This article puts the idea of a Western " naturalist " representation of animals - namely of bodies without interiority - to the test by examining the development of a concrete activity: animal experimentation. The latter appeared in the 19th century and established itself on the idea of a body/mind dichotomy that relegated animals to the realm of pure bodiness. On the basis of field research in a laboratory of animal physiology applied to humans, the article follows the concrete treatment of the body-instrument of guinea-pigs. " Naturalism " does not appear to be tenable in practice. On the contrary, going beyond the bodily analogy between humans and animals that is at the heart of the principle of animal experimentation, actors describe the guinea-pigs as subjects and victims of a necessary " sacrifice ". Haut de page
