434 VIVISECTION". 



of nerves, veins, arteries, and muscles of the organism lie 

 operates upon. 



The acquaintance he needs is a mechanical, not a func- 

 tional acquaintance ; and being this, he requires to pursue 

 his investigations on an animal mechanism of exactly similar 

 pattern to the one to be operated upon hereafter. The know- 

 ledge he seeks is topographical. The topography is not to 

 say amply revealed by mortuary dissection, but revealed with 

 a completeness, a clearness, that never could result from vivi- 

 section, however remorselessly conducted. 



The chief difficulties attendant upon surgical operations 

 have reference to arteries and nerves in their relation to ad- 

 jacent organisms. In respect to nerves, death effects no visual 

 change upon them ; in respect to arteries, a dead body offers 

 manifest advantages of demonstration over a living body, in- 

 asmuch as arteries may be and for purposes of mortuary 

 dissection commonly are injected with some liquid composi- 

 tion which, ultimately setting hard, brings out into full relief 

 before the anatomical student each arterial branch and rami- 

 fication far more completely than the organism of any living 

 body could be made to reveal; and lest the very complete- 

 ness of topographical illustration thus demonstrated should 

 seem to prove too much should seem to imply the need of 

 vivisection, to furnish difficulties that are removed by the 

 condition of arterial plethora resulting from injection then 

 the obvious rejoinder is, ' the anatomist, if so minded, need 

 not inject his subject at all.' In this matter he has his choice. 

 He may vary hip conditions. Having begun with applying 

 himself to the easiest conditions within the scope of the pro- 

 blem, he may end by encountering the most difficult. 



Another obvious advantage of mortuary dissection over 

 vivisection is the following, namely, the superior facility it 

 gives of coming to just conclusions relative to variations of 

 normal standards in animal organisms, relative to peculiarities 

 of distribution and arrangement. 



