The evening times., 1900-02-23
CoId-BIooded Cruelty.

We are fond Of pointing out the progress
which the world has made from barbarism
TO civilization. and contrasting the savage
with the enlightened and educated SCI
enlist: but il is well to remember that
the mere possession Of material advan-
tages and scientific knowledge is not all
that constitutes civilization. When men
descend 10 the use of their superior
knowledge for cruel and vicious purposes.
they are not. morally, one whit above the
savage who does the same things in less
complex ways If two men allow their
passions to run away with them, and kill
other human beings for the qualification
OF savage impulses. they are barbarians.
1t makes no difference to society whether
an unoffending person is killed by club,
a thrown brick or the latest invention in
revolvers; he is dead and his SLAYER is
murderer in any case. In its last analy-
sis. civilization is a matter of ethics. and
modern mechanical and scientific knowl-
edge is valuable only as it increases the
happiness. intelligence. and moral and
physical well-being of mankind.
Ia view VI All luiNs II LIdH bt NtAl "
give attention to certain statements made
by the German Medical Weekly
ments which have been corrobOrated by
other medical records, and have already
caused some comment. If the information
published by this journal is correct, il is
high time that the methods of German
physicians and scientists should be inves
tigated.
One Dr. Schreiber in Koenigsberg. de-
scribed in a lecture some experiments he
has made with Kochs tuberculin. He
said that having ascertained the effects
OF this deadly fluid on grown people, NE
was anxious 10 experiment on infants.
and he adds. with remarkable naivete:
II spoke about my theories to the director of the
ROYAL Maternity Home, Prof. Dohrn, who very
kindly placed ample material at my disposal
The material" in question consisted OF
about forty newly born infants, and the
gentleman in question, in the name of
science. proceeded to inoculate these chill
dren with tuberculin. He admits, curl
ously enough. that he suffered
some compunctions at the sight
OF the sufferings of these chill
dren but confident in the benefcence of
his motives. he prosecuted his investiga-
tious without 1inching" Very much in
the same spirit the various fanatics en-
gagged in the religious prosecutions of the
Middle Ages subjected unbelievers to the
rack the thumbscrew, and the boot,
without linching." Among the expert
ments which this interesting man made
was one on a little boy. whose father
turned him over to the doctor as a pun
ishment for some small offence, saying
that he supposed the boy was healthy
enough 10 stand it," The doctor says. with
the same curious and inhuman insensi-
bility. that he cannot yet tell whether the
boy will be consumptive in consequence of
his treatment.
Various other tales are told Of the treat
ment OF patients by such scientists" and
some of them are too revolving for publi-
cation. The creatures who thus cause un-
speakable misery to poor and ignorant peo-
pie who have sought treatment in the hos
pitfalls are quite frank in their admissions.
and evidently regard the lives Of several
poor women and children as of no par
ticular consequence in comparison with
the discovery of new scientific fact. The
whole business would be less revolving IL
death were the only consequence Of such
experiments. 1t would be horrible enough
TO think of human beings bound upon the
dissecting table, suffering all the tortures
OF vivisection, as the lower animals have
been forced TO do, and finding final relief
in death. after days or weeks of agony;
but what is to be said of the diabolically
ingenious plan of inoculating helpless
women and children with cancer, con-
sumption. and other deadly and painful
diseases? Such practices seem more suit
ed to the lowest chamber of Dante's In