed in England, the aims and objects of which are clearly stated in the following letter from Lord Cromer, its President; this letter was published in the English newspapers on 24th April 1908:--

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 ant.i.toxin entirely to experiments on animals.

The causes of plague, cholera, typhoid, Mediterranean fever, and sleeping sickness, have been discovered solely by the experimental method.

Not only have a large number of drugs been placed at our disposal, but accurate knowledge has replaced the empirical use of many of those previously known.

The evidence before the Royal Commission has shown that these experiments are conducted with proper care; the small amount of pain or discomfort inflicted is insignificant compared with the great gain to knowledge and the direct advantage to humanity.

While acknowledging in general the utility of the experimental method, efforts have been made by a section of the public to throw discredit on all experiments involving the use of animals. The Research Defence Society will therefore endeavour to make it clear that medical and other scientific men who employ these methods are not less humane than the rest of their countrymen, who daily, though perhaps unconsciously, profit by them.

The Society proposes to give information to all enquirers, to publish _precis_, articles, and leaflets, to make arrangements for lectures, to send speakers, if required, to debates, and to a.s.sist all who desire to examine the arguments on behalf of experiments on animals. It hopes to establish branches in our chief cities, and thus to be in touch with all parts of the kingdom; and to be at the service of munic.i.p.al bodies, hospitals, and other public inst.i.tutions.

The Society was formed on 27th January of the present year, and already numbers more than 800 members.[9] It is not an a.s.sociation of men of science or of medical men alone; its members.h.i.+p has been drawn from all departments of public life, and includes representatives of every cla.s.s of educated Englishmen and Englishwomen, including many who have taken an active part in the prevention of cruelty to animals. This fact is in itself a remarkable protest against the attacks which have been made on the researches that the Society has been formed to defend.

The annual subscription is five s.h.i.+llings to cover working expenses: but larger subscriptions, or donations, will be gladly received. The acting Hon. Treasurer, _pro tem._, is Mr J. Luard Pattisson, C.B. (of the Lister Inst.i.tute),[10] and an account in the Society's name has been opened with Messrs Coutts & Co., 440 Strand. The Hon. Secretary is Mr Stephen Paget, 70 Harley Street, W., to whom all communications should be addressed.

Yours faithfully,

CROMER, _President_.

The following is a list of the pamphlets already issued by the Society:--

1. Letter from the President announcing the formation of the Society, April 24.

2. Report of the inaugural meeting.

3. Experiments on animals during 1907 in Great Britain and Ireland.

4. Some facts as to the administration of the Act.

5. The value of ant.i.toxin in the treatment of diphtheria.

6. Evidence of Sir Frederick Treves.

7. Yellow fever and malaria.

8. Extinction of Malta fever.

9. Have experiments on animals advanced Therapeutics?

10. The work of the Research Defence Society.

11. Vivisection and medicine. Evidence of Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton before the Royal Commission.

All or any of these will be forwarded on application to the Hon. Secretary, Mr Stephen Paget, 70 Harley Street, London, W. Other pamphlets are in active preparation; arrangements are also being made for meetings, and for the organisation of Branch Societies in many parts of the kingdom; the Society is also concerned in the inst.i.tution of a similar movement for the defence of research in America.

s.p.a.ce does not permit the publication of the full list of members of the Society. The following list of the President and Vice-Presidents, however, will show that those who have joined are representative not only of the leading men and women in the medical profession, but also of those who are pre-eminent in various other branches of science, in literature, politics, art, and theology.

PRESIDENT

THE EARL OF CROMER, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., O.M.

VICE-PRESIDENTS

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ABERCORN, K.G.

SIR WILLIAM ABNEY, K.C.B., F.R.S.

SIR T. CLIFFORD ALLb.u.t.t, K.C.B., F.R.S. (_Regius Professor of Physic, University of Cambridge_).

SIR L. ALMA-TADEMA, O.M., R.A.

MRS GARRETT ANDERSON, M.D.

SIR WILLIAM ANSON, BT., D.C.L., M.P.

THE RT. HON. LORD AVEBURY, F.R.S.

[A]SIR JOHN BANKS, K.C.B., M.D.

THE RT. HON. LORD BARRYMORE.

THE MARQUIS OF BATH.

LADY BLISS.

LADY BUCKLEY.