To T. H. Huxley 21 May 1875
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
May 21. 1875
My dear Huxley
I have had nothing to do with the Bill since leaving London at the time you saw me there.1 Sanderson has been in communication with Playfair & got him to undertake the measure.2 I received a copy of the Bill from Playfair, & saw that a new Clause had been introduced about the registering of experiments causing pain.3
I read in the newspaper that there had been a meeting between Playfair Lds Shaftsbury Cardwell & others in which the Bill was considered & I concluded that the above clause had been introduced as a compromise.4 I wrote to Playfair that I doubted about the wisdom of this clause, tho’ good for humanity, as it would by impossible for a Physiologist to explain to unscientific persons why certain experiments were required. I felt so convinced that the Bill was essentially the same as that drawn up by Litchfield that I was very glad it was introduced & did not observe until now the flagrant contradiction in Clause 2 viz that a person may for the sake of discovery make experiments causing pain, provided the animal has first been made insensible! Nevertheless it seems to me that Clause I shows that penalties are attached only to experiments “causing pain”;5 & therefore that any one may demonstrate any point whatever under anæsthetics. I cannot doubt that this was the intention of the framers. I should think you could not do better than call Playfairs attention to the subject. From what I hear there will not be time this Session for any bill to pass6
My dear Huxley | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Hansard parliamentary debates: http://hansard.millbanksystems.com
Summary
CD believes Playfair’s bill would not restrict demonstrations under anaesthetic.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9986
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Henry Huxley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Archives (Huxley 5: 316)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp & ADraft 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9986,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9986.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23