Dec. 21, 1871] 



NATURE 



139 



Western Railway. On this ground a Hospital for Ani- 

 mals has been built, consisting of stables for the reception 

 of the larger quadrupeds, and of houses of various de- 

 scriptions for those of a smaller size. All of these build- 

 ings are constructed in the best style, with a view to the 

 well-being of the creatures they are destined to contain, 

 being thoroughly drained, paved, and ventilated, and 

 warmed with hot-water pipes. Adjoining them there is a 

 spacious exercise ground. 



As many of our readers already know, the Senate have 

 placed the Institution under the management of Dr. 

 Burdon .Sanderson, of University College, London, who, 

 as Professor, will, in future, deliver the annual course of 

 lectures. 



If the scope and purpose of the Brown Institution were 

 limited to the care and cure of diseased animals, its 

 establishment would scarcely be worthy of record in the 

 pages of Nature, for, however desirable it may be that 

 the animals that serve us should be kindly and skilfully 

 treated when they are sick, the object has so remote a 

 relation to the promotion of physical science that our 

 readers could not be expected to take any special interest 

 in it. But, happily alike for humanity and for science, 

 the late Mr. Brown showed by his selection of persons to 

 be entrusted with the carrying out of his intentions, by 

 the instructions contained in his will for their guidance, 

 and by the terms in which he defined the purposes of the 

 proposed Institution — placing study and investigation 

 first, cure afterwards — that he was not actuated by a mere 

 sentimental sympathy for the lower animals as such, but 

 that he desired, by promoting the scientific study of their 

 diseases, to benefit mankind. 



.Vs might have been expected, the Senate of the Uni- 

 versity of London have not only fulfilled the letter of the 

 testator's dispositions, but have proved by the manner in 

 which they have done so, that they are actuated by the 

 same noble purpose. They have shown this first of all 

 in their selection of a Committee of Directors. What 

 could be a better guarantee for the future good administra- 

 tion of the Institution than the fact that among its direc- 

 tors arc to be found such men as Busk, Carpenter, Gull, 

 Pi>get, Quain, Sharpey, Sibson, and Simon, men eminent 

 as physiologists, pathologists, or clinical teachers ; of 

 each of whom it may be said that he has contributed a 

 large proportion to the total amount of work done in 

 his own branch of science in England during the 

 past thirty years. We do not think that it would 

 have b-en possible, even if their choice had been per- 

 fectly unlimited, to have selected persons more fitted 

 for the purpose, whether as regards personal character 

 or scientific attainments. 



Under the direction of Dr. Sanderson, a laboratory in- 

 tended, to quote the tenns of the will, " for the study and 

 investigation of disease," has been built on the ground 

 already referred to at Vauxhall, adjoining the hospital for 

 animals. The laboratory consists of four admirably- 

 lighted and spacious working rooms, connected by a 

 corridor. Underneath these are four other rooms, which, 

 although not so lofty, are also well adapted for many kinds 

 of research. In the same building is included a stable 

 for the reception of animals intended to be the subjects 

 of special observation. 



In the work of the laboratory the Committee of Direc- 



tion have most wisely associated with Dr. Sanderson 

 under the title of Assistant Professor, Dr. E. Klein, whose 

 name is well known as the contributor of valuable articles 

 to Strieker's " Histology," and of several important em- 

 bryological researches. Well trained as a pupil of Briicke 

 and Strieker in the methods of research, whether physi- 

 cal, chemical, or microscopical, young in years though old 

 in accomplished work. Dr. Klein is singularly fitted for 

 the post. Dr. Sanderson is much to be congratulated in 

 having so able a coadjutor. 



It may not be out of place if we attempt to give our 

 readers an idea of the work which we suppose will be 

 done or attempted in the laboratory of the Bro'.vn In- 

 stitution. 



The facts on which the science of disease, so far as it 

 may as yet be called a science, is founded, are gathered 

 from two sources, the bedside and the laboratory. In 

 clinical studies the same, or even greater, exactitude is 

 required as in those of the physicist or chemist ; but 

 even when they are conducted in the wards of a hospital, 

 the Harveian method of " searching out the secrets of 

 nature by way of experiment," can only be applied under 

 limitations which very materially embarrass the inquiry. 

 The pathologist at the bedside is not in the position of an 

 experimenter, but only in that of a student, who stands by 

 at a greater or less distance, while another, over whom he 

 has no control, performs experiments in his presence, 

 without deigning to explain to him their nature or pur- 

 pose. The true physician fears to meddle with the pro- 

 cesses of which he is the attentive and anxious spectator. 

 Although the more ignorant members of the medical 

 craft— the so-called " practical " men — may sometimes, 

 with the best intentions, experiment on their patients with 

 harmful drugs, such experimentation is repudiated by the 

 man of science. 



There are, however, many questions relating to disease, 

 of the most profound importance to the human race, which 

 cannot be solved, and never will be solved, by thus, as it 

 were, standing on one side and watching what goes on at 

 a distance ; such questions, for example, as the nature of 

 contagion, and those which relate to the origin and proxi- 

 mate causes of our most common diseases, such as inflam- 

 mation, fever, and tubercle. The knowledge which has 

 been acquired on these subjects during the last few years 

 has been gained by work done in laboratories. The ad- 

 vantages of this mode of inquiry, as compared with the 

 indirect clinical method, are of two kinds — the one 

 relating to the objects of observation, the other to the 

 means which are at the disposal of the inquirer. In deal- 

 ing with animals, he is embarrassed by scarcely any of 

 the limitations which render clinical observation so diffi- 

 cult. The very considerations, indeed, which in the case 

 of man, absolutely forbid his entertaining any other pur- 

 pose excepting that of prolonging life and alleviating pain, 

 not only allow, but encourage him, in the case of animals, 

 to disregard altogether the present suffering for the future 

 benefit. We are clearly justified in profiting by the suffer- 

 ings of the lower animals for mans sake. We may 

 subject them experimentally to the action of remedies 

 without any immediate view to their being thereby bene- 

 fited. We may place them under conditions which we 

 know will produce disease, for the purpose of studying 

 the mode of action of those conditions. We have 



