Herophilus

The use of human beings as medical and biological test subjects can be traced as far back as Ancient Greece, but has dwindled significantly in the past few decades.

History has proven the use of human test subjects to be extremely successful. One of the earliest recorded is that of Herophilus, often referred to as the first anatomist. Previous to his work, live dissections were preformed on animals, and never on humans. They chose, almost exclusively, animals that anatomically resembled human beings. On the rare occasion, they had the opportunity to work with cadavers, but they were generally mutilated or diseased. Herophilus was able to work with live subjects, prisoners provided to him from the rulers of Alexandria. In the early 3rd century, BC, Alexandria was under rule of the Ptolemaic Dynasty. This family was known for their involvement in the sciences, and this was in favor for Herophilus. Alexandria was a relatively new city, and radical ideas and the studies of the world and its workings were on a higher plane than a moral code. Although none of Herophilus’ own writings still exist, several of his colleagues wrote of the human anatomy in great detail, often pointing back to Herophilus. Herophilus was under the belief that it was better to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many. (Von Staden, 1989) After the thirty to forty years Herophilus was able to experiment with living humans, the practice became illegal. It remained illegal until the Renaissance, this period of time being known as the Dark Ages, both in the literary world and the medical world. Anatomical progression had come to a halt, and there is no known record of human experimentation of that time. It is no wonder why Herophilus was hailed as the father of a...

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...ending these criminals to their death, the government can save the money and, instead, put them through medical and drug testing. Testing a human being, a prisoner, no less, is cheaper than testing an animal that, biologically, is on the same level as a human. (Mitford, 1973) Both the government and the pharmaceutical companies would benefit from such a change. With tests on humans, we can find out more, and faster, than animals. Gathering a group of willing subjects would take more time and money than just utilizing prisoners. Subjects already in the prison system receive a medical treatment, and have been medically checked, which saves that time. The less time spent gathering subjects and sorting things out, legally, saves more lives, and is better on the public. The longer the FDA takes procuring a treatment, the more negatively the American population views it.