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Dr Farleigh is a research scientist known for his anatomy demonstrations. He doesn’t appear in the play, but numerous characters—namely Armstrong—reference him and his demonstrations. Like many of his contemporaries, Farleigh procures the cadavers he dissects in his demonstrations through the morally dubious act of body snatching—the illicit practice of stealing newly deceased bodies from gravesites. For Armstrong, who believes that personal morals should not impede on scientific progress, Farleigh’s graverobbing is entirely unproblematic. Roget, meanwhile, finds Farleigh’s methods more troubling.
Dr Farleigh Quotes in An Experiment with an Air Pump
The An Experiment with an Air Pump quotes below are all either spoken by Dr Farleigh or refer to Dr Farleigh . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Act 2, Scene 2 Quotes
Armstrong: Digging up corpses is necessary if we’re to totter out of the Dark Ages. You can dissect a stolen body with moral qualms or with none at all and it won’t make a blind bit of difference to what you discover. Discovery is neutral. Ethics should be left to philosophers and priests. I’ve never had a moral qualm in my life, and it would be death to science if I did. That’s why I’ll be remembered as a great physician, Roget, and you’ll be forgotten as a man who made lists.
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"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Dr Farleigh Character Timeline in An Experiment with an Air Pump
The timeline below shows where the character Dr Farleigh appears in An Experiment with an Air Pump. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 1
...Armstrong looks at Susannah and then cautiously explains that he was supposed to observe Dr Farleigh’s “demonstration.” This one is “particularly interesting,” Armstrong explains, and involves a 30-year-old woman with an...
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Act 2, Scene 2
...abdominal cavity. Roget asks where Armstrong got the corpse from, and Armstrong cryptically explains that Farleigh acquired it. Roget asks if the subject was still wearing the clothes he was buried...
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...[his corpse] into porterhouse steaks, as long as [he] was definitely dead.” Roget asks when Farleigh’s next demonstration is. Armstrong says this “depends on the supply” and asks Roget if he’d...
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Act 2, Scene 3
...or the dissection of a human heart.” Roget can only stare. Armstrong continues, explaining how Farleigh showed a similar malformation in one of his demonstrations, though it wasn’t nearly as extreme...
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Act 2, Scene 5
...counters that there’s no proof. Roget scoffs that it’s only a matter of time before Farleigh digs up Isobel’s corpse. Armstrong giggles and says, “Waste not want not,” and Roget punches...
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