VIVISECTION AND SPORT.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—In the Pall Mall Gazette of Thursday, June 17, there appeared a letter under the above title, from a gentleman signing himself " G.," pointing out the absurd inconsistencies of vivisectionists in leaving undisturbed an abominably cruel pastime like fishing, while raising such a hubbub over the comparatively painless ex- periments of physiologists. Sir Henry Thompson wrote much in the same strain some few weeks ago to the Times, and I think both these gentlemen are entitled to the thanks of the public for having exposed, by the criticism of their sound, healthy, English sense, the namby-pamby sentimentalism indulged in just now by so many weak-minded, if well-meaning, women, and by men still weaker than women.
" G." gives an account in his letter of a clay's fishing on the previous Saturday. He tells us how the worms used as bait were impaled, and he describes with careful detail their writhings on the hook, and their long drawn-out agony before death came to their relief; then follows a description of the similar torture in- flicted on the fishes used as bait, and on those that the bait lured to their terrible end. " G." then confesses the shame he felt when he reflected on that day's doings ; he acknowledges that the pain was inflicted in pure wantonness, for some half-dozen muddy, uneatable fish were all that were captured throughout the day. He says, that though given to occasional vivisectional experiment, he was the cause of more intense and more prolonged torture in that one day's fishing than had been occasioned by all his physio- logical investigations put together ; and the conclusion he draws from all this is, that fishing should be put an end to before the comparatively painless experiments of physiologists are interfered with.
The letter of Sir Henry Thompson, to which I have referred, was written in the same strain and to the same purport. It is refresh- ing to listen to such arguments, coming from such men, and to see, by the prominent type given to their letters, that the editors of the Times and of the Pall Mall Gazette are alive to the force of their reasoning.
Several circumstances, besides the favour which these letters have met with, tend to show that public opinion is recovering its former healthy tone, and it is the conviction that this is so that emboldens me to address the present letter to you.
I am a vivisectionist. " G." and Sir Henry may possibly dis- pute my claim to the title, but I repeat it, I am a vivisectionist. They are in the scientific line, I am in the commercial ; that is all the difference between us.
The simple fact is, I get an honest living by skinning cats; and because skins taken from the live cat are worth sixpence a piece more than those taken from the animal when dead, I skin my cats alive, whenever I have the chance. That extra sixpence a skin makes all the difference between a full meal and " clowning" for my children, and I am sure both " G." and Sir henry will say, that it is far better that " a whole wilderness of cats " should suffer a good deal rather than that an honest man's children should " clem." They are humane gentlemen and physiologists ; they can tell you what " clemming " implies.
But notwithstanding all this, it is not many months since I was brought before one of the London magistrates, merely because I had removed the skin from a living cat. You may possibly re- member the circumstance, for a report of the proceedings in Court was given at the time by almost all the morning papers. The charge was what is Called "proved." I made no more at- tempt to deny it than "G." or Sir Henry would have made to the charge of having experimented on a living monkey or dog ; and, Sir, I was committed to prison, with hard labour, for six months, the magistrate going so far as to say he regretted that the law did not allow him to add floggng to imprisonment.
Now set my offence against " G.'s," and say which of us most deserves imprisonment and the whip. Though far from being squeamish myself, I don't wonder that "G." feels ashamed of his Saturday afternoon's sport, if all he tells us about it is true. I can positively say that, by his own showing, he caused more suffering in that one afternoon than I have caused by all the cats put together that I have skinned alive in all my life, and that is saying a good deal, for some thousands of them have passed through my hands in my time.
The baits "G." used were hours in their torture, while an awkward fellow even can strip a cat as clean as your band in from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour from the first touch of the knife. In my own case, when the skin is once fairly off, as often as not I put the poor things out of their pain at once. Why shouldn't I? 1 never wish to cause "unnecessary suffering;" only, like my brother vivisectionists, I claim to be the best judge of what is necessary, and like them, I don't wish to be interfered with by whining sentimentalists.
"G." asks what will become of science in this country, if physiologists here are debarred from sources of knowledge available to students abroad? A very sensible question, as far as it goes. But let me remind him that the greatness of this country has always depended on its trade and commerce, and to my certain knowledge the English trade in cat-skins will be ruined outright, if foreigners have a monopoly in skinning their cats alive.
"G." and Sir Henry are right. Put down fishing first ; when you have done that, it will be time enough to turn to us vivisec- tionists, whether scientific or commercial. At the present moment, however, a great clamour is being raised, and if " G." and Sir Henry don't mind, they'll fare before long no better than it fell to my lot to fare some months ago. If they wish to escape this, let them try to combine scientific and commercial interests. Nothing short of this union will avail long. It is in this conviction that I now hold out the right-hand of fellowship to my brother vivisectionists, and bid them God speed. In their struggle with humanitarians and sentimentalists they may reckon on us cat- skinners to a man.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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