THE VIVISECTION QUESTION. 781 



has himself left a record in strong English of the way he felt. 

 Writing to Moore in 1811 he says : "The town is a fool, an idiot, 

 and will continue in this red-hot, hissing-hot state about this af- 

 fair until something else starts up to draw aside its attention. I 

 am determined to lock up my brains and think no more pro bono 

 publico, and I advise you, my friend, to do the same, for we are 

 sure to get nothing but abuse for it." * 



We are, however, discussing the utility of a method, and while 

 we will not introduce Koch's treatment as an argument for the 

 utility of vivisection until it has been perfected and the medical 

 profession has reached a decision as to its value, we can hardly 

 find a better example of the vivisectional method. Koch's method 

 is that of Jenner perfected by using animals instead of men. His 

 discovery in 1883 of the tubercle bacillus has already become of 

 inestimable value in directing sanitary measures and in recog- 

 nizing the earlier stages of consumption while cure is possible. 

 This, we are told by an antivivisection writer, " was discovered 

 by the microscope, not by vivisection." f How did Koch make 

 this discovery ? 



It is true the microscope assisted as spectacles help to read. 

 But Koch, in the examination of tuberculous matter, discovered 

 a number of germs with the microscope. Which one of these 

 caused consumption no number of microscopes could tell him. 

 This had to be settled by most careful experiments. There are 

 several steps in the process. The first is to identify all the differ- 

 ent kinds of microbes found constantly in tuberculous bodies. 

 For convenience we will call these microbes a, b, c, d. These are 

 mingled together. The second step is to cultivate these germs in 

 one test tube after another until perfectly "pure cultures" are 

 obtained — i. e., nothing but a's in one, nothing but b's in another, 

 and so on. Up to this stage he has not the least idea which of 

 these is the germ of consumption. The only way he can deter- 

 mine this point is by experimenting upon living animals. He 

 must then inoculate a number of healthy animals, one with germ 

 a, another with germ b, another with germ c, another with germ d. 

 The four animals are now watched carefully. The animal inocu- 

 lated with germ a, we will say, sickens and dies with unmistak- 

 able symptoms of tuberculosis. Those inoculated with germs 6, 

 c, and d are not affected. He repeats the experiment several 

 times, and if each time with the same result is justified in con- 

 cluding that germ a is the cause of tuberculosis, while the other 

 germs are harmless. 



This is but the first stage in the investigation. After the dis- 



* Crookshank, op. cit., fol, i, p. 139. 



f Ernest Bell, M. A. Weighed and Found Wanting, Victoria St. Society publication. 



