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James Lawson Drummond

1783-1853

1831 | James Lawson Drummond, Letters to A Young Naturalist on the Study of Nature and Natural Theology (London, 1831; Digitized by Google).

Letters to A Young Naturalist on the Study of Nature and Natural Theology

Letter II, Perfection of Nature's Works-Humanity to Animals

I shall commence my present letter by stating, that I wish to impress it early on your mind, never to consider any of the genuine works of creation as imperfect, or as bungled in their formation, or that they are any thing but what their Maker intended them to be.…The lion is not a monster, nor the tiger, nor the rhinoceros nor the vulture, nor the eagle, nor the shark; there are no monsters of the deep, and none of the land. All the wild animals on the globe are pursuing the habits and propensities which God intended they should.…Never, therefore, condemn an animal because it may seem deformed, or ugly, or uncouth.…The fact, indeed, is, that when men pronounce animals ugly, they do so, in almost every instate, from sheer ignorance and unacquaintance with nature; and they are just as eager to destroy an animal for its beauty as for the reverse. When a brutal man sets his foot upon a frog, and crushes it to death, why does he so? Because it is ugly in his eyes. And when the same shots a kingfisher why does he perform that act?—"Why," he will tell you, "because the bird is so pretty:" though in the end he can make no more use of the bird than of the frog. Now, this is no bad specimen of a monster, a man who will thus wantonly and unjustly destroy that life which none but God could have given, and which is as dear to its possessor as his is to him who commits the uncalled-for and cruel act.

Letter IX, Cruelty to Animals

Are men never to learn any feelings of humanity? Never, I believe in a country like Spain, where females delight in bull-fights, and human beings are burned by the church for not professing to understand what cannot be understood; nor in England, where horses are systematically put to death by hard work and flogging, and where the enaction of laws to punish acts of cruelty is so generally thought to be "beneath the dignity of the legislature." As for Ireland, humanity is there a still emptier sound, and not a voice is raised against that hardened indifference, with which people of all ranks, with very few exceptions look upon the sufferings of animals groaning under our tyranny and injustice.

Letter XVIII, Humanity to Animals

I will now occupy your attention for a little in making some remarks on a theme which, I fear, has seldom been submitted to your consideration, or impressed on your mind as being of any moment: I mean humanity to animals,—a subject to which I have several times alluded before, but which I shall now more particularly press upon your notice.

Cruelty of Anatomists

Your own recollection will recall but too many other examples of cruelty; but if you have not read of the experiments made by anatomists on living animals, you will still have an imperfect idea of the horrible excesses which are committed. The slightest matter of the merest curiosity is made the pretext for mangling living animals in the most dreadful way that can be imagined.…And they will, almost always, be unsatisfactory in their result to a rigid investigator of truth; for a conclusion can seldom be depended on, which is derived from observation of a mangled suffering creature bleeding under the dissecting-knife.

I can find no excuse for any man, who will dissect living dogs, rip up their bellies, (or, as the softened phrase is, lay open their abdomen,) cut out their stomach, or spleen, or kidneys, or perform other dreadful mutilations, merely to satisfy a feeling of curiosity and still less do I think that he can be excused for recommending such practice to his pupils.

Uncertainty of Vivisections

Little or no confidence is to be placed in the accuracy of conclusions respecting the natural functions of viscera drawn from observations of what occurs in animals labouring under extreme suffering and terror.…I say, it would be unphilosophical to have any such trust, and I would look on almost all opinions formed on data so unnatural, as unsatisfactory and valueless.…So differently do poisons act on different animals, that no observation drawn from their action can be applied to man. Hemlock, as every one knows, is a wholesome food for the goat, but it poisoned Socrates; while, on the other hand, a dog will be destroyed by a quality of nux vomica, which a man can swallow with impunity.

I believe myself to be amongst the last persons who would be inclined to throw any impediment in the way of improvement or knowledge; but I most conscientiously believe, that in attempting to excite your detestation of such cruelties, I am speaking the language of truth, as well as of mercy.…Putting aside the sufferings of the thousands of animals which have been sacrificed in experimenting and exhibiting these phenomena in lectures and demonstrations, I cannot but think that the witnessing of such cruelties must have a very demoralizing effect. I cannot conceive how a person can become coolly reconciled to the sight, let alone the practice, of such murderous acts, and continue to retain proper feelings of humanity for his own species.

Cruelty-Treatment of the Horse

From what I have now written, you will, perhaps, account me morbidly compassionate; and, indeed, there is so little feeling among mankind for the sufferings of animals, that I should be rather surprised if you thought otherwise. But the true evil is, that humanity is neglected to a most culpable degree. It is a virtue that is inculcated neither on youth, nor age, nor sect, nor party; and, from custom, we every day see, without emotion, acts of cruelty which, only that we have been long used to them, would excite our deepest indignation. Look, for example, at the treatment of the horse. That poor slave, so useful to man, is subjected to hardship, pain, and suffering, to a degree that would seem utterly incredible, were we not, all our lives, accustomed to the sight.

Humanity to Animals

The want of humanity to animals, which is everywhere so glaring, cannot, I think, be a natural defect of the human mind, but is the offspring of a wrong education, and an unjust and arrogant conceit that man is the only being of any consequence in this world.

I entertain some hope of yet seeing the time when one may express disapprobation of such inhuman brutalities, without being considered either foolish or ridiculous.

A sermon by my brother, entitled "Humanity to Animals, the Christian's Duty, a Discourse by William Hamilton Drummond, D.D." published 1830, may be introduced here with advantage.

1831-Oct-Dec | review of and extracts from "Humanity to Animals [1830], by James L. Drummond, M.D.," Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, Exhibiting A View of the Progressive Discoveries and Improvements in the Sciences and the Arts 12 (1831-Oct-Dec):172-183; Online at Google Books.

First Steps to Anatomy

1845 | James Lawson Drummond, First Steps to Anatomy (London, 1845) Online at Google Books.

I trust that you will not, by experimenting on living animals, attempt to gain farther light upon this subject; enough is known to satisfy rational curiosity, and such experiments, while they harder the heart, must prove utterly futile, and end in nothing but disappointment.