Heart and Science

Wilkie Collins' Heart and Science (1883) presents the love story of a young doctor, Ovid, for his orphaned cousin Carmina, who suffers from a neural disease. As Mrs. Gallile becomes the hurdle in the way to the couple's happiness, the work portrays how Ovid works ardently to save the life of his beloved. Heart and Science also takes on the medical and moral dimensions of vivisection, which fascinated and horrified Victorian readers.