10 THE WORK OF THE DIGESTIVE GLANDS. 



results already obtained ? It may be objected that I am warmly 

 contending- for what is already recognised. Yes, but such operations 

 are altogether rare, and only carried out by the few. If, for instance, 

 the number of physical instruments which are yearly invented and 

 introduced for the investigation of physiological phenomena, as well as 

 the number of chemical methods and their variations, be compared with 

 the number of new physiological operations which permit of the survival 

 of the animal, the paucity of the latter stands out in marked contrast 

 to the richness of the former. Again, it is remarkable that many of 

 these operations are introduced by surgeons and not by physiologists. 

 The physiologists do not regard such problems as essential, or perhaps 

 are not in possession of the means necessary for their solution. The 

 clearest testimony in proof of the fact that surgical methods have not 

 assumed their legitimate position in physiology is evidenced by the fact 

 that in the buildings for a physiological laboratory of the present day, 

 while provision is made for chemical, physical, microscopic, and vivi- 

 secting departments, none is made for an efficient, well-equipped surgical 

 set of rooms. The general rooms of a laboratory cannot be used for 

 carrying out frequent and complicated operations with safety to the 

 life of the animal afterwards, without the sacrifice of much time and 

 labour ; moreover, the surgical precepts of the age must not be 

 neglected. There can be little doubt that even single operations in 

 the general rooms of the laboratory, performed with the aid of anti- or 

 a-septic precautions do not succeed, or perhaps are not attempted, 

 because it is almost impossible to maintain a sufficient degree of animal 

 cleanliness during and immediately after their performance from want 

 of a large surgical department expressly fitted out for the purpose. 

 Take, for example, the well-known history of the Eck's Fistula, which 

 consists in the establishment of a communication between the portal 

 vein and the inferior vena cava. In the old laboratories its inventor, 

 notwithstanding his energy and acumen, could not succeed in keeping 

 the animals alive for any length of time after the operation. The same 

 misfortune attended Dr. Stolnikow, who repeated the operation with 

 the assistance of Dr. Eck, sparing neither trouble nor animals. It was 

 only in the operative section of the physiological department of the 

 St. Petersburg Institute for Experimental Medicine, then just founded, 

 and consequently in the surgical sense clean, that any considerable pro- 

 portion of successful cases was attained. This happy period lasted, how- 

 ever, only for a year. The physiological institute was at that time small, 

 and therefore, in spite of the employment of every precaution, became 

 so rapidly impure that the Eck's operation, though carried out by the 

 same, but still more experienced hands, degenerated into a fruitless waste 

 of time. This continued for a year, notwithstanding all the endeavours 



