“A LIVING EVIL.”

Waipawa Mail, Volume LI, Issue 24, 11 November 1929, Page 4

“A LIVING EVIL.”

CONDEMNATION OF PRACTICE OF VIVISECTION. PETITION TO PARLIAMENT. “Vivisection is either right or wrong,” said Mr M. Walker at a meeting held under the auspices of the Auckland branch of the British Union for the abolition of Vivisection. There were no side issues, said Mr Walker. Many people thought the question one for medical men, but far from that, it was a question of social importance, which every individual ought to study intelligently. “In proceeding against what we consider

a diabolical institution,” continued Mr Walker, “we are not pitting ourselves against the medical profession, but against a comparatively insignificant number who actually practice vivisection. On the contrary, the knowledge amongst doctors on the subject is small, and most doctors, in common with the laymen, take the thing for granted, and that is why it makes progress.”

Mr Walker said that health was more than the certainty of a perfect body and was the absolute necessity of a healthy mind. The latter could never be attained by a method which sullied the true beauty of health. Vivisection was fallacious for three reasons. It was unscientific, because of the vast anatomical and biological differences between man and the lower orders. Experiments could only he carried out when the subject was in an abnormal condition, through fear or through the effects of anaesthetics. Results were judged only by what was seen and not by the truer subjective theory. It was proved by the fact that vivisection never adduced the same result from one experiment. ! Mr Walker said that modern surgery had not been aided in any way through the practice of vivisection. Advances in surgery in recent years had been due to three factors: the discovery of anaesthetics, absolute cleanliness in hospitals, and the use of the right kind of ligatures. None of those things had anything to do with experiments on living animals.

The clergy, as a whole, were strangely apathetic in regard to the subject, although vivisection was a living evil. Tt was unchristian in spirit, against the expressed views of eminent scientists, and in opposition to the opinions of men famous in other walks of life. He was sure that eventually vivisection would be abolished, because it was indefensible from the point of view of morals. Tbe society intended to send a petition to Parliament.