One hundred years ago
Mr Charles Darwin, the great naturalist, has written a letter to Professor Holmgren, of Upsala, on the subject of vivisection, published in The Times of Monday last. In that letter, which defends vivisection wherever the interests of physiological science appear to demand it, Mr Darwin states 'that physiology cannot possibly progress except by means of experiments on living animals, and I feel the deepest conviction that he who retards the progress of physiology commits a crime against mankind.' He expresses a mere personal opinion, of which we can only say that it would be more to the purpose if he had added that torture inflicted in the cause of science cannot be either cruel or criminal, whether inflicted on human beings or their 'poor relations'.
Spectator, 23 April 1881
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