Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-10-15
A GUINEA PIG NURSERY.
PRoPAGATING THEM FOR vIvISEC.
TON PURPOSES.
No Bigger Than Mice When Born-A
Monster of the Species Weighs
Seven Pounds.

seven I1Ounu6.
H R. EDWARD W. LAMBERT,
| of New York City, whose
i summer residence on New
Canaan Heights, Conn, is
one of the most beautiful properties
in that pretty suburban town, devotes
considerable time and money to the
propagation of guinea pigs for vivi.
section purposes by the surgeons at
the numerous New York hospitals. A
visitor saw there, the other day, $50
of them, old and young, big and lit
tie, black pigs, black and white, white,
black and brown, brown and white.
Some were scurrying away, some hid
ing under the hay with which the pens
are bedded. Some stopped to look,
others huddled together against the
far partition, and then tumbled over
one another in their efforts to get
further away. The soothing words
and professional cluck of Breeder
Schuster soon quieted their fears, and
little white beauty was captured for
closer inspection. Crouched in Mr..
Schuster's hand, and having the fine
hair of his back rubbed CONTRARY" "
he half closed his beautiful pink eyes,
and resigned himself to contented en-
joyment of his four pounds of avoirdu-
pois pig meat.
The pig house is building thirty
elk feet long and fifteen feet wide,
formerly used as a playhouse for the
children, and was fitted for its present
use about two years ago by being di-
vided into two rows of pens, with a
passagewsy between them. On the
east side are ten pens, about three by
five feet, and at the north end are two
closets, one at each corner, where the
stores of food are kept. On the west
side is one long pen, about four by
twenty feet, in which 140 pigs, of all
sizes, ages and colors, were running,
roofing and squealing. The smaller
pens are for breeders, and here was a
two hours old litter, about as big as
mice, and quite as lively, and near by
was pen where fifty of the older pigs
were set aside as the instalment next
to be sent to the market. One soli-
tary pig, the monster and patriarch of
the piggery, had a pen by himself
This Goliath weighed almost seven
pounds, and Mr.. Schuster was voluble
in his praises of this triumph of skill
full development. The guinea pig is a
sensible product and his house must
be kept warm, clean and comfortable
in winter and we'll ventilated in sum
mer. But these cunning, tricky and
sprightly little beauties are doomed
to fate that would cause every iudi-
vidual pig of them to shudder if his
instructive foresight could bring it to
his knowledge.
When the experiments of DIR. Koch,
the great lymph specialist of Berlin,
were creating SO much interest in this
country, DR.. Alexander Lambert be.
came greatly interested, and procured
number of guinea pigs for the pur.
poses of experiment. His pigs pro-
duce three or four litters year, and
from one to six in litter, according
to the age of the parents. The oldest
pig is two years old. They breed
when six to eight months old. Their
dry food is oats and carrots, and they
eat anything that is green. The
easy capacity of DIR. Lambert's s nursery
is 400 pigs year. The pigs are sold
to the New York Board OF Health,
which orders large numbers-one or.
der calling for 140-and to the Van.
derbilt Hospital. A few are sent to
DIR. Lambert, in New York, for his
own use. and quite a number of the
prettiest are sold for pets. They are
sent by express, in boxes holding
twelve pigs each, and the prices run
from seventy-fve cents to 81 pig.
Until the experiments of DIR. Koch
demonstrated that the characteristics
of the guinea pig make it more valu-
able for labratory experiments and for
incubation purposes, rabbits were
used chiefly and other animals less ex-
tensively. Dogs, calves, cats, frogs
and pigeons are also used, the latter
chiefly for experiments on the brain
and nerves, and frogs for electrical
and galvanic nerve tests. The expe.
riments are not aimless, but are made
to increase the ability of physicians tc
cope with human ailments. The data
derived from the action of virus OF
various kinds, the incubation with
germs, the development of pus, in
these guinea pigs, are used by scien.
fists in the treatment of human be
ings, and proved to be of great value.
While it is true that vivisection, as
originally practised, was regardless of
the sufferings inflicted upon the sub.
jects, modern science and anaesthetics
have reduced suffering to a minimum.
But vivisection is one thing, and in
oculation is quite different thing,
and while these pretty little guinea
pigs suffer when inoculated as men
suffer when diseased, the balance in
favor of comparative anatomy is very
decided. New York Tribune.