Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-09-25

DR.. Austin Flint, Jr.
SIR: | take the liberty Of inviting your
attention to the enclosed article, extracted
from the New York Sunday Democrat of the
Both ultimo. The writer seems to speak
from personal observation, and | would
esteem it favor if you would either deny
or ayow his assertions. 1t may not have
escaped your recollection that yentured to
address you, few years ago, on the subject
which prompts the present communication.
In that correspondence you were Kind enough
to assure me that the alleged cruelties of the
dissecting-room were greatly exaggerated,
while You did not deny that thar branch
Of physiology under your direction was
not entirely free from the charge of per-
forming experiments on dumb animal with
ont the use of anasthetics. You will not
fail to perceive that if the experiments re
lerred 10 by the writer Of the article in ques-
ton are performed by your sanction at'Belle-
vue, great barbarity is the consequence.
1t is maintained by the most eminent phys;-
ologists Of the world that vivisection Is not
only cruelty but a scientific failure, since
the information sought to be obtained there
by is no more attainablc while the body is
writhing in agony than the correct hour
| Of the day can be recorded by the clock
while its machinery is dis0rdered. Bat |
| 20 further and declare, that however ac-
curate the results may be, that the repeti-
ton of these deplorabie butcheries Is need
less: for the reason that the knowledge thus
acquired Is already exhausted and given
to the world in numerous learned treatises
and visibly demonstrated by mechanical
| preparations, riyalling the anatomy of na-
ture itself. Liieless bodies furnish all the
| evidence necessary. 1T the best, therefore,
these revolving Scencc serve no other pur-
pose than to procure for the young student
the demoralizing excitement attendant on
the enactment OF brutal practical tragedy.
The heneficent Creator never designed that
an immortal work of His hand should be
thus tortured and disfsured even in the in
yeStigation of his physical laws. According
to nv informant. numerous races of animals
are a times to he found within your operat-
ing premises in various stages of mutilation
and torture - some are to be seen with the
Uranium removed and the brain taken out :.
another, - its abdomen opened, and the YES
! sels leading 10 the liver tied in such a man
ner a. to allow nothing to enter or escape by
| the main channel :" " The agony of this
poor creature, in particular, says the wri-
ter, during this experiment, which was pro-
! longcd six weeks, was something cxcrucia-
/ ting, and its dismal howls were irightful to
/ hear. as its whole frame was racked to
| pieces. Another experiment was that Of n
| goat with it, back opened to the spinal mar
row, in the attempt to perform tiendlsh
operation, which forty years before had
| been effected and known to all the medical
world While reading these frightlul atroci-
]
animals, the inquiry springs To the lips,
/ Can the perpetrators Of them be human be-
| iugs? Can the brain that conceiyes them,
| the heart that tolerates, and the hand that
executes them, belong To that being, who Is
| i said, was made in Gods own image? At
natural and inevitable sequence TO these
| dark deeds, Of which the defenceless brute
i the victim. rum0r ascrbes to the hospital
/ in question the iuiliction of cruelties on the
unfortunate human beings whom accident
/ bring, within its walls, a. mercileSs in the
extreme and which, If true. merits that
the denunciation Of Dante shoald he inScrib
ed over its terrible portals.
| am, etc,
HENRY BEBCH, President.
Tie material part Of the article to which
Mr. Bcrsh refers in the foregoing letter, con-
/ sists OF a description of experiments in
yiyi-ection alleged to be pursued at the Belle
vac hospital. which the Sunday Democrat
sav, that it conlenscs from an article in the
/ Sfar and which is "a follows.
10 tie animals which enter Or. Fliat'S
room the maxim of Dante at the gate Of he'll
might be applied, for they must leave all
| hore behind. They never come out alive.
| Here lie has gathered together all manner OF
1 QuadruTcis and bipeds, goats, kids, sheep,
| dogs, chickens pigeons, rabbits, frogs and
MONKEYS. some of these animals are still
untouched, and little know the fate that
awaits them. Others are found dead, others
are stupehed with an9sthetic treatment,
while in others their faculties are getting
/ gradually cxtinguiehed hv slow and pain
| tul torture for some of these beasts are
submitting To experiments which last for
weeks at a time. Some are being tried for
the nervous system, Others are being expert
mentei upon their organic properties In
the winter the experiments are more numer-
| ous than in the summer time, but during
! the past week DR.. Flint was engaged in
solving several matters for his own SaJi>!ac-
! ton. Thus in one end Of his room there Is
a rise0n whose Uranium has been removed,
and the lobes Of the brain taken out, so
that it has lived for ten days without brain.
| 1t still eats when food Is offered, bat 1t Is
totally without Consciousness of what Is
going on around. The poor bird pecks with
an instructive movement at the food.
| Pigeons have thus been known to live be
tween two and three weeks without any
brain. Almost the same experiment is being
tried upon a rabbit close by, though he Is
very near death. Its Uranium has been re
moved and the brain has been gradually
and almost imperceptiby shaved away in
LAYERS Of thin cakes The rabbit lives thus
for two or three days. This manner Of ex-
| pertinent, however, cannot be attempted
upon the higher order Of animals, which die
almost instantly upon their brain being in
terfered with. The higher the intelligence
Of the animal and the more delicate the
brain the more powerful Is the effect. Here
lies the carcess Of a black common street
dog. who died a slow death of six weeks in
great torture. His abdomen had been open
ed and the vessels leading to the liver had
been tied up in such n manner as to allow
nothing to enter or escape by the main chan
nels The object Of the experiment was to
determine the secretions Of the liver and
what led to them. The agony of the poor,
:
during the entire period, and his dismal
howls increased as his whole frame was
racked to pieces, and, in fact, he allowed
himself to be starved to death. instinctiyely
preferring to die thus than live in such agony.
This experiment is a constant one, and is
generally tried on dogs, though sometimes
ON goats A goat was in the room which had
been tested for the nervous system, and un-
] I 4 l., 10 4fp-f
was n very old one-in fact, that which led
to the discovery Of the original utility OF
yiyisection-the functions Of the nerves OF
the spinal marrow. The goats back had
been opened and an attempt had been made
20 lay bare the spinal marrow itself. The
attempt had. however, it Is said, proved a
failure. The experiment having been tried
successfully and conelusiyely forty years ago,
it would seem of little use for our doctors,
forty years later, to be trying the same
thing and failing in it 50 often. The same
goat was subjected to an experiment on
the nerves Of the brain to determine the
influence Of quinine On the cerebral err
cnlation. This experiment has been tried
very often during the past year without any
definite result, and seems to have very much
I interested our doctors. Though in dozens
of cases the effect of quinine has been mega
tive. they still insist on trying it, under the
slppo,ition that there must be some effect.
If 50, it has not appeared, and at a re-
, cent discussion of the Neurological society
, several eminent doctors. among them Mr.
Seruin, spoke upon it, and all avow-
. Ell that they had not succeeded in what
they thought would be the result. In thi;
! experiment the animal must have suffered
/, the most intense and awful agony. and al
, for whim, which turns out to be thu
e ridiculous fiction of a few dreamers. Du-
: ing the discussion referred to two doctor
fatty contradicted each other on a poin
c involving life or death to human being
p which, in itself, is . proof of how muei