The Victorian Vivisection Debate: Frances Power Cobbe, Experimental Science and the "Claims of Brutes"

Is it justifiable for scientists to subject live animals to open operations--forcing them to suffer for the benefit of humans? This book expounds upon a debate among such experimental scientists as Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in Victorian England--at a time in which animal cruelty (bear-baiting, e.g.) was ubiquitous. Journalist and reformer Frances Power Cobbe became so incensed that she devoted her political and legislative talents over a thirty year period to prohibiting vivisection. Struggling within severe medical limitations was London surgeon Lister, hardly able to operate for fear his patients would succumb to sepsis. After reading of Pasteur's new theory about germs, Lister helped revolutionize hospital care. These two scientists and Koch then expanded the scientific base by animal experiments. As their methods improved, they transformed medicine into a beneficent institution within British culture. No single adversarial movement could have held back the tide of modernism. The author brings the debate up to the 21st century by analyzing modern-day animal rights theories, and offers a credo for readers who remain undecided.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments      Introduction      PART I: ORIGINS OF ANTIVIVISECTION      1. Frances Power Cobbe, the Great Sunbeam      2. The Rights of Man and the Claims of Brutes      PART II: GRATUITOUS VERSUS JUSTIFIED EXPLOITATION      3. The Early Vivisectors      PART III: FERMENTATION AND SUPPURATION      4. Joseph Lister and Hospitalism: Is It Something in the Air?      5. Louis Pasteur: Specific Microbes Cause Specific Conditions      6. Lister: “It really charms me”      PART IV: HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL COMMISSION      7. France Power Cobbe’s Petition      8. “This legislation is wholly uncalled for”      PART V: GERM THEORY EXPANDED      9. Robert Koch: Templates of Hospitalism      10. Louis Pasteur: The Infinitely Small Are Infinitely Great      11. Showdown at Melun      PART VI: THE INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CONGRESS OF 1881      12. Portents of a Notable Decade      13. Professor Ferrier and His Monkeys      14. The Captain of All the Men of Death      PART VII: RETREAT TO WALES      15. Quitting London      PART VIII: SALVATION BY FILTH      16. La Rage      17. “Whither is Pasteurism to lead us?”      18. Tuberculin: “Experiment Not Discovery”      PART IX: TRIUMPH AND DESCENT      19. Nearly Universal      20. Lister’s Retrospective      21. Descent      PART X: UPDATE      22. Science Must Go On and On      Epilogue      Chapter Notes      Bibliography      Index     

About the Author :
Theodore G. Obenchain is a retired neurological surgeon. He lives in Rancho Santa Fe, California.

Review :
“recommended”—Choice.