Page:The Harveian oration, delivered before the Royal College of Physicians, Wednesday, June 27th, 1877 (IA b22314623).pdf/31

 thoroughly understand the origin and course of the disease, and the changes that occur. Although it is manifest that morbid poisons do not all act equally upon man and animals, still, it is also clear that we must be content to study the synthesis of disease, with very rare exceptions, in the brute creation only. Would that it were possible to popularise such researches as those initiated by the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, in order to convince a sentimental public that they open a prospect of hopeful harvest in the field of pre- ventive and curative medicine. Surely, it is as much in accordance with the dictates of the most refined humanity to utilise animals for the exten- sion of knowledge that shall afford relief or im- munity from disease, as to employ them for the sustentation of life as food and raiment. As some of the agitators against scientific advancement are proof against facts and evidence brought forward in the vernacular tongue,* we may hope that they will more readily accept arguments when expressed in the language of Virgil. We would recommend them to read the "Carmen Elegiacum" of Dr. Bridges, in which the poet offers an elegant pro- test against the imputation that heartlessness and

practice of subjecting animals to experiments for scientific purposes; 1876; Bluebook. + Carmen Elegiacum Roberti Bridges, de Nosocomio St. Bar- tolomai, Londinensi. Londini: 1877.
 * See especially the Report of the Royal Commission on the