82 Researches Regarding Cholera : The Blood. [part i. 



As to whether these motile molecules, or staves, are themselves the cause of the 

 disturbance which takes place in the system, consequent on the introduction of putrefying 

 material into the blood (as will be fully referred to in a subsequent chapter), or whether 

 they are merely the indicators that fluid containing them possesses this property, 

 or indeed whether their presence at all is of any moment, we must for the present 

 defer discussing. It will, however, be evident, on perusal of our notes of experiments 

 on animals further on, that the question must have been constantly pressed upon 

 our attention. 



II. EXPERIMENTS ON THE INTRODUCTION OF ORGANIC FLUIDS INTO 



THE SYSTEM. 



We had deferred taking up systematically that portion of the programme, drawn 

 up for our guidance by the Army Sanitary Commission, relating to the experiments 

 which should be carried out on lower animals in the conduct of this inquiry until 

 the present year, as we did not feel that our knowledge of the various stages through 

 which persons suffering from cholera have to pass, and of the 'post-mortem appear- 

 ances associated with the disease, was sufficiently exact to enable us to conduct 

 observations of this nature with profit. 



It need scarcely be mentioned that every means was adopted to inflict as little 

 pain as possible on the animals which have passed through our hands, considerably 

 over a hundred dogs, together with several animals of a smaller kind. 



Chloroform has invariably been resorted to : in no single instance has any animal 

 been slaughtered except when thoroughly under its influence ; and when, as in 

 some of the experiments, considerable pain would have been inflicted by allowing the 

 animal to recover from the effects of the ansesthetic before the experiment was 

 concluded, it has been kept under its influence during the whole period of operation, 

 two or three hours, as the case may have required. 



At the commencement of these observations small animals were selected, such 

 as rats, rabbits, or rather hares, for rabbits are not obtainable here ; but we found 

 the administration of chloroform so very frequently proved fatal with such animals, 

 that they had to be abandoned. The same fatality was observed in connection with 

 puppies and young dogs : indeed, even in dealing with large healthy dogs we calculate 

 on losing about one in five through this cause alone. Moreover, the effects produced 

 were of so contrary a character, even under precisely similar conditions, that we feel 

 convinced that any data of this kind obtained by experiments on small and delicate 

 animals are extremely liable to mislead. 



This is a very unfortunate circumstance, not only because, as a rule, small animals 

 are more easily obtained and more manageable, but also because the observations on 



