NECESSITY OF EXPERIMENTS* 45 



epiglottis in several dogs, and found that the creatures 

 swallowed just as well as before showing that the ef- 

 fect in question is produced by some other means. He 

 then divided the nerves which supply the muscles of the 

 larynx, by which they were completely paralysed, and 

 found that deglutition became very difficult, the food fal- 

 ling into the glottis and choking the animal. Hence it 

 followed, that in the act. of swallowing, the muscles of 

 the glottis were put into action, thus closing the aperture 

 and preventing the food jrom passing into the wind-pipe. 



Emily. A very satisfactory result, no doubt but was 

 it not very barbarous to subject so many innocent crea- 

 tures to such painful experiments ? I am sure, if phy- 

 siology has been always cultivated with such frightful 

 means, my pleasure in its study will be greatly dirnirr^ 

 ished. 



Dr. B. Recollect that we are constantly exercising 

 that power over the brute creation which nature has put 

 into our hands, and so long as it is done for good pur- 

 poses, it is undoubtedly well and right. A whole spe- 

 cies, in many instances, is condemned to incessant hard 

 labor on our account, and others are raised for no other 

 purpose than to be killed at last for our food. In com- 

 parison then with all this amount of suffering, of which 

 nobody complains, what are a few experiments, painful 

 though they may be, the object of which is to enlarge 

 the boundaries of human knowledge. It must be the 

 very essence of maudlin sympathy and short-sighted 

 views, that would stigmatize such experiments as use- 

 less and disgraceful to human nature. 



Emily.- -I confess, Dr. B., I never thought of it in this 

 light. I am convinced now, that these experiments are 

 amply justified by their utility in advancing the interests 

 of scientific knowledge. But, pray go on with your ac- 

 count of deglutition I believe, we left the food in the 

 pharynx, having got safely clear of Scylla and Charyb- 

 dis, and ready for its downward route into the stomach. 



Tb. B. The pharynx now contracts and pushes the 



