552 THE DISTRIBUTION AND USE OF TENDINOUS STRUCTURE 
endure continued strain, were they never to be rested while the 
animal was in a quiescent state, the whole frame would, from the 
continuous irritation, speedily become disorganised. There is, as 
the intelligence of my hearers must anticipate, a provision made 
to prevent the injurious effect, and to this provision I will shortly 
allude : but, before I do so, let me first direct your attention to 
another circumstance connected with the extensor muscles, con- 
fining my remarks, for the sake of brevity, to the fore leg. 
During the recumbent posture, the leg being flexed, it at first 
sight seems imperative that the extensor muscles should be sub- 
jected to traction ; as, by the bending of the metacarpal bone, the 
space measured from the head of the radius to the coronary pro- 
cess of the os pedis is considerably elongated. The limb, how- 
ever, would not be rested did such traction exist ; and I undertake 
to prove that nature has provided against its possibility ; or, in 
other words, that, when the limb is passive, muscular force is not 
in action, or subjected to any stimulus calculated to excite its 
action. 
Were no such provision made, the flexor muscles would be ex- 
hausted when the horse stood still, and the extensors would be 
enervated when the animal laid down : thus, renovation of the 
muscular energy of the limb would be a demonstrative impos- 
sibility. 
Having briefly stated these facts or opinions of mine, let me 
now proceed to illustrate them by the result obtained from expe- 
riment. There is a foolish notion, too general among those who 
wish to be esteemed physiologists, that experiments should be 
performed upon the living body, in order to render them of value. 
Such a notion is ridiculous. The day of divination has gone by, 
and it is sad to see misguided men attempting to force the secrets 
of nature from the agonies of her creatures, or endeavouring to 
read the mysteries of the Creator in the reeking entrails of the 
created. Medicine claims respect only as it alleviates suffering, 
and that, any department of the science is unfortunately associated 
with cruelty is a proof only of degradation. To the rightly con- 
stituted mind every pathological case is a physiological experi- 
ment ; and conclusions drawn from the employment of force only 
shew the absence of a capability to observe, and are of no benefit 
to science, while they injure and disgrace the individual. 
The experiments I shall adduce have all been performed upon 
the dead body, and, if any would therefore impugn their worth, 
let such remember that tendinous tissue is little affected by the 
absence of life. 
If the fore extremity be allowed to undergo decomposition up 
to that stage when the muscular fibre easily ruptures, it will, 
