Women and antivivisection in late nineteenth-century America

Journal of Social History

Volumn 30, Issue 4, 1997, Pages 857-872

  Buettinger, Craig ^a  

^a JACKSONVILLE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 0031161518     PISSN: 00224529     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/jsh/30.4.857     Document Type: Review

References (101)

1. Mary F. Lovell, "The Worst Thing in the World," Journal of Zoophily (hereafter JZ), 4 (April 1895): 47.
2. Caroline E. White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" JZ, 4 (May 1895): 56-57.
3. William W. Keen, quoted in JZ, 7 (February 1898): 20.
4. Antivivisection was often referred to as "AV" in the 1800s, as now.
5. Edwin B. Bronner, Thomas Earle as a Reformer (Philadelphia, 1948).
6. Philadelphia Record, 8 September 1916, 8.
7. Mary F. Lovell and Mrs. John H. Easby, "Caroline Earle White," Notable Women of Pennsylvania, ed. Gertrude B. Biddle and Sarah D. Lowrie (Philadelphia, 1942), 186-87.
8. Naomi M. Stubbs, "Mary Frances Lovell," Notable Women of Pennsylvania, 220-21.
9. The British regulations of 1876 provided for the licensing of individual experimenters, the registration and inspection of labs, and special certification for experiments in which anesthesia was not to be used.
10. Key studies of the antivivisection movement in Victorian Britain and America are Richard D. French, Antivivisection and Medical Science in Victorian Society (Princeton, 1975); James Turner, Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity in the Victorian Mind (Baltimore, 1980), ch. 5-6; Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: Englishmen and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 157-66; and Vivisection in Historical Perspective, ed. Nicolaas A. Rupke (London, 1987). Leffingwell's essays were collected in The Vivisection Question (New Haven, 1901).
11. Key studies of the antivivisection movement in Victorian Britain and America are Richard D. French, Antivivisection and Medical Science in Victorian Society (Princeton, 1975); James Turner, Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity in the Victorian Mind (Baltimore, 1980), ch. 5-6; Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: Englishmen and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 157-66; and Vivisection in Historical Perspective, ed. Nicolaas A. Rupke (London, 1987). Leffingwell's essays were collected in The Vivisection Question (New Haven, 1901).
12. Key studies of the antivivisection movement in Victorian Britain and America are Richard D. French, Antivivisection and Medical Science in Victorian Society (Princeton, 1975); James Turner, Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity in the Victorian Mind (Baltimore, 1980), ch. 5-6; Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: Englishmen and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 157-66; and Vivisection in Historical Perspective, ed. Nicolaas A. Rupke (London, 1987). Leffingwell's essays were collected in The Vivisection Question (New Haven, 1901).
13. Key studies of the antivivisection movement in Victorian Britain and America are Richard D. French, Antivivisection and Medical Science in Victorian Society (Princeton, 1975); James Turner, Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity in the Victorian Mind (Baltimore, 1980), ch. 5-6; Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: Englishmen and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 157-66; and Vivisection in Historical Perspective, ed. Nicolaas A. Rupke (London, 1987). Leffingwell's essays were collected in The Vivisection Question (New Haven, 1901).
14. Key studies of the antivivisection movement in Victorian Britain and America are Richard D. French, Antivivisection and Medical Science in Victorian Society (Princeton, 1975); James Turner, Reckoning with the Beast: Animals, Pain, and Humanity in the Victorian Mind (Baltimore, 1980), ch. 5-6; Harriet Ritvo, The Animal Estate: Englishmen and Other Creatures in the Victorian Age (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 157-66; and Vivisection in Historical Perspective, ed. Nicolaas A. Rupke (London, 1987). Leffingwell's essays were collected in The Vivisection Question (New Haven, 1901).
15. The early presidents of the AAVS were Thomas G. Morton, M.D. (1883-1885), William R. D. Blackwood, M.D. (1886-1889), and Matthew Woods, M.D. (1890-1904).
16. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 2-4, American Anti-Vivisection Society, Jenkintown, PA.
17. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 41, 76-7.
18. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 41, 106, 118, 127.
19. The AAVS had changed its name in 1885 to the American Society for the Restriction of Vivisection, to better express its objectives. With the decision in 1887 to make abolition the goal, the members changed the name back to the American Anti-Vivisection Society.
20. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 108-114. Leffingwell declined the honorary vice-presidency in 1896: AAVS Minute Book, 1889-1900, 137.
21. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 108-114. Leffingwell declined the honorary vice-presidency in 1896: AAVS Minute Book, 1889-1900, 137.
22. The composition of the Executive Committee by year was: Male Female Male Female 1883 10 10 1890 5 15 1884 10 9 1891 5 14 1885 10 9 1892 5 14 1886 10 9 1893 4 16 1887 7 12 1894 3 16 1888 7 12 1895 3 17 1889 6 13 AAVS Annual Reports, American Anti-Vivisection Society.
23. From 1883-1895 White served as acting president at twenty-two scheduled or special officers' meetings. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 81, 83, 85, 91, 92, 95, 103, 105, 113, 120, 122, 127; AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 9, 11, 18, 21, 47, 52, 73, 96, 110.
24. From 1883-1895 White served as acting president at twenty-two scheduled or special officers' meetings. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 81, 83, 85, 91, 92, 95, 103, 105, 113, 120, 122, 127; AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 9, 11, 18, 21, 47, 52, 73, 96, 110.
25. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 113, 124, 126.
26. The editors omitted the umlaut from title at first, then switched to Journal of Zoöphily in 1893. For simplicity's sake, I refer to and cite the journal without the diacritical mark.
27. Keen to Walter B. Cannon, 4 December 1908, Walter Bradford Cannon Papers, American Philosophical Society.
28. Lovell and Easby, "White," 187.
29. Adele Biddle Diaries, Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
30. Keen to Jerome D. Greene, 23 November 1912, Rockefeller University Archives, RG 600-1, box 5, folder 12, Rockefeller Archive Center.
31. Maryland Women, ed. Margie H. Luckett (Baltimore, 1931), 1:407-09; Baltimore Sun, 13 January 1953, 19, 32. For Welch's stratagem, see Stewart Paton to Keen, 7 January 1900, William W. Keen Papers MSS 2/0076-05, College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
32. Maryland Women, ed. Margie H. Luckett (Baltimore, 1931), 1:407-09; Baltimore Sun, 13 January 1953, 19, 32. For Welch's stratagem, see Stewart Paton to Keen, 7 January 1900, William W. Keen Papers MSS 2/0076-05, College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
33. Mrs. Fairchild-Allen to [Sarah Ellen] Blackwell, 30 November 1894, Blackwell Family Papers, box 15, folder 215, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe College.
34. For the founding of the IAVS and its relation with the AAVS see AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 61-62, 65-66, 67, 81, 93, 141; and JZ, 1 (June 1892): 100; 2 (September 1893): 120. In 1898, Fairchild-Allen moved the IAVS from Aurora to Chicago: Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 112. Unlike the AAVS, the IAVS has not survived to the present day.
35. For the founding of the IAVS and its relation with the AAVS see AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 61-62, 65-66, 67, 81, 93, 141; and JZ, 1 (June 1892): 100; 2 (September 1893): 120. In 1898, Fairchild-Allen moved the IAVS from Aurora to Chicago: Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 112. Unlike the AAVS, the IAVS has not survived to the present day.
36. For the founding of the IAVS and its relation with the AAVS see AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 61-62, 65-66, 67, 81, 93, 141; and JZ, 1 (June 1892): 100; 2 (September 1893): 120. In 1898, Fairchild-Allen moved the IAVS from Aurora to Chicago: Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 112. Unlike the AAVS, the IAVS has not survived to the present day.
37. JZ, 1 (January 1892): 3; 4 (November 1895): 129; 6 (April 1897): 39-40. Anti-Vivisection, 3 (October 1896): 14; 3 (November 1896): 5; 4 (August 1897): 122. Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (January 1898): 32.
38. JZ, 1 (January 1892): 3; 4 (November 1895): 129; 6 (April 1897): 39-40. Anti-Vivisection, 3 (October 1896): 14; 3 (November 1896): 5; 4 (August 1897): 122. Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (January 1898): 32.
39. JZ, 1 (January 1892): 3; 4 (November 1895): 129; 6 (April 1897): 39-40. Anti-Vivisection, 3 (October 1896): 14; 3 (November 1896): 5; 4 (August 1897): 122. Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (January 1898): 32.
40. Jack S. Blocker, "Separate Paths: Suffragists and the Women's Temperance Crusade," Signs, 10 (Spring 1985): 460-76, examines suffragists' doubts about other women's causes. Ruth Bordin, Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900 (Philadelphia, 1981), 118-123, surveys WCTU reluctance, for many years, to identify with women's rights. Janet Sollinger Giele, Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism (New York, 1995), especially 68-73, explains the fundamental differences in the temperance and suffrage ideologies.
41. Jack S. Blocker, "Separate Paths: Suffragists and the Women's Temperance Crusade," Signs, 10 (Spring 1985): 460-76, examines suffragists' doubts about other women's causes. Ruth Bordin, Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900 (Philadelphia, 1981), 118-123, surveys WCTU reluctance, for many years, to identify with women's rights. Janet Sollinger Giele, Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism (New York, 1995), especially 68-73, explains the fundamental differences in the temperance and suffrage ideologies.
42. Jack S. Blocker, "Separate Paths: Suffragists and the Women's Temperance Crusade," Signs, 10 (Spring 1985): 460-76, examines suffragists' doubts about other women's causes. Ruth Bordin, Women and Temperance: The Quest for Power and Liberty, 1873-1900 (Philadelphia, 1981), 118-123, surveys WCTU reluctance, for many years, to identify with women's rights. Janet Sollinger Giele, Two Paths to Women's Equality: Temperance, Suffrage, and the Origins of Modern Feminism (New York, 1995), especially 68-73, explains the fundamental differences in the temperance and suffrage ideologies.
43. AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 101-110.
44. For the history of the NCW see Mary Lowe Dickinson, "The National Council of Women of the United States," The Arena, 17 (February 1899): 478-93; Anna Garlin Spencer, The Council Idea (New Brunswick, NJ, 1930); and Karen Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914 (New York, 1980), 93-95.
45. For the history of the NCW see Mary Lowe Dickinson, "The National Council of Women of the United States," The Arena, 17 (February 1899): 478-93; Anna Garlin Spencer, The Council Idea (New Brunswick, NJ, 1930); and Karen Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914 (New York, 1980), 93-95.
46. For the history of the NCW see Mary Lowe Dickinson, "The National Council of Women of the United States," The Arena, 17 (February 1899): 478-93; Anna Garlin Spencer, The Council Idea (New Brunswick, NJ, 1930); and Karen Blair, The Clubwoman as Feminist: True Womanhood Redefined, 1868-1914 (New York, 1980), 93-95.
47. The New York Times gave the convention full coverage. See especially 18 February 1895, 3; 19 February 1895, 16. For White's and Lovell's addresses, see 28 February 1895, 13.
48. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 45, 46, 47.
49. Vivisection took root in continental Europe in the mid-nineteenth century, at first much to the revulsion of the British and American medical communities whose negative comments the antivivisectionists would later employ. When vivisection became established in Britain and America in the late nineteenth century, its advocates in these countries guaranteed that their experimental labs were free of pain, crediting the high moral caliber of British and American scientists and the introduction of anesthesia. Many of the examples used in the antivivisection argument of the 1890s came from the continent.
50. White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 56. Leffingwell, Vivisection Question, 67, 169, called attention to the experiment. Exactly what happened in this experiment became a matter of debate. See Walter B. Cannon to William W. Keen, 14 June 1911, William W. Keen Papers 10c/105, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. For another example of AV shock at experiments on animal mothers see Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 139-42.
51. White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 56. Leffingwell, Vivisection Question, 67, 169, called attention to the experiment. Exactly what happened in this experiment became a matter of debate. See Walter B. Cannon to William W. Keen, 14 June 1911, William W. Keen Papers 10c/105, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. For another example of AV shock at experiments on animal mothers see Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 139-42.
52. White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 56. Leffingwell, Vivisection Question, 67, 169, called attention to the experiment. Exactly what happened in this experiment became a matter of debate. See Walter B. Cannon to William W. Keen, 14 June 1911, William W. Keen Papers 10c/105, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. For another example of AV shock at experiments on animal mothers see Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 139-42.
53. Barbara Caine, Victorian Feminists (New York, 1992), 103-149, examines Cobbe's thought. For additional analysis of the connection between feminism and antivivisectionism among British women see Coral Lansbury, The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers, and Vivisection in Edwardian England (Madison, WI, 1985); Mary Ann Elston, "Women and Anti-Vivisection In Victorian England," Vivisection in Historical Perspective, 259-94; and Hilda Kean, "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection," History Workshop Journal, 40 (Autumn 1995): 16-38.
54. Barbara Caine, Victorian Feminists (New York, 1992), 103-149, examines Cobbe's thought. For additional analysis of the connection between feminism and antivivisectionism among British women see Coral Lansbury, The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers, and Vivisection in Edwardian England (Madison, WI, 1985); Mary Ann Elston, "Women and Anti-Vivisection In Victorian England," Vivisection in Historical Perspective, 259-94; and Hilda Kean, "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection," History Workshop Journal, 40 (Autumn 1995): 16-38.
55. Barbara Caine, Victorian Feminists (New York, 1992), 103-149, examines Cobbe's thought. For additional analysis of the connection between feminism and antivivisectionism among British women see Coral Lansbury, The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers, and Vivisection in Edwardian England (Madison, WI, 1985); Mary Ann Elston, "Women and Anti-Vivisection In Victorian England," Vivisection in Historical Perspective, 259-94; and Hilda Kean, "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection," History Workshop Journal, 40 (Autumn 1995): 16-38.
56. Barbara Caine, Victorian Feminists (New York, 1992), 103-149, examines Cobbe's thought. For additional analysis of the connection between feminism and antivivisectionism among British women see Coral Lansbury, The Old Brown Dog: Women, Workers, and Vivisection in Edwardian England (Madison, WI, 1985); Mary Ann Elston, "Women and Anti-Vivisection In Victorian England," Vivisection in Historical Perspective, 259-94; and Hilda Kean, "The 'Smooth Cool Men of Science': The Feminist and Socialist Response to Vivisection," History Workshop Journal, 40 (Autumn 1995): 16-38.
57. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 44, 45; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 55.
58. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 44, 45; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 55.
59. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 47.
60. White to Keen, 13 March 1895, Keen Papers 10c/105.
61. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 46; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 56. Thugs were the professional assassins of Hindu India.
62. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 46; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 56. Thugs were the professional assassins of Hindu India.
63. Sarah Thorp Thomas, "Is Christianity a Cruel, Mocking Delusion?" Our Fellow Creatures, 6 (July 1898): 234.
64. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 47.
65. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 46; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 55. In Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War (Baltimore, 1995), Susan Lederer analyzes these cases of human experimentation.
66. Lovell, "Worst Thing in the World," 46; White, "Is Vivisection Morally Justifiable?" 55. In Subjected to Science: Human Experimentation in America before the Second World War (Baltimore, 1995), Susan Lederer analyzes these cases of human experimentation.
67. JZ, 4 (June 1895): 61. For another example of the AV concern that boys who mistreat kittens grow up to be violent criminals see Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (January 1898): 7.
68. JZ, 4 (June 1895): 61. For another example of the AV concern that boys who mistreat kittens grow up to be violent criminals see Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (January 1898): 7.
69. Sarah Knowles Bolton Diary, 2 September, 1897, Bolton-Stanwood Family Papers, American Antiquarian Society.
70. JZ, 1 (May 1892): 71.
71. JZ, 4 (May 1895): 54.
72. Rose B. Jackson, M.D., "Biology in the Schools," Anti-Vivisection, 3 (May 1896): 15.
73. Agnes Repplier, "Science for Babes," Anti-Vivisection, 4 (December 1897): 189.
74. Anti-Vivisection, 4 (May 1897): 33.
75. Letter to the New York Times, 13 November 1896, 4.
76. Bolton Diary, 19 February 1909.
77. Letter to New York World, 28 May 1895, reprinted in JZ, 4 (July 1895): 74.
78. Frances E. Fryatt, "Women Vivisectionists," Our Fellow Creatures, 1 (April 1898): 130.
79. AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 119-127. Wellesley communicated that it practiced vivisection, but gave the assurance that anesthetics were uniformly used.
80. AAVS Minute Book 1883-1889, 47, 57-63, 67-74, 80.
81. AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 82, 84, 86; JZ, 2 (May 1893): 72; 2 (June 1893): 83, 88, 92.
82. AAVS Minute Book 1889-1900, 82, 84, 86; JZ, 2 (May 1893): 72; 2 (June 1893): 83, 88, 92.
83. Saul Benison et al, Walter B. Cannon: The Life and Times of a Young Scientist (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 171. In 1896 the Massachusetts antivivisectionists were back in the legislature with a bill to restrict animal experiments in medical schools. The hearings captured the attention of Boston. The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) emerged at this time. Benison, Cannon, 172-73;JZ, 5 (April 1896): 39-41; 5 (May 1896): 54-55, 57.
84. Saul Benison et al, Walter B. Cannon: The Life and Times of a Young Scientist (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 171. In 1896 the Massachusetts antivivisectionists were back in the legislature with a bill to restrict animal experiments in medical schools. The hearings captured the attention of Boston. The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) emerged at this time. Benison, Cannon, 172-73;JZ, 5 (April 1896): 39-41; 5 (May 1896): 54-55, 57.
85. Saul Benison et al, Walter B. Cannon: The Life and Times of a Young Scientist (Cambridge, MA, 1987), 171. In 1896 the Massachusetts antivivisectionists were back in the legislature with a bill to restrict animal experiments in medical schools. The hearings captured the attention of Boston. The New England Anti-Vivisection Society (NEAVS) emerged at this time. Benison, Cannon, 172-73;JZ, 5 (April 1896): 39-41; 5 (May 1896): 54-55, 57.
86. JZ, 3 (April 1894): 58-59; 3 (June 1894): 82; New York Times, 14 July 1895, 21.
87. JZ, 3 (April 1894): 58-59; 3 (June 1894): 82; New York Times, 14 July 1895, 21.
88. JZ, 4 (May 1895): 54. The same happened again in 1897: JZ, 6 (April 1897): 39-40.
89. JZ, 4 (May 1895): 54. The same happened again in 1897: JZ, 6 (April 1897): 39-40.
90. "The Abuses of Vivisection," Harper's Weekly, 38 (10 March 1894): 234.
91. For another state (Illinois) in which the AVs attempted to pass abolition in the classroom see JZ, 6 (May 1897): 49.
92. Patricia Peck Gossel, "William Henry Welch and the Antivivisection Legislation in the District of Columbia, 1896-1900," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 40 (October 1985): 397-419. For Keen's role see New York Times, 10 June 1900, 22.
93. Patricia Peck Gossel, "William Henry Welch and the Antivivisection Legislation in the District of Columbia, 1896-1900," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 40 (October 1985): 397-419. For Keen's role see New York Times, 10 June 1900, 22.
94. Cynthia E. Russett, Sexual Science: The Victorian Construction of Womanhood (Cambridge, MA, 1989).
95. Philadelphia Medical Journal, quoted in JZ, 8 (November 1899): 127-28; Benison, Cannon, 180. "Mrs. Ward" was Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, the novelist and antivivisectionist.
96. Philadelphia Medical Journal, quoted in JZ, 8 (November 1899): 127-28; Benison, Cannon, 180. "Mrs. Ward" was Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, the novelist and antivivisectionist.
97. "The Malice and Vindictiveness of the Antivivisectionists," Medical Record, 51 (29 May 1897): 791. Misogyny in the defense of vivisection became even more pronounced in the early twentieth century: see Craig Buettinger, "Antivivisection and the Charge of Zoophil-Psychosis in the Early Twentieth Century," The Historian, 55 (Winter 1993): 277-288.
98. "The Malice and Vindictiveness of the Antivivisectionists," Medical Record, 51 (29 May 1897): 791. Misogyny in the defense of vivisection became even more pronounced in the early twentieth century: see Craig Buettinger, "Antivivisection and the Charge of Zoophil-Psychosis in the Early Twentieth Century," The Historian, 55 (Winter 1993): 277-288.
99. James H. Timberlake, Prohibition and the Progressive Movement 1900-1920 (Cambridge, MA, 1963), 39-99; Paul Boyer, urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA, 1978), 198-202.
100. James H. Timberlake, Prohibition and the Progressive Movement 1900-1920 (Cambridge, MA, 1963), 39-99; Paul Boyer, urban Masses and Moral Order in America, 1820-1920 (Cambridge, MA, 1978), 198-202.
101. Marjory M. Carrington to Catt, 4 July 1919, Carrie Chapman Catt Papers, box 4, folder 38, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College; Mrs. Frank J. Shuler to Carrington, 7 July 1919, Catt Papers, box 4, folder 29.