The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-02
ABOUT VIVISECTI0N.
VIEW OF SCIENCE AND OF
HUMANITY.


House and soon VIII Come Before
the Senate-A Vigorous Crusade by
Advocates of Each side of the
Question.
New York, Dec. 3O-A crusade against
the practice of vivisection IS being inaugu-
rated throughout the country by the Ma
tional Humane Alliance and kindred so
cieties. At the meeting Of the alliance in
Washington during the past week. one of
the resolutions advocated congressional ac-
ton to put stop 10 the vivisection Of ani-
mas. Already the lower house has pass
ed a bill restricting the practice, and the
subject is expected TO come up for con-
sideration in the Senate before long. The
medical journals. keeniy alive to the in
fiuence which the meeting of the humane
alliance may have on the members of the
upper house. have urged their readers to
bring every legitimate political influences
10 bear on representatives, Of the various
states The alliance. on the other nand,
Is adopting almost the same course of ac-
ton in addition 20 It's general Washington
meeting. So the fight is on. Each side
is crying loudly against the practices Of
the other. In London the subject bas been
revived by the visit of Vrchow to the
Lord Lister celebration. AT a dinner in
London the other evening, while Nirchow
was listening to complimentary speeches
of the wen known English scientists, an
unsigned telegram was handed 90 the sa-
want. which read: Get thee hence, vile
vivisector. England spurns theer
Your correspondent has secured from
the most prominent advocates and oppon-
ents of vivisection their opinions as 10
the scientific value and practical human
ity Of the practice of vivisectiOn. As these
opinions show. the discussion of the sub
ject has IN some cases become decidedly
bitter.
DR.. George F. Shrady was asked to state
his opinion for or against vivisection. As
editor of the Medical Record ne has kept
abreast of general opinion on this subject
and is well qualified TO speak. He said:
We'll, you know l am considered 10 be
an arch fiend on this subject by the an
It's but as a matter of fact my DISPOSE
tion is such that viYisection when l am
present causes me more pain than it does
the animals. My general attitude in the
matter was nodded / suppose, by an in
reer. l remember l was demonstrating
some nerve functions to a class of stu
dents, and found it impossible to get on
because / had no subject with which TO
illustrate my remarks l should have
had an animal present. We were in
quaSdary when a beggar entered the room
with a poor mean little cur. and one of
the students remarked: Doctor there is
a subject for US The man was asked
how much he would sell his dog for, and
he said 50 cents. We bought the dog.
Then l tried to kill that dog in the man
ner ordinarily employed, but missed the
vital part which should have been touched
with my instrument. Then l tried to
choke the animal, but it looked up at me
in such a pitiful way that l could not do
IL.
Against VivisectiOn in schools.
Now do not think that the practice
of vivisection in schools can be justified
from any standpoint 1t is wrong every
way you look at il. But on the other
hand, vivisection is absolutely necessary
from the point Of view of higher science
There are certain things which can be
found out only through the destruction of
and experimenting upon these lower
forms of creation. might say that nearly
everything we have learned from the time
of Jenner to the present day, and partic-
uiarly what We know of the acNon OF the
nervous system, is due to animal expert
mentation. In view of this therefore. the
opposition of the antivivisectionists is a
blow at the higher science If the thing
could be argued out on a fair basis from
each side, it might be adjusted, but the
opponents of vivisection do not seem to
care to do this. They can see nothing but
their own side of the story. As | have
said, 1 cannot speak strongly enough
against vivisection in the schools but
when it Is practiced for scientific purposes
We have but to point 10 nature as an ar
gument in favor of 1t. Nature herself is
cruel in her methods and while we may
interpret her. we cannot alter her laws
The law OF the survival of the fittest holds
good In this case. The lower and weaker
forms must succumb for the benefit of the
larger ones.
Aids in Prevention of Disease.
Now, the preventing of disease is quite
as important as the getting of the ordi-
nary sustenance of life. In getting that
sustenance it is one of natures laws that
one animal shall kiln another, so in order
to find out the laws which govern dis
ease il is necessary that the lower forms
in the animal kingdom shah he expert
mented upon. Is il not better that a dog
should die than that we should have no
knowledge of contagious diseases or of
the actions of poisons, or of the other
bFdncneS OF meu1Clne winch have been stu
died, and can be studied only through
animal experimentation?
You win observe also that | used the
term animal experimentation in prefer
ence to vivisection, for at is not always ne
cessary to hurt an animal in experimenting
upon it, My experience has been that in
every university every precaution Is taxi
en- to prevent the animal from suffering
If tt is purposed 10 experiment upon GER
tain parts of the body. you viii find i'm
most cases that connection with the brain
Is cut off or stupeted. so that the rrita-
ton of the parts viii not be felt by the
animal In fact, the practice of vivisectlon
in colleges is a necessity.
u am opposed to many of the luxuries
Of fife, but when its necessities are con-
sidered, nothing should stand in the way.
] viii willingly do without my own dinner
ii The getting of the food will cause pain
90 certain animals. That is a thing which
concerns me alone, but If ! can further
the curing of disease by experimenting
upon animals, / consider that experiment
tation 70 be not only just but necessary
DR.. Frederick 5. Lee, demonstratOr and