Victor Frankenstein's experiments creating life through assembling body parts from graves and charnel houses represented the scientific experimentation and innovations of the 19th century. Some of these experiments that were explored in the novel and the time period included vivisections, galvanism, and body snatching. While seen as advancing science, these practices were controversial and some were later banned due to ethical concerns about harming humans and animals. The novel examined early debates around the moral implications of scientific progress.

1. The Science of
Frankenstein
By: Amanda Iliadis, Ivanka
D’Mello, and Amina Mahmood

2. Science in the 19th Century
In the 19th Century, science was a new concept to many. It was a time to experiment and come up
with new theories. Much of the scientific research we have today derives from the information,
research and analysis in the 1800s. Without the discoveries made two hundred years ago, humans
would not have been so advanced as they are to date. Frankenstein, having been written in the
19th century, is a perfect representation of how science was such a prominent topic for discussion
in that century. Victor’s experiments in the process of making the Creature were unthinkable, but
all were innovations at that time. Victor dared what others would call crazy now, but at that time, it
wasn’t very strange.

3. Vivisections
Vivisection is operation on a living animal for experimental medical purposes.
During Shelley’s time, it was common that people would perform surgery on animals
without anesthesia. Many people even said and thought that animals did not actually
feel pain.
An antivivisection movement started in the late 19th century
The movement even included the prevention of all cruelty to animals and later gave rise
to the animal rights movement.
People were becoming more interested in animal welfare and questioned the morality
of and need for vivisection.
Even Charles Darwin talked about animal welfare in his book published in 1859.
Mary Shelly was a vegetarian and it showed in her novel, Frankenstein.
In Chapter 3 Victor says that he "tortured the living animal to animate the lifeless clay”
and he says this in a regretful way. The Creature even says: "my food is not that of man;
I do not destroy the lamb and kid to glut my appetite".

4. Galvanism
Galvanism is the contraction of a muscle that is caused by an electric current
Before Mary Shelley’s time, around the 1790s, a physician named Luigi Galvani discovered the
electrical basis of nerve impulses when he made frog muscles twitch by jolting them with a
spark from an electrostatic machine.
When Frankenstein was published, however, people thought the word galvanism meant the
release, through electricity, of mysterious life forces.
Mary Shelley even remembers saying to Lord Byron and Percy Shelley that "perhaps, a corpse
would be reanimated; galvanism had given token of such things”
Frankenstein endures not only because of its infamous horrors but for the richness of the ideas it
asks us to confront — human accountability, social alienation, and the nature of life itself.
These passages illuminate some of them.

5. Body Snatching
Body snatching is the secret digging or removal of corpses from graveyards.
The common purpose of body snatching, especially in the 19th century, was to sell the
corpses for dissection or anatomy lectures in medical schools.
During 1832, the “1832 Anatomy Act” passed. It talked about laws that had to do with
the dissection of corpses and the raw material of new teaching methods in the science
of morbid anatomy.
Another reason there was a need for corpses was that there was an urgent
requirement for trained surgeons.
The Murder Act of 1752 allowed people to use the bodies of executed murderers, but
there still wasn’t enough supply for the medical schools' needs.
In the novel to make his creature, Victor Frankenstein "dabbled among the unhallowed
damps of the grave"
Victor explains: “I collected bones from charnel-houses [. . . .] The dissecting room and
the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials” (54 – 55).

6. Modern Day
ScienceIn the late 1900s, the scientific industry began to bloom with new
innovations such as Genetic Engineering, Reproductive Technology,
and two projects aimed at human genes. These theories became
solid and to this day, experiments are being carried out constantly all
over the world…changing the world we once knew. Frankenstein,
having no direct relevance to these modern day sciences, still
incorporated their general ideas into creating the Creature. The
creature himself, was genetically altered…

7. Genetic Engineering
Genetic engineering is the process in which one gene or a set of a few genes is taken out
of the DNA of one organism and put into the DNA of another organism. It changes the
genetic make up of an organism by using techniques that either remove the heritable
material or introduces new DNA. Genetic engineering will usually take place outside of
an organism’s normal reproductive process. It is often used to introduce new
characteristics into an organism.
Human genetic engineering is changing an individual’s genotype. It is done by choosing
the phenotype of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult. Its
purpose is to cure genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and to increase people’s
immunity to viruses. It is said that genetic engineering may be used to change physical
appearance, metabolism and improve mental faculties such as memory and intelligence.
In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Victor manipulates the creature to be the way he wants
him, much like genetic engineering except without the use of DNA or genes. Victor
explains how “[The creature’s] limbs were in proportion, and [he] had selected his
features as beautiful” (Shelley 28). Victor makes him eight feet tall, with yellow skin,
black hair, white teeth, yellow eyes, and black lips. This is exactly the way Victor wants
him as he himself is changing the creature’s physical appearance. Although the creature
does not turn out as Victor had expected, he still picks his features and modifies them by
himself. Therefore, it can be said that the creature was physically “engineered” to look a
specific way.

8. Reproductive Technology
Reproductive technology is all the current and anticipated uses of technology in human and animal
reproduction. It includes assisted reproductive technology, contraception, artificial insemination, and
others.
One of the types of reproductive technology is In vitro fertilization (IVF). It is the process by which an egg
is fertilized by sperm outside the body. It involves monitoring a woman’s ovulatory process, removing
ovum from the ovaries and allowing sperm to fertilize them in a fluid medium in a laboratory. The
fertilized egg is then transferred into the patient’s uterus with the intention of having a successful
pregnancy. IVF is a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive
technology have failed. It can be used in cases of either female or male infertility. Children born from this
type of process are often referred to as “test tube babies”.
Much like the test tube babies, the creature is a manufactured creation because he is not created through
natural means. He was created in a laboratory by Victor, test tube babies are also created in laboratories
by scientists. The creature is a manifestation of many different people just like how with IVF, the fetus is
created using the egg and sperm of the parents and then injected into a third surrogate parent. The
earliest process of creating the creature using the body parts of dead people is explained by Victor: “I
collected bones from charnel houses… In a solitary chamber at the top of the house I kept my workshop of
filthy creation; my eyeballs were starting from their sockets in attending to the details of my employment.
The dissecting room and the slaughter-house furnished many of my materials” (27). Therefore, this
process is similar because the Creature was bred by many and “born” outside of a mother’s womb.

9. Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project. The goal is to
determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA and to identify and map
the 20,000 to 25,000 genes of the human genome
The Human Genome Project is symbolic of Victor Frankenstein’s thirst for scientific
knowledge. Just as the Human Genome Project leads to a better understanding of human
evolution, Victor also wanted to learn about the secrets of life and how it is created. When
Victor says “Natural philosophy, and particularly chemistry… became nearly my sole
occupation (24), his thirst for knowledge was not over. After he becomes well acquainted
with natural philosophy, he goes on to study the structure of the human frame. He becomes
more and more interested: “Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?...
I revolved these circumstances in my mind and determined thenceforth to apply myself more
particularly to those branches of natural philosophy which relate to physiology” (25). Victor
becomes so involved in his studies that he decides to dig up graves to find clues for the cause
of human life. When he finally discovers it, he expresses his feelings: “…until from the midst
of this darkness a sudden light broke in upon me- a light so brilliant and wondrous, yet so
simple, that while I became dizzy with the immensity of the prospect which it illustrated, I
was surprised that among so many men of genius who had directed their inquiries towards
the same science, that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret” (25). He
felt so surprised and at the same time amazed at what he had discovered. Just as the Human
Genome Project makes great discoveries, Victor also finally found the answer to all his
questions.

10. Frankenstein and the
Church
(The Risks of Science)These scientific experiments…whether they
be innovations from the 1800s or from
present day, have moral and ethical
disadvantages. The Catholic Church sees
genetic modification as “ethically illegal”.
Things like Galvanism, Vivisections and
Body Snatching were “banned” even before
the others…hundreds of years ago. The
primary rule that the Church stands by, is
that of the biblical creation suggesting the
normal creation of a human life.
Frankenstein consistently goes against the
Church and against our ethics as
communities living with religion.

11. Vivisections
To partake in a vivisection, a license was once required, and other documentation
to prove what experiments were to be made.
Experiments on living animals can (to this day) be made only in government
institutions, by the heads of the institutions, instructors, or under the supervision
by other people. They were also permitted in exceptional cases for purposes of
instruction. When possible, the animals were to be thoroughly anaesthetized.
Larger animals were to be used only when it is absolutely necessary.
"God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own
image.
Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing.
They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure.`` (
This does not mean that the animals could be used for experiments.
The Church says that humans are NEVER to be subjected to Vivisections and
therefore has been perpetrated as a form of torture.

12. Galvanism
This is illegal today, however in the time of Frankenstein it
was accepted and quite common (among animals). The
Church believes that Galvanism is not something to take
lightly…it has been done many times before and is now no
longer a problem in society.
“As they extended their range from frogs to humans,
scientists began to be perceived as evil. Society sensed that
there was something wrong with this experimentation. This
disturbance marked the beginning of the ethics conflict in
science. It is from this conflict that Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein originates and becomes a catalyst for her
warning about the tremendous power of science in the feeble
hands of mankind.” (“Discovery…”)

13. Body Snatching
The Church sees Body Snatching as a violation of human rights. Once a person is
dead, they should remain at rest (or peace), hence the term R.I.P. In today’s society
there are few body snatching incidents but back in the 1800s it was constant. People
used to dig up corpses from cemeteries so they could sell that person’s body to
schools for research. They made money from committing such an unlawful act.

14. Genetic Engineering
Genetic enhancement (one of the branches of Genetic Engineering) assumes
that man’s normal state is flawed and lacking, that man’s natural biology
needs “enhancing.” Genetic enhancement would intentionally and
fundamentally alter a human being in ways not possible by nature, which
means in ways God never intended.
The majority of Catholics would likely say that the Church opposes any
genetic modification in humans. But that is not what our Church teaches.
Actually, the Church does support human genetic engineering; it just has to
be the right kind.
“But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own
body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another
for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”
(1 Corinthians, 15: 38-39)

15. Reproductive Technology
Official Roman Catholic teaching maintains that human life begins at the
moment of conception. From this claim follow the following moral judgments: a
fetus or an embryo must be respected and treated as a human person with
dignity and rights, including the right to life.
The experimental use of embryos is condemned because it violates human
dignity, reducing embryos to objects and instruments of scientific knowledge.
One reproductive technology which the Church has clearly and unequivocally
judged to be immoral is in vitro fertilization, or IVF. Children should still be
loved and cared for if born through this procedure however it is still not right.
The key ingredients in co-creation (assisting God in his creations) are: spousal
union and procreation.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to
them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply…’” (Gen 1:27-28) .

16. Human Genome Project
The Catholic Church has not made any formal statements about the Human Genome Project
as such. But Pope John Paul II has commented on various aspects of genetic manipulation.
Genetic interventions which are therapeutic (e.g. gene therapy) directed to the correction or
amelioration of a disorder are acceptable provided they promote the personal well being of
the individual being so treated. Genetic interventions which are not therapeutic for the
specific individual involved but are experimental and directed primarily to improving humans
as biological entities are rejected. To be morally acceptable, such genetic intervention should
meet certain conditions which include due respect for the given psychological nature of each
individual human being. No harm should be inflicted on the process of human generation,
and its fundamental design should not be altered. Any genetic manipulation which results in
the creation that results in a fresh marginalization of these people must be avoided. It is also
suggested that because the Son of God took on a human nature in Jesus Christ, one may not
alter the human genome that a new distinct species would be created.
God creates organisms in Genesis 1 in a fully mature state; the genome therefore would seem
to be a source of information to ensure the continuation of the mature state of the organism.
Based on the value God places on maturity, it’s suggested that the nature and function of the
adult human, specifies the original content of the human genome.

17. What does the Creation Story tell
us?Here we meet God, the Almighty Creator of all things, revealing the ultimate object of his love—man—as he concludes the
stunning work of creation.
``…Then the Lord God formed a man[c] from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the m
became a living being.`` (Genesis, 2,7).
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs[g] and t
closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib[h] he had taken out of the man, and he brou
her to the man.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis, 3, 21-23)
After Adam listens to Eve and eats the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God admits from whence Adam
came while revealing his punishment:
19 By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.” (Genesis, 3, 19)
In verse 26, God says, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness ..." speaking as the Holy Trinity (three persons) on the
human life that is to be created.

18. The Rewards of Science
Vivisections: a large number of medical advances could never have been made without
research performed on live animals including; treatments for anthrax, rabies, rickets,
rheumatoid arthritis, leprosy, polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, the discovery of insulin;
the development of antibiotics, modern anaesthesia and open heart surgery and advances
in organ transplantation.
Galvanism: Electrotherapy is a current method used to Improves range of joint movement
Improve strength, motor control, local blood flow, joint mobility, wound healing, tissue
repair.
Genetic Engineering: Genetic therapy is a treatment which can help fight off diseases and
enhance the Immune system. Disease could be prevented by detecting
people/plants/animals that are genetically prone to certain hereditary diseases, and
preparing for them. Also, infectious diseases can be treated by implanting genes that
code for antiviral proteins specific to each antigen.
Reproductive Technology: the ability to create a child when all else fails is about the only
benefit.
Human Genome Project: improve diagnosis of diseases, early detection of genetic
diseases and gene therapy. Criminal justice can be more effective with the help of DNA
forensics and people who commit murder of rape can be provided with evidences against
them.
Among the moral issues and risks of science, there are many rewards as well.

19. The End
Video Time!!!
Frankenstein Movie trailer 1931