868 The American Naturalist. [October, 
developed and perfected by means of vivisection. Consider par- 
ticularly the abdominal operations, such as those performed upon 
the stomach, intestines, liver, spleen, kidneys, etc. The honor of 
perfecting these operations is due principally to Prof. Billroth, of 
Vienna, Austria, the boldest surgeon that ever lived. He, in the 
year 1879, performed for the first time that operation known as 
gastrotomy, upon a living human being (a woman). This oper- 
ation consisted of a resection of the pyloric end of the stomach 
for cancer of the stomach. A complete recovery resulted. (An 
excision of a portion of the stomach was made, and the intestine 
was sewed to the stomach.) Of course the original idea was 
developed by means of vivisection. 
Previous to this adventure Prof. Billroth and his assistant, Dr. 
Woelfler, had performed this operation upon ten living dogs. 
This was done in order to determine positively, first, whether or 
not this bold surgical operation was possible and justifiable ; 
second, the best mode and technique of this surgical procedure ; 
third, the rate of mortality; and fourth, the applicability of 
operative surgery in the treatment of such grave afflictions. 
In all the various surgical operations upon the intestines there 
arose questions in regard to the technique, and principally as to 
the best application of stitches, sutures, instruments, antiseptic 
dressing, etc., as to the form, quality, and quantity applied. 
All these questions and difficulties were answered and overcome 
by experiments upon living dogs and cats. Excisions of the 
spleen, of one kidney, and of a part of the liver, were tried time 
and again upon living animals long before the operations were 
performed upon human beings with good results. 
The various plastic surgical operations, operations upon the 
muscles, nerves, and bones, operations upon the eye, ear, nose, 
and throat, were first developed and perfected by vivisectional 
experiments upon animals. 
Some of the more delicate surgical operations, such as castra- 
tion, oophorectomy, ovariotomy, etc., were first thoroughly studied 
and then applied in operative surgery after repeated experiments 
upon living animals. These experiments and proofs have justified 


