Maurice Beddow Bayly (26 March 1887 – 22 June 1961) was an English physician, anti-vivisection and anti-vaccination activist, and Theosophist, best known for his opposition to animal experimentation.
Biography
Bayly was born in Woolwich, London. He was educated at St Dunstan's College, London University and Charing Cross Hospital.Anonymous. (1978). Who Was Who Among English and European Authors, 1931-1949. Volume 1. Gale Research Company. p. 111 He was one of the few prominent doctors advocating anti-vivisection in the post-war period.Bates, A. W. H. (2017). Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 184.
He worked at the National Anti-Vivisection Hospital with excellent conduct until an incident in 1912 when he was reprimanded for carrying out an unnecessary operation on a terminally ill breast cancer patient.Bates, A. W. H. (2017). "The National Anti-Vivisection Hospital, 1902–1935". In Anti-Vivisection and the Profession of Medicine in Britain: A Social History. Palgrave. The patient had not suffered during the operation nor did the family make a complaint. Bayly admitted that he had operated not for the patient’s benefit but because he was "anxious to perform the operation". He resigned shortly afterwards.
He was a member of the National Anti-Vaccination League, the Animal Defence and Anti-Vivisection Society, and the English section of the Theosophical Society.Sri Ram, N. Theosophist Magazine, January 1962-August 1962, p. 230.
Bayly opposed antitoxin treatment of Diphtheria cases as the research had been based on animal experiments.Botting, Jack H. (2015). Animals and Medicine: The Contribution of Animal Experiments to the Control of Disease. Open Book Publishers. pp. 69-70. In 1934, he alleged that the antitoxin does not work as Diphtheria is not caused by the bacterium Corynebacterium diphtheriae but by "drain poison". This opinion wasn't accepted by the medical community.
Bayly contributed a chapter on medicine to the 1938 book Where Theosophy and Science Meet, edited by D. D. Kanga.
Vegetarianism
Bayly was an activist for vegetarianism. He was a speaker at the 15th World Vegetarian Congress in 1957."15th World Vegetarian Congress 1957". ivu.org. Retrieved 6 December 2023. He contributed to Geoffrey Rudd's magazine Vegetarian World Forum."The Vegetarian World Forum". ivu.org. Retrieved 6 December 2023.
Selected publications
The Schick Inoculation Against Diphtheria (1927) Cancer the Failure of Modern Research: A Survey (1936) Diet in Relation to Disease: The Case for Vegetarianism (1936) The Case AGAINST Vaccination (1936) Medicine, in Where Theosophy and Science Meet (1938) The Taxpayer and Experiments on Living Animals: With Special Reference to the Work of the Medical Research Council (1938) Suffering Caused to Horses in the Manufacture of Anititoxic Serums (1940) Inoculation Against Typhoid Fever - A Criticism of its Value and Scientific Basis (1941) Spotlights on Vivisection (1946) B.C.G. Vaccination (1952) The Futility of Experiments on Animals (1956) The Story of the Salk Anti-Poliomyelitis Vaccine (1958) More Spotlights on Vivisection (1960) Clinical Medical Discoveries (1961) Vivisection: The Futility of Experiments on Living Animals (1962)
See also List of vaccine topics Vaccine controversy
References
External links HomeoInt.org - 'Anaemia and Pernicious Anaemia', M. Beddow Bayly, Medical World (15 December 1933) HomeoInt.org - 'Some Little-Understood Effects of Serum Therapy', M. Beddow Bayly, Medical World (6 April 1934) WebInquirer.plus.com - 'The Story of the Salk Anti-Poliomyelitis Vaccine', M. Beddow Bayly (1956)