Animals in Scientific Research André Menache Introduction: Historical Origins of Animal Abuse in Science Animal suffering and animal abuse in science are as old as science itself The earliest recorded experiments and observations involving animals date back to a period of Egyptian medicine from around 3000 to 400 BC, and in particular the Ebers papyrus of 1500 BC discovered at Thebes (Bryan 1930 cited in Cox 2002) Roman physicians achieved fame through their medical discoveries, with Galen (Galenus of Pergamon, AD 129 to 200) among the most prolific of animal experimenters of his day (Kuhn 1821 – 1833 in Cox 2002) Galen was well known for his dissections of nerves and muscles in animals such as pigs and goats and has been variably described as the founder of experimental physiology (Crawford 2013) and the somewhat less flattering ‘Father of Vivisection’ (Watson 2009, p 11) Indeed, many of Galen’s views held sway for centuries, in particular his observation that blood was produced by the liver and did not circulate through the body His distorted views were finally put to rest in 1628 by the Englishman William Harvey, based on the latter’s meticulous study of human anatomy at a time when the Renaissance in Italy paved the way for physicians to A Menache (*) Antidote Europe, Strasbourg, France e-mail: andre.menache@gmail.com © The Author(s) 2017 J Maher et al (eds.), The Palgrave International Handbook of Animal Abuse Studies, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-43183-7_18 389