The Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1885-1886, 1886-02-26
DEAGH WITHOUT PAIN.
AN ANALYTICAL CHEMIST PRESENTS
A THEORY ON THE SUBJECT.
Experiments with Dumb Animals
Method Employed at the Home for
Lost Dogs-How to shuttle OF
without . Pang.

Let us suppose, for the sake of making the
subject clearer, that We have a pet dog
which must he destroyed; and let us take
he doomed creature to different classes O.
PERSONS and request them to suggest the hes.
means for its destruction Let lis in the
first instance take it to that specimen o.
humanity-or inhumanity, if you please
which, for the sake of distinction, has beer
called "a rough" and ask his advice. He
will, in all probability, suggest two meth
DDS, which have been very largely used, ana
still are to some extent-namelv. hanging
or drowning-and he will perhaps assure
you that it will be but few struggles. and
then all will be over. Next, take it to a
sportsman, and you will be told to shoot it;
take it to an apothecary, and you will I've
told to use very active poison-strych-
nine, perhaps, or corrosive sublimate, or
white arsenic, or prussic acid; take it to
doctor, and perhaps he may tell You the
same, or he may tell you to give chloroform
first, and drown or otherwise kill the animal
while under its influence.
BARBARoUS AND CRUEL METHODS.
Not one of these methods can we indorse,
aud we speak from experience having wit
messed the death of many animals under
each OF these methods, even when applied in
the most skillful manner Drowning is a
harharous and cruel method The head
must he forcibly submerged in water; and
who that has seen the struggles and heard
the cries of half drowned animal, should it
Tor Il moment get one breath OF air, can say
that its death was unattended with great
and violent pain. Can any one who has
witnessed the conyulsive strugges-the sud
den drawing up Of the lower limbs toward
the throat the stifled cry the bursting eye
ball, of an animal when killed by hanging,
say its death was painless one! As for the
strong poison treatment, i'll our opinion il is
worse than the two Just mentioned for not
only is the suffering most acute but it is
enormously prolonged. Many poor thing
have | seen subjected to what was called skill
full treatment i'll this way, and seldom have |
experienced more sickening feelings than
when watching the agonies of the dying
creature Many a stout and stern heart
have | known on such occasions to resolve
that they would not look upon such sights
again. No; the death by strong poisons is
very, very far from being a humane method.
Shooting is too slow and uncertain. and
ought to I've had recourse to only under
exceptional circumstances, when no other
methods are applicable
There is one other method, seldom recon-
ncnded because it is somewhat difficult of
application, but which is nevertheless
largely employed and deserves more gen
eral recognition. 1t is the one suggested by
DR. Richardson, and used every week for
the destruction of carloads of wandering
and worthless dogs which find their way to
the Home for Lost Dogs at Battersea, and
consists in killing chiefly by means of the
Gas known to chemists as carbonic oxide.
Under the influence Of this gas the animal
sinks into an iIlsensible sleep, from which it
never wakes and without the least sign of
PAIN. Ii is the form of death so frequently
chosen by French suicides, and unwarily ha,
found many a victim in the weary wayfarer
who has laid himself to sleep on the warm
bank on the leeward side of burning lime
kiln.
PAINLESS EFFECTS OF CARBoNIC OXIDE.
Its application does not necessitate so
much additional trouble and skill as to make
it impracticabIe or unpopular. The animal
has only to be placed in an air-tight cham
Der connected by pipe with another cham
| Der in which charcoal fire is lighted. The
| products of combustion pass along the pipe
| to the chamber in which the animal is con-
fined, and before long it dies, to all external
| appearances, painless death. The quantity
of corbonic oxide gas necessary for the de-
| strurtion of an animal is very small lie
| Blanc found that animals could live in an
| atmosphere containing - per cent. of car
| bonC acid, but died in one containing 4,
per cent. of carbonic oxide, and that re
| covcry was more difficult in the latter case.
| 1t is therefore evident that but very small
| quantity Of this gas is sufficient to cause
| death
| DR. Richardson points out that the method
can be applied to animals which are killed
| to supply us with food; that the flesh of
| animals killed Is in no way altered, and
| that the blood can he drawn as completely
after as before the animal has been narcot-
| led. 1t has not vet been applied to oxen
and horses, the necessarily larger size Of the
| cthal chamber being i'll itself difficulty
Moreover, large animals require a higher
| percentage of gas Ia produce in them mar
| cotic effects.
| The physiological effect of carbonic oxide
| Edo ipHS btti SuIiftneu ny tuelilotS W uS-
pend on the formation of compound of
| carbonic oxide with the haemoglobin or
matter in the red corpuscles Of the blood, by
which the latter is prevented from exercising
its function as an absorbent of oxygen. But
whatever its action may be, one thing is
certain, that it is a really humane method of
Strengthening animals, and on this account
we hope its application will receive that at
tention it so richly deserves. Chemist in
| Chambers Journal.