The morning call., 1892-09-25

pine cones. because of their resemblance to
the front teeth, were stepped in vinegar and
supposed to make q gargle that would
soothe the toothache, and baty's coral. upon
which the infant of to-day TubS his tooth
less gums, is a relic of the DAYS when prac-
titloners were taught that white coral,
being very like teeth, will help Infants to
breed their teeth, their gums being rubbed
with it,"
To return TO the little leafet referred to
at the opening of this article. The writer
quotes these words from Claude Bernard's
Introduction to the Study of Medicine by
experiment:
HE the viyiSectoOi is no ordinary man.
de is learned man. a man possessed and
absorbed by scientific idea. He does not
hear the animals cries of pain. He is blind
TO the blood that flows De sees nothing
but his idea and organisms which conceal
from him the secrets he is resolved to dis
cover"
This the writer OF the leRflet declares TO
be IAN awful picture Of a man besotted with
lust If knowledge, just as murderers are
sometimes beSOtted with a lust of gold the
one as pitleSs and as regardless of all law,
divine or human. as the other"
Yet the only object the eXperimenter has
ID view In pursuing his by no means pleas
ant investigations IS to Increase his knowl-
edge OF how TO understand the human body
and relieve human suffering. In proof of
the opening statement that experiments on
ANIMALS are the stepping-stOnes 10 expert
ments on men and women the writer quotes
only the account of lawyer named Leldig
OF an account which he claimed 10 have
read, probably did read, In an English medl-
cal journal of q report before q German
medical society Of an experiment in cancer
grating practiced in q German hospital on
patient already suffering from a cancer
which did not admit of surgical Interior
ence. The unfortunate victim being beyond
ali known medical skill was rendered un-
conscious, and fragment OF the cancerous
tissue the virulence Of which the operator
claimed had first been attenuated 10 order
TO act as vaccine, was grated on 10 the
healthy tissue of another part OF the body.
The experiment was unsuccessful, the
patient dying of the disease, as she would
have done, anyway. The account Is given
too vaguely to admit of any judgment being
passed upon ii, hut it certainly. ii true al
related, Is an unwaTrantable preceding on
the part OF the eXpeTimenteT, VINO appar-
entity fastened the patients death, but the
conclusion of the writer that the vivisec-
tiOn Of animals, so far from hindeTing eX-
periments upon men and women, actually
leads up to them is entirely uHwarranted.
Now, | would not be understood as under
estimating IN any way the efforts OF III lose
people who have done so much OF late years
for the protection of dumb brutes. THIS
country owes them debt of graft
tude for the good they have wrought In edu-
eating people to regard the rights of AMI
mails but when even good people, in their
ignorance Of facts, undertake TO hinder the
progress of science and of the human race
they should be firmly opposed and If pos
sible made TO see the untenability OF the
position they take.
In the present state of medical knowledge
experiments are still necessary, and thanks
TO the anesthetcs that experiments alone
have given US Investigations can be and are
carried on without pain to the subjects.
Even were scientists SO cruel as not to care
for the sutferings of the animals on which
they work 1t is highly important to the
success OF their experiments, as well IS
greatly to their convenience in handling,
that the creatures should suffer as little as
possible, hence aneSthetics are always used.
One OF the most eager investigators | ever
knew was, as well, one OF the tendereSt
hearted men imaginable.
1t has occasionally been suggested By ad-
vanced thinkers that criminals condemned
10 die might, with their own consent, be set
aside TO advance the purposes Of science.
That, by the way, was favOrte idea OF
the late Sir MOrrell Mackenzie, the cele-
brated physician who attended the En-
peror Frederick In his last illness, and the
experiment has, If / remember rightly,
actually been tried by tile Government OF
Hawaii, some half dozen years ago, when
a condemned criminal was given his choice
between execution and incubation for
lepTosy and chose the latter alternative.
ADELINE L. KNAPP.