The Case for the Use of Animals in Medicine

Abstract

As early as 1500–500 B.C., there are indications of Vedic (Hindu) records of animals being observed by man for medical and scientific purposes. In 300 B.C., in Alexandria, Egypt, Erasistratis placed live birds in closed containers and withheld food to observe the consequences of losing body humors. This is believed to be the first recorded attempt to use live animals for research. The philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.), also a biologist and the son of a physician, founded the sciences of physiology, zoology, and comparative anatomy as a result of his observations of animals. Galen (130–200 A.D.), a physician, anatomist, physiologist, and philosopher, was the founder of experimental physiology. His animal studies were designed to be applicable to humans; their accuracy and completeness greatly improved the understanding of the human body. After the fall of the Roman Empire and during the Dark Ages, the decline that occurred in the arts and sciences was evident in both human and veterinary medicine. The unity that had existed between the two branches of medicine did not reappear until the Renaissance. Thus, the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw significant medical advances, many the result of animal studies (Davison 1977).