The New York herald., 1879-09-30
THE HORRORS OF yIvIsEcYIoN.

AND "MEDIcUs'-NINE-TENT OF ALL Ex-
pERIMENTs ENTIRELY USELESS AND WORTH
LEss"-THE CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD.
The following letter has been received from Mr.
Henry Bergh. the humanitarian. who once more
takes up the cudgels of controversy on behalf OF the
lower order of animals. welding them with al his
old time energy and skill
HEADQUARTERS or THE SOCIETY FOR THEl
PREVENTION CRUELTY TO ANIMALS.
To THE EDITon OF THE HERALD:-
Error is best corrected by calm discussion ana
investigation. 1t is too much the practice nowadays
to burden subject with irrelevant personal abuse
for holding antagonistic opinions An agreeable
dsvation from this habit Is psesentea IN your Issue
signing himself "Medlcus, ;, who, in reply to COM
munication which felt constrained to address to
YOU on the subject OF 'Vivisection." treat its
author--althoush differing in opinion from them
with that courtesy which gentlemen appreciate and
turbing the scientific dust OF the second century.
emerges into the clearer atmosphere OF 1928. aud
vcrsalorror that Harvey the first discoverer of
the circulation OF the blood. Permit me briefly
to furnish few historical facts on that point.
The late John Elliotson declared that the circula
ton through tho lungs had certainly been taught
seventy years previously by Servetius who was
asserts IN his Life Harvey" that the facts he
used familiarly known to most Of his predeces
for nearly century previous; Isaac Walton
that Harvey got the idea OF the circulation
from Walter Warner. the mathematician. and
sn sns Sosn and apn'1s .ans
Columbus afterward clearly announced the cir
culation Of the blood through the lungs. and
Cesalpinus. many years before Harvey, published
in three different works all that wanting in Ser
vetus to the circulation complete. Wotton
says that Servetus the first. far as he could
learn. who had distinct idea of this matter. Evon
the Chinese were impressed with this truth some
thousand years before Europeans dreamed OF it.
Plato aflirined:-.The heart being tho knot Of the
veins and the fountain from whence the blood
arises and briskiy circulates through all the mein
There is very little new under the sun. In mu-
scum in Europe have seen pistol made hundreds
OF ago almost the counterpart Of the Colts re-
volver.
REFLECTION, AND vIvIsEcTIoN.
While correcting this idea OF Harveys discovery,
my principal purpose to show that it not to
vivisection that he owes his fame, for nowhere so
fur as can learn does he assert that he discovered
the circulation by vivisecton. On the contrary he
tells us, "When first gave my mind to vivisection
as means Of discovering the motions aud uses OF
specton, found tho task truly arduous-so full OF
difficulties that was almost tempted to think that
hended by God. MY mind was greatly unsettled.
nor did I know what l should conclude;,'
lna a to the he discovery Hume in his History Of
England" says:-"Harvey is entitled to the glory Of
having made it by reasoning alone" Now. reason
ing is not vivisecton. That great interpreter OF
nature. Shakespeare was fully aware OF the crcu-
lation Of the blood. Numerous passages in his works
prove thlss Let me cite one or two:-
Or, If that surly spirit melancholy,
Mad baked thy blood and made Ii i heavy thick;
As dear tho rnddy drops
That visit my SAD heart
The .ide of blood in
Hath proudly flowed In vanity
Shakespeare who condemned vivisection as tend
ing to make the heart hard died in 1G1G and "IIar
veys Motion of the Heart did not appear until 1928
Having been at much pains to inform my self by
reference to acknowledged authorities. including
Harvey himself am able to assert that neither tho
circulation nor the fux and rehux of the blood was
discovered by vivsection, but by the microscope
BY its the discovery was made apparent that o
ux and refux of the blood physical
%
this fact was finally conceded by Harvey after tho
iDicton by him upon innocent animals OF atrocities
surpassed but by that monster OF vivisecton,
Magendie
About the same timo Malpigh an Italian physi-
clan, these facts also by the aid Of the
microscope applied to the pulsatng hearts Of wasps
flies and shrimps, and observed their motions. las
Langc proved tho same by injection on dead sub
jccts thus showing that the microscope could effect
prove crueitos which Sir Walter Scott calls ..mur-
ders disguised by philosophic names.
AN ERRONEOUS ASSERTION"
DIR. Mott erroneOusly asserts that "nearly all that
is known in physiology has been obtained by expert
mens on living animals" On tho contrary. cnai-
authortles-as tor instance, the distinguished
surgeons Nelaton, Sir William Ferguson and Sir
Charles Bell-confcss "that OF every thousand Of
these experiments scarcely tenth part is of the
smallest Value science or medicine. and that the
remaining nine hundred must be considered as en-
tirely useless and worthless"
"Medicus' in his communication declares that
'vvisection. as practised In the colleges of this
city ana country is conducted while the animals
are kept in that condition until DEATH"
The celebrated Baron Won Weber In an autograph
letter to assures that tho greater part Of the
experiments on animals are now devoted toward
the brain and it's reference to the system;
DEATH are not even allowed tho benefit Of anasthet
ics, as these would interfere with the inferences
drawn from experiments" This latter tact has been
repeatedly admitted to me by leading surgeons Of
this city, advocates of vivisection.
Reservng for another communication further
consideration of this subject which seems to me to
public as pedestrnnism. will conclude with
glance ut the tragic side OF tho question.
Those OF your readers whose sensibilites to their
honor unfit them to read these frightful truths.
here lay down the HERALD or turn to loss harrow
At the head of barbarous and unfeeling vivsectors
stand the French and Italians. the Austrans aud
Germans next. and lastly the English Where the
pitiloss deeds Of countrymen will ultimately
rank them in this damnablc record time will show.
The wretch Magendie: before alluded to, was un-
doubtcdly the most abandoned criminal that
livedl
PROFESSIONAL BAnBAMrY.
He nailed sensitive little spaniel by its four
paws and its long silky ears to the table that he
might show to his delighted pupils how to separate
the of the eyes. the saving of the skull tho
cutting of the spine and the laying open OF the diff
forent sets of retaining tho groanng animal
Claude Bernard who died a couple of years since.
and went to answer at the bar of Heaven for his
voting crueltes invented a stove to observe the
slow death by heat of warm booded animals. In
his book he describes the agoncs of seventeen dogs
and twenty-five rabbits which he had thus slowly
Now what did science learn by this Internal decd?
Why, that dog will take twonty-four minutes to
die in ~ deg. H. and that when the head of
tho miserable animal was outside OF tho stove it
would sometimes live till next day!
Professor Fyfe of Edinburgh. onco fastened a
beautiful spaniel by its feet making hole through
its with a red hot iron. through which he
passed thong to hold 1t moro securely. He cut
open its chest and belly to show his pupils tho
tcstnal or 1ans. Tho expression of agony when tho
animal showed its white teeth in its efforts to
sst, according to eye witness, most horriblel
Professor. moro properly speaking the Bavarian
Bracket. of Paris, once dug his dogs eyes
out. then destroyed its hearing and tortured 1t in
every conceivable way but In spite of all this tho
friendly creature licked the murdorous hands OF it's
devil. who sacrificed less than 200 dogs in sim
liar experiments, once cut open the womb of preg
nnnt bitch in order to establish tho important fact
that the dying mother would lick the young
while thus being brought into the worldi Professor
Schf, of Florence, so infuriated public opinion
against him that no was Obliged to ncc to Geneva.
II tod aliv unllv apI in,