Evening star., 1894-03-26
HORRORS OF vIvIsECTIoN.
A Plea Made on Behalf of the Animal,
That Suffer.

ing evil-that damnable practice r,,va tetv
carried on in the name of medical, science
known as vivisection," writes Charles II
| Coe to The Star. 'Vivisection is literally
dissection-cutting up-of a living animal
with knife or other instruments. The term
generally includes all experiments on liy-
ing animals with drugs, etc. The object is
that OF demonstrating previously known
iacts' ana increasing our knowledge Of
iheolcine and operative surgery. In other
"oius' 10 releVe our own pains at the cost
OF unutterable suffering to animals.
This is the object, but abundant teeti
mony from the highest sources. and from
prominent vivisectionists themselves. has
repeatedly proven its worthless ! lessi DR.
Leinngwell says that a careful study ef
inorIahty statistics Gn I2nglan,D shows
tha Ia n , no case has vivisecLion lesseaed
the Fatality of single disease beyond what
IL was thirty-five years ago.
D;. w. .. Halsted Of New York had an
artlSle IN the International Journal OF the
Sleulcai sciences, for October, 1881, in which
he relates an experimental study on abont
torty dogs, in circular suture of tne in
| lesuies; L VIII give, in hrief. a few sam
pies Oh MS experiments, as follows:
On January Is, 1881, the intestiaes Of a
snlail dog were operated upon ON the 23d
VI lne mohth the dog was found dead
On the same day another dog OF medium
Sc was fastened TO the operating table,
aAu one month later was killed. ON Janu-
AIRY ~ one died of shock a few hours
after operation Another was not Iheiy
after OPERATION and was killed on the
tWefth day following Another died unoer
continuous operation, which lasted two
hours WV
ne dogs suffered urtold agony, and most
oi lheIn dled from the effects of the opera
tons CT wers killed when they snnaared
To De dying from slarva ton Previous 10
summarizing the results of his 'experi-
nneilai IL study Dr. Halsted says page 400:
snaii not record the rest of my expert
herls because most of them seem
now rather absurd to me- and none of then,
admit of classihca ton -'-
Not InsensfbIe to Pain, fa 7..
In few cases of vivisection the animal
operated upon is Gle med by some TO he
wholly insensble to pain through the use
OF anaesthetics In regard to this. how
ever, an emiaent physician stated in the
London Spectator Of May %, 1875, that
complete and conscientious araesthesia is
seldom even attempted. the animal getting
at most slight whiff by way of satisfying
the conscience of the operator or of ena-
bling him to make statements of a humane
character The same physician SAYS that
when he was a student his experiments AT
vivisection Qn his own private room were
failures, because in his anxiety to have the
animal under complete control of an anaes-
thelc he found that IL had died before his
experiments could begin. He therefore con-
cluded to see how experienced vivIsectofs
managed. After having had, as he says,
ample opportunity of seeing am
Il clii.ed to look upon anaesthetics as the
greatest curse to viv:sectible animals
when an anaesthetic casually chloro-
form or ether) Is en- p.Cyed ii is commonly
given Cnly during the preliminary process;
an hour or two later when the animal has
partially recovered from the shock received
the wounds are reopened and the real ex-
periments begin. This subjects the animal
IN ha Of h.
which may last for hours, or even days
In thousands of ope' ations anaesthetic
cannot be used. because it would interfere
with the correctness of the res lting ex.
pertinent DR.. Lehihgwell describes a GER
tain experiment as one of the most ex-
ating which can be performed, witch
consists in exposing the spinal cord of the
dCg Tor the purpose of demonstrating the
junction of tho spinal nerves This exper-
lment was performed by Majendie, an en-
inent French physiocgist, before his class
demonstrations, and before the Introduction
OF ether DR.. LatOur was present on one
occasion when Majerdie was operator ana
teacher, and thus clCses q reference 10 the
subject: The dog, mut:la ated and bleesiilig
twice escaped from urder the implacabie
knife and threw its front paws around
Aajencie's heel, licking, as If to soften his
murderer and ask for pity. i confess L was
unable to endure that heartrending spec
tacle.'
Exposing the Spinal Cord.
his text book of physiology: 'Majendie -.
showed very satisfactorily that the posterior
roots (of the spinal cord) were exclusively
sensory' referring to the above), ana this
fact has been confirmed by more recent OBJ
servatien upon the higher classes OF ami
mails. We have ourselves frequently eN-
posed and irritated the roots of the nerves
in Gogs, etc, etc. The commencement of
the above experiment-the cutting opera
ton-is now performed with anaesthetics;
the most powerful part of the work how
ever, Is resumed later on, after the effects
of the chlorotorm has entirely disappeared
L VIII now quote briefly from a work on
viVisection, written by an able veterinary
surgeon CMr. Murdock) after he had visited
a French laboratory. Mr. Murdock says:
here lay six or seven horses fixed
by every mechanical device by the head ana
feet to pillars, while the students were per
forming different operations The sight Was
truly horrible. The operations begun early,
in the forenoon, it now being O'Clock,
Inc students had begun their days work in
the least vital parts OF the amin ais The,
trunks We're there, but they had lost their
tails, hoofs, ears, etc. . One an piraal
had a side of the head. including the eve.
and ear. completely dissected: and other
students were laying open and cauterizing-
the hook of the same animal" ID =.
Another visitor TO the same laboratory. re
ferrtng to the lack of pity in the SIN S,.ntx =,
says: "A little bay mare, worn out in the.
operation day, having unfortunately retain
ed life throughout the fendish ordeal ana
looking like nothing ever made by the hand
OF God-with loins ripped open skin torn
and ploughed by red-hot irons" dn an oner.
alton known as firins), ''riddled by seato.,s
tehcons severed, hoofess, sightless and de-
fenseless, was exultingly reared" <anotner
witness says amid laughter'0 ION her
bleeding feet just when gasping for breath
and dying, to show what dexterity had done
In completing its work before death took
place" - -
The Practice I'm America t-
Thousands of American medical students
whom the public employ later on have Wit
messed these or equally inhuman exneri-
ments. In the University of Pennsvlv,nia
alone II is said on the best authority MAT
horses and other animals are often yivi
sected without even a pretense of anaes-
thetics being used. Many students-to their
everlasting credit be IL said-haye onnosad
Vivisecton ever since it's hideous secrets
were hrst exposed to their eyes Viyisec-
tionists have been heard to saw amonu
themselves that no true results can he
reached without human subjects O,iia
says: That these men do not Immediately
give themselves the greater luxury of nm
man victims is due only to their tir,iditv
before public opinion a slight research
among the scientific medical Journals and
elsewhere would enable me to fill the COL
umns of this paper with experfrnents ,rac
- ls IL