The Explore
Despite its gruesome history as an animal vivisection laboratory, I did not find this place as chilling as I had expected. There were a number of small reminders of the former use; however the lightness and airiness belied the sinister history of the building. The inadvertent proximity of a number of old exhibits from the Darwin Museum generated a more disturbing connotation for the work of history’s most eminent naturalist.
History
Buckston Browne farm was built in 1931 by the Royal College of Surgeons as an animal testing and vivisection laboratory. The farm was stimulated by a gift from Sir George Buckston Browne F.R.C.S. and was later ‘modernised’ in the 1960s with new accommodation blocks, kitchen, laundry, operating theatres, operating microscopes, orthopaedic instruments, diathermy and portable X-ray units. Two large enclosed blocks of 20 animal pens were also added, suitable for dogs, pigs, goats, sheep and calves which were all tested on in the farm. The farm was used by a number of institutions who endorsed animal testing, but finally ceased experimentations after anti-vivisection raids in 1984.
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Regards,
Despite its gruesome history as an animal vivisection laboratory, I did not find this place as chilling as I had expected. There were a number of small reminders of the former use; however the lightness and airiness belied the sinister history of the building. The inadvertent proximity of a number of old exhibits from the Darwin Museum generated a more disturbing connotation for the work of history’s most eminent naturalist.
History
Buckston Browne farm was built in 1931 by the Royal College of Surgeons as an animal testing and vivisection laboratory. The farm was stimulated by a gift from Sir George Buckston Browne F.R.C.S. and was later ‘modernised’ in the 1960s with new accommodation blocks, kitchen, laundry, operating theatres, operating microscopes, orthopaedic instruments, diathermy and portable X-ray units. Two large enclosed blocks of 20 animal pens were also added, suitable for dogs, pigs, goats, sheep and calves which were all tested on in the farm. The farm was used by a number of institutions who endorsed animal testing, but finally ceased experimentations after anti-vivisection raids in 1984.
1
2
3
4
5
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7
8
9
Regards,
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