Facsimile PDF - Online Library of Liberty

232 METHODS (71; SOCIAL REFORM.
purpose of research ; and I must Bay that, with regard to all
absorbing studies, that is the besetting sin of them, and of
original research, that they lift a msn so entirely above the
ordinary sphero of daily duty that they betray him into selfishness
and anscrupulous neglect of duty.” And again he says :
I mean to say that vivisection, in its application to research,
may be somewhat more demoralising than other kinds of
devotion to research; every kind of original research being a
gratification of aelf, and liable to develop selfishness, which of
course is the root of all unscrupulousness.” Did ever a
scientific man t,ako so extraordinary a view of the moral
aspects of tho work in which he was engaged f I had
previously been under the impression that, of all kinds of
occupat,ions, the labours of the scientific discoverer arc Ienst
open to the charge of selfishness. The labours of the engineer,
Iswyor, banker, merchnnt, arc not specially selfish, but they
often result in tho acquisition of so much riches that the
individual may fairly aspire to the pleasure of shooting his
own partridgos, or even renting a grouse moor. But I should
liko to know how far the salary received by a professor of
practical physiology, in respect of his skilful cutting up of
dogs and cats, mould go, after the payment of household
expense^, towards tho purchase of the pridege of slaughtering
birds in the faskiouuble way. The vivisector, like most discoverers
in puro science, must look for his reward in the
ploasure of pursuing knowledge for its own sake, or for the
sake of the lvillions of men mho will in the future be benefited
by his discoveries. Of course, I do not mean to say that the
vivisector has clearly before his mind in each experiment the
good of mankind generally. Nen are usually driven to work
for a great end by some instinctive tendency, aome pleasure in
the action itself, or aome minor motive, just as the bee gathers
a store of honey, not because he is conscious of its future
utility, but because it is agreeable to gather it. We approye
the industrious actions of the bee because they lead to a useful
end; and it is quite sufficient defence of the vivisector’s
character that his labours are likely to result in the diminution
of disease and suffering.