Heart and Science

HEART AND SCIENCEThe main plot concerns the plight of youngdoctor Ovid Vere, who is forced to take an extended rest from his professiondue to health problems. Shortly before Ovid is due to depart on his rest break, he meets Carmina Greywell, a young girl who has been entrusted to the care ofOvid's secretly-financially-ruined mother, Mrs Gallilee. Ovid and Carminaimmediately fall in love, as one conveniently does in a sensation novel, andOvid takes Carmina on a date to the zoo, along with his step-sister Zo. Herethey meet Dr Benjulia, a specialist in nerve disorders with a worryingreputation for also practicing vivisection. Ovid reluctantly goes on his healthbreak to Canada, leaving Carmina in the hands of the scheming Mrs Gallilee, whohears an (incorrect) rumour that Carmina was the result of an adulterousaffair. Thinking that she may have found a way to get her hands on Carmina'sinheritance money, Mrs Gallilee confronts Carmina with this knowledge; Carmina suffersa form of nervous breakdown and is removed from the house.Instead of intervening to treat Carmina, Benjulia is keen to let herdeteriorate, for the sake of scientific experimentation; yet for all theexperience he has gathered from performing vivisection, Benjulia does notunderstand Carmina's illness. Luckily, Ovid receives a letter from Zo andreturns to save Carmina in the nick of time, by observing Carmina's physicalstate, opening a dialogue with her, and using a treatment suggested in amedical manuscript given to him by a Canadian doctor. Ovid goes on to publish abook based on these discoveries. Upon reading Ovid's book, Benjulia realisesthat his own life's work is a failure as it relies too heavily on vivisection, which leads to Benjulia freeing his lab animals and committing suicide.....William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 - 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer, best known for The Woman in White (1859), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866) and The Moonstone (1868). The last has been called the first modern English detective novel. Born to the family of painter William Collins in London, he grew up in Italy and France, learning French and Italian. He began work as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel, Antonina, appeared in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend and mentor. Some of Collins's works appeared first in Dickens's journals All the Year Round and Household Words and they collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieving financial stability and an international following. However, he began suffering from gout. Taking opium for the pain developed into an addiction. In the 1870s and 1880s the quality of his writing declined along with his health. Collins was critical of the institution of marriage: he split his time between Caroline Graves, except for a two-year separation, and his common-law wife Martha Rudd, with whom he had three children.EARLY LIFECollins was born at 11 New Cavendish Street, Marylebone, London, the son of a well-known Royal Academician landscape painter, William Collins and his wife, Harriet Geddes. Named after his father, he swiftly became known by his middle name, which honoured his godfather, David Wilkie. The family moved to Pond Street, Hampstead, in 1826. In 1828 Collins's brother Charles Allston Collins was born. Between 1829 and 1830, the Collins family moved twice, first to Hampstead Square and then to Porchester Terrace, Bayswater. Wilkie and Charles received their early education from their mother at home. The Collins family were deeply religious, and Collins's mother enforced strict church attendance on her sons, which Wilkie disliked.