Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-02-22
CRUELrY 40 A~NIMALs.
Pre.Ideat BerEh and she Doctors.
To the Editor Of the Herald

To the Editor Of the Herald
NEW YORK, February l., I865.-In
your Albany letter In to-day's edition
your reporter says that al the recent
convention of doctors held at that city
the subject Of ~vivisectiOn was debated at
length, with q view 10 defeating the pas
sage OF the merciful bill now before the
legislature introduced by this society,"
and for the following reasons: "Tbey
declare that their experiments on living
animals are absolutely necessary for the
education Of medical students ~ Wea As
the Advancement Of science. We have
no right, they coOlly say, to cut up live
men, and we must rip up dumb animals
10 order to demonstrate theories which
il no other way can be VERIFIED
st is q mistake, they assert, to sup
pose that animals suffer fortunes during
these experiments, for measures are
always taken 10 deadsn the senses by
means of suRsthetics before the knife
or deadly poison is employed
I desire to occupy a brief space in
your columns 10 reluts these assump-
lions and assertions, and to protest
against this organized attempt to de-
prive the speechless dependents Of a
kind Of legal protection from cruelty.
"Suffer me-" says Rogers, an eminent
English surgeon, who visited the yeter-
mary college aU Abort, " to give one
more feeble illustration OF the CalIOus-
ness and love Of blOOdshed and torture
which ultimately supplant the finer
feelings Of pity anu mercy in the
minds Of the students-ths unfeei-
ing mirth that folly wears at sight
Of tie fearful eye-the compressed teeth,
the pitiful eXpresSiOn-the frantic
strUggie-the gToan Of agony, or the
scream Of dread and torture, sounding
I Ike a cry to heaven for mercy and for
death to be relieved of their scientific
tormentOrs. "a little bay mare" he
goes on to say, on Il Of these occasions,
- worn out in the service of mankind,
having unfortunately retained life
throughout the iendish ordeal, and look
ing like nothing ever made by the hand
of God with loius ripped open, skin torn
and plOughed by red hot irons, ind
riddled 0S seatons; tendOns severed /;
, hOOaess, sIghtless aud d~efenseleSs, was
/ exultingIy reared on Der bleeding feet,
just when gasping for breath and dying,
| only to show those present what dexter
ity had done before death took place.
THE effect" he adds, "Of these fearful
] rspetiti0ns Of cruelty on the minds of
the students may be judged of from the
I sang frOid Of . student who was firing q
horses nose, as he confessed, for pas
time"
These and similar deeds of revolving
cruelty were performed for the purpose
Of illustrating theories long years ago
/ proved or exploded, rendering further
torture, according 10 the most distin-
guished Psychologists of ancient aud
modern times, utterly useless. In sup
port OF this assertion l desire to offer
a few only Of the testimonies which I
have at my command. Sir Charles Bell
detained against experiments on living
animals, I" IS not only cruel, but leading
1 to no useful results, not as easily acquired
by operating on dead subjects" ICON
fusioa is a monster science" he says,
and l am justified in adding that this
I monster IS vivisection." Colin, the au-
thor Of . treatise on physiology, wholly
| condemns yivisectiOu. DR.. George Will
son says, In every department Of phys
biological inquiry, where the mutilatiOn
Of animals has been resOrtsd the same
UNMARRIED round of diScrepanCAGnd error
I PREVAILS \ director of one Ofehe impe-
/ rial schools Of France, reviewing the
Z long series of -vivisectiOns, eXClaims, " Is
there one of the experiments / have de-
/ seTibed which has produced for humanity
any advantage commensurate with the
suffering they have OccasiOned? / have
no hesitation in replying In the mega
/ tive.V LOuget, after years OF slaughter,
confessed " that all his inquiries tended
to mislead in their application to human
beings" Aberuethy -pronOuuces these
dissectors as 4" fllthy-minded fellows.n
| Sir Ashley Cooper, who was at one time
a great experimenter in living animals,
--E.-- .vN-sHrra.a hi Earr, A-lETTF =.
this cause. Galen asserts " that
| nothing can be more fallacious than
1 these experimental And, finally; I
come TO that dstestable monster Magen-
/ die, who, after ~tOTmsnting the lives out
! of some 400 of heavens creatures with
I his own internal hand, shortly before his
/ death advised his friends against vivi-
/ section, frankly avOwing I" that no true
physician would consult any surgeon
who obtained his knowledge from So I'M
/ certain a source, and one which would be
50 sure to mislead,"
Finally, as TO the measures which are
| always taken to prevent suffering By the
use Of the ausesthetics here 10 New York.
In reply to this | nave to say that two
| agents Of this society have been wit
( nesses lately OF v-iviseCtiOuS, bY the re-
movaI of the brain OF the creature, and
then resOrting to measures to continue
| life, in one Of the colleges of this city,
and that no anesthetic was employed,
| and was SO admitted by the operator at
the time. In another instance q dog
was put under the influence of ehlOrO-
form, or ether, and the spleen COM
pletely removed from the body, through
a great i~ncision made therein, after
which it was sewn up and the animal
kept alive so long as il could survive the
| dreadful mutilatiOu.
Are heavens living creatures per-
| ~getually to be thus tormented in order to
afford a bloody pastime for boys who in
after life are to be entrusted with the
most sacred interests OF sOciety-their
sensibiiities blUnted almost to the degree
Of wild beasts and that, too, when, as 1
have shown, no honest plea of necessity
exists for so doing? Shall just and mer-
eifal legislation be denied these speeehless
/ and d~efeneeless ehattels Of mankind SIM
ply to indulge the student with the repe-
iition of old practical tragedy? VIII
legislators close their ears to the agoniz-
ing groans Of those creatures to which
they I'VE so much Of their happiness and,
permit a petition, however numerousiy
signed, to supplant the merciful appeal Of
this society . I trust not.
I have the honor to be your most ODE
dent servant, HENRY BERGH.