The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-27 00:00:00

A Scientific Plea for Vivisection !

The most useful of all human actions are open to abuse,
and we do not deny that vivisection has been abused ; at
the same time we ignore altogether the statement that in
this country it is greatly abused. Discarding the butcheries
of the farriers of Alfort—discarding these in the name of
science, and protesting against them as warmly as any of
our humane countrymen, we would guard the public ear-
nestly from believing the insinuated, if not the outspoken,
falsehood, that in any English school, medical or veterinary,
any such barbarities are ever dreamed of, much less perpe-
trated. An intimate acquaintance with the schools in this
country enables us to speak positively on this point. We
can state that in an experience of 15 years we have never
seen a vivisection performed by a student, not fifty
performed before a class of students, and not fifteen in
which some method for producing antethesia was not
used. Moreover, in every experiment a professed teacher
of physiological science was the experimentalist, and the
experiment, when it was exhibited, was considered to
be essential as demonstrating certain facts which no were
theoretical or abstract teaching could make evident to the
mind of the learner. Apart from the lecture-theatre,
the practice of vivisection is very limited in this country.
The men who resort to it are few; they are men of the
highest integrity and humanity; they make no secret of
their labours, and they undertake no experimental research
without having in view some useful, and, in the end, bene-
ficent intention,—some object which, if achieved, shall
render good service, not to man alone, but to the inferior
animals themselves. If confirmation were required of the
zeal, the earnestness, of these men, we have it in the fact
that they do not hesitate to subject even themselves to risk,

if the object to be attained is worthy of the danger. When
chloroform was under experiment, after a few poor rabbits
had been put to sleep by it and had come again to life, who,
amongst the human race, first ventured on the same danger ?
A sick man, waiting for an operation? No I Dr. Simpson,
the experimentalist. was the volunteer to taste the distilled
liquid, and, in calm doubt as to the result, to let his eyes'
windows fall, and to borrow the likeness of shrunk death.
Following Dr. Simpson, tho late Dr. Snow, in his search
for another substance that should supplant chloroform,sub-
jecte4 himself to at least 40 different gases and vapours ;
and if we were inclined, we could illustrate the same facts
over and over again from other physiologists ; but
our purpose is answered in showing that the scholars of
this country who perform experiments on animals are
anxious for the good of their race, and that they cannot be
men who would do either a wanton, a thoughtless, or a
cruel deed.
The attempts7at the present moment to bring to a final
close experiments on living animals, and with gross inhu-
manity to hoot down and punish to the quick those earnest
scholars who reluctantly resort to such inquiries, is the
shallowest and most contemptible of pretences. It is desti-
tute alike of heart and of sense. So long as there are terrible
maladies afflicting the human family which ordinary obser.
vation will not reach; so long as there are profound secrets
to be discovered, leading to a perfect understanding of the
whole of the animal organisation, aye, and of life itself, we
may rest assured that such a positive field of research as is
opened by experiment, even at the sacrifice of animal life,
will never be left uncultivated until the truth lights up the
whole. When all is known, experiment will cease, and not
till then. The extreme man of so .called humanity, may, by
his jibes, his sneers, and his sharply cutting sophistries
suppress the external manifestation of an experimental pur-
suit, but he will not save thereby a single animal a year.
If he is serious he will take advice in time, and holding
himself ready to expose any such evidences of experimental
research as may be unmeaning and cruel, he will allow the
truly philosophic inquirer to go on his way, feeling that he
may ask nature any reasonable question, and publish the
answer he has received without offence and without fear,—
S ocial Science Review.

HOPS.—The first bale of Bavarian hops arrived
iR our market to-day, and was sold by Messrs. R. and T.
Collis to Mr. Robert Walker, hop merchant, of Stratford-
on-Avon; quality very choice. The price, as in the case
of the first now English pockets, will of course form no
guide to the ultimate run of prices.
THE MURDER IN DERBYSHIRE.--A Manchester
correspondent says that young Townley, who is
charged with assassinating Miss Goodwin, of Wigwell-hall,
Derbyshire, is well known in that city. His father is a
shipping, or commission agent, a man of culture, who stands
hign in all the relations of life, an accomplished musician,
and was for may years connected with the Liverpool Gentle.
men's Glee Club as hon. secretary. His maternal grand-
father is an eminent cotton-spinner at Manchester—a
spinner of cotton sewing-thread. It would give unneces-
sary pain to mention names, but this one will be familiar
enough to most ladies whose workboxes contain a choice
assortment of material for needlework. Whilst the young
lady's paternal grandfather is a captain in the army, the
young man's paternal grandfather was a post captain in
the naval service, and was many years connected with the
mail packet service between Liverpool and Dublin. Though
no longer living, the name of Capt. Townley will no doubt
he familiar to the memory of many persons who have been
accustomed to cross the Irish Channel. Young Townley
has been brought up in the mill of his maternal grand-
father as a cotton-spinner. Those acquainted with him say
there W 39 nothing impulsive or passionate in his character,
but, on the contrary, he was of rather a calm and gentle
bearing. He is well educated. He had been kindly and
gently nurtured, and, with the other members of the family,
had always been encouraged by the father to an inter-
change of confidence in all matters of difficulty or trouble.
How it is that he has so strangely neglected such encou-
ragement in an affair so deeply affecting his welfare as that
which has led to such sad results is a matter to be regretted
rather than accounted for. There is no pretence for ex-
cusing his conduct on the ground of any previous tendency
to insanity. There is no doubt that he was fondly attached
to the young lady whose life he has so barbarously sacri-
ficed, and it is said that for a fortnight previously to their
fatal meeting he had scarcely enjoyed a wink of sleep,
though the CO.US9 of hie restlessness was not made known to
hit family,

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HER MAJESTY.

The Queen in Germany.

COBURG, Aug. 28.
The Queen and Royal family attended Divine
service yesterday at the Kalenberg Palace. Dr.
Meier, the rev, general superintendent, preached
the sermon.

The whole of the guests of the Duke and Duchess
of Saxe-Coburg, with the exception of the Queen
and the younger members of the Royal family,
dined with the duke and duchess yesterday at the
Coburg Palace.

The Duke of Saxe-Coburg arrived yesterday from
Frankfort, for the purpose of welcoming his royal
guests, and left again by the evening train. The
Hereditary Grand Duke Joseph of Austria came
with the duke on a vibit to Prince Augustus of
Saxe-Coburg.
The Crown Prince of Prussia arrived at Coburg
at noon yesterday.

The Visit of the Prince and Princess of
Wales to Mar Lodge.

From the time that it was known that their
Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales were to honour Mar Lodge with a
visit, the Earl and Countess of Fife have been
untiring in their exertions to provide for their re-
ception. Braemar is, of course, merely a shooting-
lodge, but every endeavour has been made, in fitting
up the suite of rooms appropriated to the prince and
princess, to render them as simple and elegant as
time and space will permit. On Thursday their
royal highnesses will drive direct to Old Mar Lodge,
which they will reach a few minutes after three,
after which the games will immediately commence.
The Earl of Fife is erecting a triumphal arch under
which their royal highnesses will pass, immedi-
ately before arriving at the raised dais which is
being constructed in front of the Old Lodge. The
triumphal arch is to be covered with heather, the
centre on one side to have the Prince of Wales'
feathers, and on the other the crown, with the flags
of England and Denmark on either side. The royal
standard is to be hoisted from the top of Old \lar
Lodge as soon as the carriage containing the royal
visitors comes in sight. There will be a grand
torchlight ball on Friday evening, which must be a
novelty to their royal highnesses, the only one of
the kind ever given in Scotland being one given by
the earl and countess at Mar Lodge in 1851, on the
occasion of the visit of the Queen and Prince Con-
sort. The following have received invitations to
have the honour of meeting the prince and princess
—the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe, Mr. and
Lady Susan Grant Suttie, Sir Thomas, Lady Louisa,
and the Misses Moncrieffe, Lady Annaly, Hon. Miss
White, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hon. Charles
White (Scots Fusilier Guards), Mr. and Mrs.
Erskine Wemyss, the Earl of Brecknock, Viscount
Powerscourt, Viscount Barrington, the Master of
Lovat, Hon. Maurice and Lewis Wingfield, Lieu-
tenant-Colonel F. Fraser (Castle Fraser), Mr. W.
Kennedy Erskine, Mr. Duff, of Fetteresso, M.P.;
Mr. Charles Forbes, of Nowe ; and Mr. Charles
Wood. There will also be a number of invitations
to the luncheon on the 27th, and to the ball on the
28th,--Banffshire Journal. •

The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland will
entertain a succession of guests at Alnwick Castle during
the ensuing month. The health of his grace has improved
since his return to the north,
The Duke of Atholl is, we are informed, in a
very dangerous condition, and but faint hopes are held out
that he can recover. Most of his intimate friends have
visited him at Dunkeld, Perthshire.

The Earl and Countess of Yarborough arrived in
town yesterday from their seat in Lincolnshire.

The Earl Beauchamp, according to recent ac-
counts, remains in an unsatisfactory condition. An eminent
Physician, who attended on his lordship from London, holds
out expectations of a favourable turn. The noble earl had
been in impaired health some time before he sought addi-
tional medical aid.

The Marquis of Ormonde has arrived at Kil-
kenny Castle from London. His lordship's brother and
family are staying at the Castle.

A marriage will shortly take place between the
Earl of Wilton and Miss Elton Smith, only child and
heiress of the late Major Elton Smith, Madras army.

The marriage of Lord Londesborough and Lady
Edith Somerset, youngest daughter of the late Duke of
Bectufort, is appointed to take place on the 14111 proximo.

Lady Jane Knox and family have arrived at the
Ptrtland Hotel, Southsea.
Major-General Bloomfield, Inspector-General of
the Royal Artillery, returned to town last evening from a
tour of inspection in Scotland and the northern district.

Mr. G. F. WATTS has undertaken to paint a
fresco on the north wall of one of the new south-courts at
the South Kensington Museum, in the gallery whence we
look down into the space occupied by the Loan Collection•
A CRICKET MATCH OF OLD BOYS.--A few days
since a match was played at Ayleaford between 11
inhabitants under 60 and 11 over that age. The latter,
among whom were one octogenarian and six who had seen
more than 70 years, obtained 41 and 22—total 63; while
their more juvenile opponents gained 30 and 44—total 74.
The match created a good deal of interest and amusement.
COMMUNICATION WITH AMERICA.—There are at
present two distinct telegraph lines being laid dow a
to the extreme south-western coast of Ireland—one to
Crookhaven by Mr. Reuter, and the other to Cape Clear
by the Magnetic Company. As this part of Ireland is the
nearest to America, intelligence from the other side of the
Atlantic will be received in Europe earlier than would other"
wise have been the case. Both lines are completed to
within eight miles of Skibbereen.

MAKING A PRODIGY.—Herz, a prince in his art,
came out in the musical world at a very early age.
He has related through what a series of exercises, or rather
of torments, he passed, in order to acquire the hot-house
talent of which his father was so proud. When he was only
three years and a half old, Henri Herz's father (who had
settled in his plans that his child should be a pro"
digy) got made for him a little piano of the height
of a chair, and with a compass of about four
octaves. Henri sat himself upon a stool: his father
did the same; and the two amused themselves several hours
daily, trying which should move his fingers the quickest over
the narrow keys of the toy instrument. As the child grew
bigger, they gave him a larger piano, always in proportion
to his stature. At six years he was promoted to the honour
of p!aying on a piano of natural dimensions, and his father
made him a present of a pair of boots with yellow tops.
" You see," he said, "I consider you henceforward as a man.
and treat you as such. Endeavour to deserve my kindness•
by wearing out your boots as little and your piano as much
as you can." At eight years old Henry Heree father gave
him a new proof of his consideration, by purchasing him a
silver watch, which was hung up over the instrument.
to the boy, who was condemned, besides the studies of the
The object of the watch was to indicate the hours of labour
day to practice exercises and sales from eight in the even'
ing until eleven, At eleven a maid servant entered, with a
singular apparatus invented by Herz's father. It consisted
of a pulley fastened to the ceiling, through which pulley
ran a long rope, one end of which was tied to a stick about
half a yard long. To each end of the stick were fastened
two bits of string, at the ends of which dangled
couple of rings. The little prodigy passed the medium and
the annular fingers of both his hands through the rings,
and the servant set the apparatus in motion by mating
the rope run through the pulley. This mode of train-
ing, according to M. Herz, senior, insured the hide"
third geaffitnerarns.
hWouhrenotfhethseilsveerswtraatncghemgayrmkendamstitlsc,igthilta'
pendent action of those rebellious members, the second
and
dt
labours of the day concluded, and everybody went to bed.
Half dead with exhaustion, the poor child fell asleep almost
.
before he could get into bed. But at six in the morning,
his father,
who slept in the a cbLining chamber, knocked at
the wall, shouting,
‘c Come, Henri ; it is six o'clock, my WY.
Quick, to the piano 1" The wretched lad had to get up, a°
stumbling with sleepiness, dipped his face in cold water, to
awaken himself completely, and then returned to row hl5,
galley--that is, to resume his piano practice. If Her'
Herz could support this existence, and if his musical etht•
cation were advanced by it, it was only because he was gifted
with unusual physical and moral strength. Any other
Child would have died under the task, or becom2 an idiot'
—All the Year Round.

A BLACK LITIGANT.—The natives often figure
in court as criminals or defendants, but our GUichell
Bay correspondent records the first instance, we remember
of an aboriginal South Australian becoming plaintiff in 6"
civil suit. It seems that one cf these poor fellows had beet'
employed by a European, who neglected to pay him for bia
work. The dingy labourer, instead of venting his indigo!:la
tion in vain complaints, or appealing to the pity of his
debtor, went straight to the local court and took out a sum"
mons, upon which the civilised being, feeling that the savage
t
had unquestionably the right end of the stick, thought
—'
best to settle the matter by paying the money into Nutt'
q0((4 4gserdign