176 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XLA'II. No. 120S 



fever ' ' — a peculiar form of fever never be- 

 fore seen; of "trench heart"; of "trench 

 foot," often followed by lockjaw; of 

 "trench nephritis" (inflammation of the 

 kidneys) ; gas gangrene ; tetanvis ; shell 

 shock; poisonous gases; fearful compound 

 fractures, especially of the thigh, etc. 

 Every man enabled to return to active duty 

 as a result of solving these problems helps 

 to win the war. Every man who dies, or is 

 permanently disabled because of our ig- 

 norance, hinders our winning the war. 



It must be remembered that our sur- 

 geons, physicians and physiologists over 

 there are the very flower of the American 

 medical profession. These fine men under 

 the supervision of the Medical Staff of the 

 United States Army, superintend all the 

 work. Nothing is done that has not the di- 

 rect approval of Brigadier General A. E. 

 Bradley, TJ. S. Army. 



Experiments on animals form a necessarj'^ 

 but a minor feature of the researches. 



The animals used are principally guinea-pigs, 

 rabbits and white rats. If operations causing 

 pain to animals are performed, anesthesia is used. 



This certainly does not suggest "cruelty" 

 or ' ' torture. ' ' 



I appeal to the common sense of the 

 American people and especially to the fam- 

 ilies and friends of our brave soldier boys : 

 Which do you prefer (1) That our soldiers 

 shall be protected from attacks of these 

 new (as well as of the familiar) diseases, 

 their sufferings lessened or even prevented, 

 and their lives saved, or (2) will you insist 

 that not a single guinea-pig, rabbit or rat 

 shall suffer the slightest pain or lose its 

 life, in researches to lessen the suffering and 

 save the lives of our soldiers ? 



Kemember, if you choose the second you 

 deliberately condemn your son, brother, or 

 husband to sufferings far beyond any suf- 

 fering of these animals. In many eases, as 



I shall show, you will condemn your dear 

 one to death, and in some cases a horribly 

 painful death. 



In the "Bill of Complaint" of the Anti- 

 vivisectionists, seven grounds of opposi- 

 tion to vivisection are mentioned. The 

 sixth reads as follows : 



That although it [vivisection] has been practised 

 for many years, nothing has been discovered iy 

 means of it that is at all beneficial to the human 

 race. 



This is the crux of the whole matter. If 

 this were true I would vigorously oppose 

 vivisection myself. 



I entered upon my medical studies in 

 1860. I took part in the horrible surgery 

 of the Civil War — as we now know it was. 

 I have taught anatomy and surgery to not 

 far from 10,000 students. I taught and 

 practised the old dirty surgery — the only 

 kind we then had — up to October 1, 1876. 

 Since that date I have practised and taught 

 the new antiseptic surgery, which has been 

 created by researches similar to those now 

 proposed. Since the great war began I 

 have diligently studied the newest surgery. 

 I submit, therefore, that I may be presumed 

 to be fairly familiar with these three stages 

 of surgery. Let me give now a few examples 

 of some of the things that have "been dis- 

 covered by it [vivisection] " and that "are 

 beneficial to the human race." 



I may remark in passing that animals 

 themselves have benefited by the same 

 means, almost, and possibly qxiite as much 

 as the human race. 



1. Typhoid Fever. — This has been one of 

 the historic scourage of annies. In 1880 

 the bacillus^ — the cause of the fever — was 

 discovered. It was soon proved that the 

 disease was spread through infected milk, 

 infected water, and very largely by the 

 house-fly. The last, after walking over the 

 excrement of a typhoid patient, and then 

 walking over our food, conveyed the dis- 



