52 



Surgery owes much to vivisection. Soon after the discovery 

 of the circulation of the blood it was demonstrated that Trans- 

 fusion was a feasible and often a life-saving operation. Further 

 vivisectional experiments have shown that if air or clots are 

 allowed to enter with the blood the death of the patient will 

 rapidly ensue. The establishment of facts siich as these is surely 

 worth the sacrifice of a few dogs. 



In the arrest of haemorrhage our advance from the use of hot 

 irons and such like barbarous practices to the employment of the 

 antiseptic animal ligature, could only have been accomplished 

 by one method, viz., the study of the changes which occur in the 

 occluded arteries at different periods, and this could of course 

 only be done on animals. Lister, while strongly averse to the 

 performance of vivisectional experiments, expressly states that, 

 but for the knowledge he obtained fi'om them, he could never 

 have worked out his antiseptic method, a system which has quite 

 revolutionised modern surgical practice. 



Although before the time of Dr. Hope it was known that 

 the beating of the heart gave rise to certain sounds, and that 

 these sounds were altered by disease, everything beyond this 

 was in a state of chaos and uncertainty. By vivisectional experi- 

 ments he was able to explain the causes of these sounds, and so 

 enable us to determine by the stethoscope the presence or absence 

 of most forms of disease in that organ. Every holder of a policy 

 of life insurance benefits by this discovery in the way of di- 

 minished premiums. 



It has been said that drugs act differently upon men and 

 animals. This is no doubt true in a certain number of instances, 

 but it is by no means the general rule. We have derived 

 important information as to the effects of drugs from experiments 

 on animals. Chloral hydrate, nitrite of amyl, and digitalis afford 

 examples. 



The same may be said with regard to poisons. As the late 

 Dr. A. S. Taylor — a most competent observer — remarks, the 

 quantities of poisons which will kill a dog or a human being, as 

 well as the symptoms produced, are much the same. As to the 

 practical utility of experiments on animals in this direction the 

 foUowingjinstance must suffice : — 



I)r. A. S. Taylor relates the case of a child who died of 



