Page:Blackwell 1898 Scientific method in biology.pdf/40

Rh but also without reference to any supposed beneficial result, as its attempted justification.

The volume of facts and evidence collected by Mr. Colam (the able Secretary of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals), and published by that society in 1876, is a permanent record of great value. It enables us to measure the growth of experimentation in England, not only from 1862 to 1876, when the present Cruelty to Animals Bill was enacted, but it also forms a point of comparison for testing the increase of vivisectional methods since 1876 to the present day, when these easy but often fallacious methods of research have become universal in medical investigation and medical instruction.

In 1869 there were very few places where experimentation on animals could be carried on, such investigations being made by men of rare ability, and for a definite object. There were no class demonstrations, and no students encouraged to experiment. But in 1892 there were 180 persons licensed in this country, and over 3,960 experiments performed, numbers which increase with each year, the amount of unlicensed