On Pillung Cattle. 71 



** J. B» fdl ill the suraraer of 1 801 from a load of hay ; 

 he was bled, and brought to the infirmary at Shrewsbury, 

 which, being my residence, gave n>c hourly opportunities 

 of examining him : he contpiained of great pain in the upper 

 mid back part of hit! neck, but of none lower doun : he had 

 not the power of using the least motion with a-ny of his 

 hmbs. His arms, body, and kgs, wcvc all quite insen- 

 sible to any pain or feeling tVom pricking or pinching, and 

 therefore all sensation below the injtircd part of the spine 

 was destroyed. In this stale he languished a week, being 

 apparently in i'uW possession of the feelings and faculties of 

 his mind, and of his senses of hearing, sight, smelly and 

 tafte. He took food for two or three days, though the power 

 of retaining or protruding his evacuations was lost- On 

 examining the neck after death, the eecoud cervical vertebra 

 was found fractured. 



*' On reflecting on this case it occurred to me, that a 

 d/onli animal, if reduced to the state of this poor man, 

 would not have the power of expressing the pain it endured, 

 for J. B. had great pain cdwi'c the injured part, though all 

 power of movuig, as well as fooling, was destroyed below j 

 and in the brute creation, we judge of pain by the muscu- 

 lar efforts of the animal. I ihcTciore, by means of a dagger, 

 punctured the spinal marrow of a cow accoiidingto the new 

 method of slaughtering, and having divided it as much as 

 ^TOSsible after she fell, reduced her to the same state as the 

 po©r man whose case I have ixilated. The animal breathed 

 ■with freedom, and perception in the head continued, as 

 was evinced bv the eveli<Js closing on the approach of my 

 hand, till the butcher struck a blow near the horns, when 

 her breathing ceased, and the cy-e became fixed with imme- 

 diate death. 



" In all the experiments I have hitherto tried, tlie ani- 

 mal has suddenly dropped, and has been slightly convulsed, 

 but has not die<l inmiediately. In sheep, after puncturing 

 the medu<la spinaUs in xh-t new way, I have seen their eyes 

 close and open on the approach and withdrawing of my 

 hand, for twenty times successively, and the pupil as much 

 contracted as in health, till I was anxious to terminate their 

 misery by having the blood-vessels of the throat divided. 



Kons ont picbcntc <ie diflcrcncc que dans Ic nninbrc des diets, ce (jui peut 

 diipc-ndrc dc I'addressc du prosesttur dcs cspcces que nous avoiis dtssc- 

 ijuecs sniit le cbun, Ic iii/ou, le lorbon, le porc-cpic.'' 



I have examined the head and neck oi a sheep killed by tbc puncture, 

 ajjd found thcp.ir vnguin uninjured. 



K 4 From 



