From J. S. Burdon Sanderson 14 April [1875]1
49 Queen Anne St
April 14th 1875
Dear Mr Darwin,
I received your letter this morning.2 I should think that it wd. answer the purpose to write to Lord Derby, for all that is important is that the Government should know that a bill is being sketched & that they must not commit themselves.3
I had a note today from Sir Robert Christison4 who after expressing himself very energetically on the subject of the present agitation concludes “There should be no compromise, except to forbid vivisectional demonstrations to classes, which I always thought both useless and cruel”
I have not seen Mr Huxley.5
The notion of an Inspector appears to me absurd. It would be in the first place absurd to appoint one man to inspect half a dozen others of at least equal status with himself. There is no comparison between experimentation and anatomical dissection. Every student must dissect, but not one in a hundred need take part in any vivisection. Moreover an Inspector would be of no use in putting a stop to domestic experimentation6
Very truly yours | J B Sanderson
Footnotes
Summary
Agrees that CD should write to Lord Derby to say that a bill on animal experimentation was being prepared and that the government should not comment at this stage. [See 9933.] Ridicules the idea of using inspectors. Distinguishes between dissection and vivisection.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9930A
- From
- John Scott Burdon Sanderson, 1st baronet
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Queen Anne St, 49
- Source of text
- University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Darwin - Burdon Sanderson letters RBSC-ARC-1731-1-38)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9930A,” accessed on 2 October 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9930A.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23
