The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1890-10-11
ABOUT vlvisecTioN.
Jss sr.sssss Asses..ry fss H. t.s~a I
Na0Asily.

A movement IL SGT on foot ~ some
sell.meaning, humane. yet snf-gs1nsI'
tive persons. 10 stir up pabiio sentiment
asains, tho practice of si,isecIlsn. In
the pamphlets ~hlrh they sea,,eF broad
cas-, over tho land they ds>erito ho"
tho professors Of physiology aso treating
III. poor dumb creatures. Who, l~'ins
deprived by nature Of language. can NOS
even glyo expression tn thclr pain OF
scous. those sho ~ gaiecllns,y cause
them Ia suffer.
Heading ,hoss descriptions. ~hluh un.
| aoubt.diy are based upon facts, hear,
of s,on. mus, melt in pity. ard propl.
whose Imagination permits them {, put
themselves in tho place Of the dogs.
cats. rabbits and fross arc easily In.
duc~d Ia petition lesisla;ion 10 prohibit
avch = practice.
Yet. say, tho iios,on ciobe. the whole
sgblcc, has another aspect II any Of
these humane and scnsi;i,. persons
should L. inflietea with iisrasr the
ca.- Of which should r-lairr no, alone
= woii.isarn~.i physician. but one who
could perform an operation with Z skin.
fui and steady hand. would they no,
wish that such . man ~as available?
Would th~y not travel from one end Of
the world To the other In. order To ind
the person who. by his knowledge and
skill. could proioas their lives for
couple Of years? lIn, whence shall that
knowledge or practice come To physi-
clan II he IL not allowed Ia experiment?
II shocks as yet the scniimcn,aliiy
Of pcopic that tho bodies OF de-
ceased friends Ahould 10 dt>srcs-
Cd. and tho students of medicine
can obtain no other specimens
than tho bodies Of people who died
frscndicsa In priso~s or pssor houses. OF
such - 4ruvc.rubbrn would offer them
for saic. Yet such eorp-cs arr without
grcai va iuc u science. because they
either do not show tina, special disease
which tho professor In treating In his
lectures. or tho Information IL lacking
In regard to tho progress OF tho sickness
which caused tho death. pos;-mor,cri
examinations will hayc much greater
value to science when pccplc permit tho
body OF friend to bc dis-cc;cd when.
over tho physicians who treated that
person In life desires Il.
Even then. however. tho study OF
medicine can not rap tho full benefit.
The hand of tho physician who IN To per-
form the operation mast b. trained on
subjects In which there Is life In order
tina, IL may remain steady at tho 'imo
whom deviation Of . millimctrc from
tho right limo might cause tho death OF
tho patient
II tho professors OF physiology were
mon who took vulgar delight In tho
agonics OF dying animals. or II the stu.
:. f.r l., In II
pleasure crowded around tho dissccting
table, or II, finally. vast classes of pco-
pie would become infected with the
spiri, OF cruelty by the practice of vivi-
section. the objcctors would be right;
but while their objections show n lauda-
bic tenderness OF heart, they go too far,
and forget that those who practice WV
| iscction arc but very few in numbers.
that they are earnest men who have n
warm heart for their fcllow-crcaturcs.
and whose desire to relieve suffering Is
the motive OF their apparent disregard
OF pity.
There arc two moro points which
need to he answered. II 10 claimed that
without any uso 10 science animals arc
maltrcatcd. and that, II viviscction Is to
be permitted 1t should be restricted as
closely as possible. Tho accusation and
proposition arc both utterly false. The
| result of n thousand experiments does
perhaps not bring about tho euro Of one
disease, but these experiments lead
| towards tho dtsccscry Of tho principles
which undcrlic . disease, and nobody
can tell whether tho next experiment
will not be followed by q more brilliant
success. AS every year new scholars
enter the various schools OF medicine.
the same field must be gone over by tho
professor again and again. The student
must be shown by illustration how q
muscle or u nerve In life will act when
irritatcd, and his hand must be trained
to operate upon living being. From
the moment that wo shall endeavor to
limit tho amount Of experiments
science will come to standstill.
The second point is: Why should
these poor animals be made to suffer for
the benefit of the human being? 10
this answer: Why are they killed to
be eaten by tho human being? In this
world of ours man takes first cognizanco
OF himself and measures all that is
right and wrong by judging how it will
affect him. If we should ever go SO far
as to give the same rights to all crca-
lures which we give to man we would
have to starve and 60 naked, because
even vegetarianism would DO cruelty.
For all VIC know, even the plant may
suffer pain while VIC are destroying it.
1t is humane to avoid as much as
possible all useless cruelty to animals,
but when human welfare can be pro-
noted through vivisection, and human
suffering can DO relieved through the
suffering OF some animal; when. further
more, only scholars, men who arc
earnest in their endeavors to aid hui
manity, are allowed to conduct such ex-
periments, we ought not to let our
sensitivcness slop over or our sympa-
thies to shoot beyond tho mark.