98 



SCIENCE. 



LN. S. Vol. IV. No. 82. 



era, studied the arteries in living animals, 

 the fact that they carry blood was, of course, 

 apparent. The circulation of the blood 

 was, however, far from being made out. In 

 fact, it was not till the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century that Harvey, gather- 

 ing up the learning of the time, contributed 

 by the great Italian teachers, Vesalius, 

 Eustachius, Fallopius, Fabricius of Aqua- 

 penbente, and others, and making impor- 

 tant additions of his own (as he himself 

 says) ' by frequently looking into many 

 and various living animals,' was finfilly 

 able to promulgate the true theory of the 

 circulation of the blood. Since the time of 

 Harvey our knowledge of the conditions 

 under which the blood circulates has been 

 greatly extended, and always by means of 

 experiments upon living animals. The 

 pressure which the blood exerts upon the 

 walls of the vessels in different parts of its 

 course has been carefully measured. The 

 fact that its white globules cau pass through 

 the vascular walls into the tissues outside 

 has been clearly, demonstrated, and forms, 

 in fact, the basis of the modern theory of 

 inflammation. The influence of the nerv- 

 ous system in controlling the size of the 

 channels through which the blood circu- 

 lates, thus regulating the nutrition of the 

 tissues, the activity of the organs and the 

 distribution of the heat, has been studied 

 by a host of observers, and is, indeed, one 

 of the most fruitful fields of modern physi- 

 ological research. It is difiicult to imagine 

 what the practice of medicine would be 

 without this knowledge, which has been 

 wholly obtained by experiments on living 

 animals and which is now the common 

 property of educated physicians. It has, 

 indeed, been very pertinently asked: " How 

 will those earnest anti-vivisectionists, who, 

 like Miss Cobbe, prefer to '■ die sooner than 

 profit by such foul rites,' provide themselves 

 with a medical attendant warranted igno- 

 rant of the circulation of the blood? " 



The direct benefits received from animal 

 experimentation are, perhaps, more obvious 

 in surgery than in the other departments of 

 medicine. The proper mode of applying 

 ligatures to arteries and the antiseptic 

 treatment of wounds have reached their 

 present stage of perfection largely through 

 experiments on the lower animals. To give 

 you a vivid idea of the privileges which we 

 are now enjoying, I will ask you to listen to 

 Ambros Fare's description of an amputa- 

 tion as performed in his time: " I observed 

 my masters, whose method I intended to 

 follow, who thought themselves singularly 

 well appointed to stanch a flux of blood 

 when they were furnished with various 

 store of hot irons and caustic medicines, 

 which they would use to the dismembered 

 part, now one, then another, as they them- 

 selves thought meet, which thing cannot be 

 spoken or but thought upon without great 

 horror, much less acted. For this kind of 

 remedy could not but bring great and tor- 

 menting pain to the patient, seeing such 

 fresh wounds made in the quick and sound 

 flesh are endured with exquisite sense. ^ -i^ * 

 And verily, of such as were burnt, the third 

 part scarcely ever recovered, and that with 

 much ado, for that combust wounds with 

 difficulty come to cicatrization; for by this 

 burning are caused cruel pains, whence a 

 fever, convulsion, and offctimes other acci- 

 dents worse than these. Add hereunto 

 that, when the eschar fell away, ofttimes a 

 new hsemorrhage ensued, for stanching 

 whereof they were forced to use other 

 caustic and burning instruments. * * * 

 Through which occasion the bones were 

 laid bare, whence many were forced, for 

 the remainder of their wretched life, to 

 carry about an ulcer on that part which 

 was dismembered ; which also took away 

 the opportunity of fitting or putting to an 

 artificial leg or arm, instead of that which 

 was taken off." 



Let us now contrast this ghastly picture 



