Ɛpsilon

To Ann Marston   20 July [1879]1

July 20

To the Hon. Sec. Anti-vivisection Soc.

Sir—

I must decline signing the petition to which you refer, as to do so would be in my judgment a crime against mankind.2 No one, who is not quite ignorant of science can deny that the further progress of physiology depends altogether on experiments on living animals, or can doubt that physiology will lead to a great diminution of human suffering. I will at the same time add that I yield to no man in my adhorrence of any useless suffering to animals.3

C. Darwin

ADraftS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from E. A. Darwin, 8 July 1879.
2
See letter from E. A. Darwin, 8 July 1879. CD had been asked to comment on a petition calling for the total abolition of vivisection. The petition was signed by several thousand people and presented to the House of Lords by Anthony Ashley-Cooper (Lord Shaftesbury) on 24 July 1879 (The Times, 25 July 1879, p. 6). For more on the several anti-vivisection petitions presented this time, see The Times, 16 July 1879, p. 6. For CD’s earlier involvement in formulating the 1875 bill to regulate vivisection, see Correspondence vol. 23.
3
CD and Emma Darwin had been involved in a campaign against steel vermin-traps in 1863 (see Correspondence vol. 11, Appendix IX). For more on CD’s interest in the humane treatment of animals, see Atkins 1974, pp. 78–84; see also Correspondence vol. 23, Appendix VI, p. 580.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 a crime] above del ‘to sin’
1.2 who] after del ‘unless qui’
1.2 of science] above del ‘about physiology’
1.3 further] interl
1.3 altogether] above del ‘altogether’
1.4 physiology] above del ‘this science’
1.4 will] before del ‘sooner or later’; above del ‘this science bringing suffering will sooner or later’
1.4 a great] above del ‘the’
1.4 diminution] before interl and del ‘in a later’
1.5 human] interl
1.5 at the same] below del ‘*at the [below del ‘at the’]’
1.5 time] above del ‘same time. I will’
1.5 my] interl
1.6 useless] interl above interl and del ‘useless’
1.6 to] after del ‘caused’
2.1 Darwin] above crossed ‘*The exertions [above del ‘If the members’] of your society [‘were’ del] [‘might’ del, above del ‘wd’] be better *& very justly [interl] applied to lessen the enormous suffering annually caused by [‘the gentlemen of England’ del] wounding of birds, hunting animals to death & trapping game, all above is done for man amusement, whereas P may cause a comparatively small amount of suffering in the search after truth’
In margin: ‘The importance [3 words illeg] will be tested in the’ del

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11619,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11619