Works of literature have always been powerful tools in shaping reader understanding of societal issues. An author may find themselves playing with their own thoughts about an issue arising around them. To inspire Collins to create the world of Heart and Science, something around the topic of animal testing had to be bothering him. Otis highlights the huge Ferrier case in the late 1800s as a possible place of reference for Collins. I can definitely see this case as a possible influence for Collins. To back up this claim, Otis brings light to the fact that both Ferrier and Dr. Benjulia in the story experiment on monkeys and dogs in order to understand the brain in more depth. So in a way, Heart and Science is a call against scientific experimentation like this. Collins, perhaps, sees science as an emotionless, horrible thing that people should rebel against. Otis sees the main idea of the novel being, “love inspires and vivisection degrades” (Otis 39). This is because there is a theme in the book of some characters developing over the course of the story when they open themselves up to love. However, some characters don’t develop. Some characters like Dr. Benjulia is painted as an unlikable character right from the beginning from his dreary personality to his skeleton-like appearance of unknown origins. So in other words, Collins creates the idea of love being the desired path while science is the opposite of love and happiness. By tying science to negativity, Collins encourages his reader to view science through that frame. This idea is backed up by Lord Chief Justice Coleridge’s, “The Nineteenth Century Defenders of Vivisection.” In this address, Coleridge says,
“I should suppose that the vast majority of persons who have white veal brought into their houses have never seen… a calf still living hung up in a butcher’s shop. If they had… I think better of my countrymen than to believe that they would bear to see it at their tables. Most men do not reflect; nay, most men do not know these things.” (357)
In other words, if readers are exposed to the dark sides of an issue of animal testing and the ethicality of science, they may very well change their minds against it. So Collins making that negative connection from the very beginning allows us to see science stripped of its upsides and thus can be more critical of the practices in place.
