Daily Yellowstone journal., 1890-07-11
Friday. July H., 1890.
ADVANTAGES Ur viviSsCTlON.
8sv Humanity Is BENEFITED by the Prss-
tice That Seems Cruel.

ticc That Seems Cruel.
A movement is set on foot by some
well meaning humane, yet supcrsensi-
tive persons to stir up public sentiment
against the practice Of vivisection. In
The pamphlets which they scatter broad
oast over the land they describe how
the professors of physiology are treating
the poor dumb creatures, who, being
deprived 10y nature Of language, cannot
W give expression TO their pain or nc
cuse those who so unfeelingly cause
them to suffer.
Reading these descriptions, which
undoubtedly are based upon facts, a
heart Of stone must melt in pity, and
people whose Imagination permits them
to put themselves in the place of the
dogs, eats, rabbits and frogs are easily
induced to petition legislation TO pro.
hibit such a practice.
Yet the whole subject has another as
pect. If any Of these humane and sen
itive persons should be inflicted with a
disease the cure Of which would require
not alone a well learned physician, but
M who could perform an operation
with a skillful and steady hand, would
they not wish tlat such a man was
available3 Would they not travel from
M endof the world to the other in or
der TO find the person who, by his
knowledge ard skill, could prolong
their lives for a couple of yearsl But
whence shall that knowledge or prac-
tioe come TO a physician if he is not al
lowed to experiment.
1t shocks AZ yet the sentimentality Of
people that the bodies Of deceased
friends should DO dissected, and the
students of medicine can obtain no
other specimens than the bodies of peo-
pie who died friendless in prisons or
poorhouses, or such as grave robbers
would offer them for sale. Yet such
corpses are without great value to
science, because they either do not
show that special disease which the
professor is treating In his lectures or
The information Is lacking In regard to
the progress of the sickness which
causes the death. Post-mortem exam
nations will have q much greater valve
30 science when people permit the body
Of q friend to be dissected whenever
aphysician who treated that person in
life desires il.
Even then. however, the study of
medicine cannot reap the full benefit.
The hand of the physician who is to
perform the operation must be train
cd in order that it may remain steady
1t the time when a deviation of a MILL
meter from the right line might cause
the death of a patient. How, further
more, are the laws and principles to be
established in which and by which
nerves and muscles act, II they cannot
be demonstrated by example9 The
study Of anatomy merely shows that a
nerve runs in a certain direction. but IL
doesnot show and cannot teach what the
functions of the nerve are and how II
will act when irritated. Are physi.
clans to imagine all such thingsl II
they are to be deprived of the means
with which to experiment and from
which to learn, we may as well close
our schools Of medicine and rely in sick.
ness upon the miraculous Intervention
of saints, as people used TO rely upon il
in ancient times.
II the professors of physiology were
men who took a vulgar delight in the ag-
onies ofdying animals, or II the students
were men who for the sake of pleasure
crowded around the dissecting table, OF
II, finally, vast classes of people would
become infected with the spirit of cruel.
ty by the practice Of vivisection, the OBJ
jectors would be right; but while their
objection shows a laudable tenderness
of heart, they go too far, and forget
that those who practice vivisection are
very few In numbers, that they are ear
nest men who have a warm heart for
their fellow creatures, and whose desire
to relieve suffering is the motive Of
their apparent disregard of pity.
There are two more points which
need to be answered. Ii Is claimed that
without any use to science animals are
maltreated, and that IL ~vivisection is to
be permitted. it should be restricted as
closely n possible. The accusation and
proposition are both utterly false. The
result of a thousand experiments does
perhaps not bring about the cure Of
one disease, but these experiments lead
toward the discovery Of the principles
which underlie a disease, and nobody
can tell whether the next experiment
will not be followed by a more brilliant
success. As every year new scholars
enter the various schools Of medicine,
the same field must be gone over by the
professor again and again. The student
must be shown by illustration how a
muscle or nerve In life will act when ir-
Htated, and his hand must be trained
% operate upon a living being. From
- moment that we shall endeavor TO
Emit the amount Of experiments science
VII come 10 n standstill.