Theodore G. Obenchain

The Victorian Vivisection Debate

Frances Power Cobbe, Experimental Science and the "Claims of Brutes"

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Is it justifiable for scientists to subject live animals to open operations--forcing them to suffer for the benefit of humans? This book expounds upon a debate among such experimental scientists as Joseph Lister, Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in Victorian England--at a time in which animal cruelty (bear-baiting, e.g.) was ubiquitous. Journalist and reformer Frances Power Cobbe became so incensed that she devoted her political and legislative talents over a thirty year period to prohibiting vivisection. Struggling within severe medical limitations was London surgeon Lister, hardly able to operate for fear his patients would succumb to sepsis. After reading of Pasteur's new theory about germs, Lister helped revolutionize hospital care. These two scientists and Koch then expanded the scientific base by animal experiments. As their methods improved, they transformed medicine into a beneficent institution within British culture. No single adversarial movement could have held back the tide of modernism. The author brings the debate up to the 21st century by analyzing modern-day animal rights theories, and offers a credo for readers who remain undecided.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland and Company, Inc.
• Seitenzahl: 298
• Erscheinungstermin: 2. November 2012
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 18mm
• Gewicht: 487g
• ISBN-13: 9780786471195
• ISBN-10: 0786471190
• Artikelnr.: 35937334

Autorenporträt

Now retired, Theodore G. Obenchain practiced neurological surgery in San Diego County for thirty years. Although raised in a religious household, the author never quite accepted the more supernatural aspects of orthodox Christianity. As he progressed forward in his youthful studies, Obenchain's perspective concerning that natural tension between organized religion and biological science became only further entrenched. This loosely autobiographical work should be viewed by the reader as the author's own heterodox views concerning religion. After having grown up in a Christian world, this is his reply to the claims of conventional believers. Dr. Obenchain has authored two other books: The Victorian Vivisection Debate: Frances Power Cobbe, Experimental Science and the "Claims of Brutes," as well as Genius Belabored: Childbed Fever and the Tragic Life of Ignaz Semmelweis. He and his wife reside in San Diego, California.