The Victorian Vivisection Debate

The Victorian Vivisection Debate
Author :
Publisher : McFarland
Total Pages : 0
Release :
ISBN-13 : 0786471190
ISBN-10 : 9780786471195
Rating : 4/5 (95 Downloads)

Book Synopsis The Victorian Vivisection Debate by : Theodore G. Obenchain

Download or read book The Victorian Vivisection Debate written by Theodore G. Obenchain and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2012-11-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.


The Victorian Vivisection Debate Related Books