AND OPERATIONS UPON LIVING ANIMALS. 363 
I have succeeded in collecting some drops of pancreatic juice, 
but never enough to analyze it according to rule.' He also says, 
‘ what I have been most struck with in endeavouring to procure 
pancreatic juice, is the smallness of the quantity which forms it: 
a drop scarcely passes out in half an hour, and I have sometimes 
waited longer for it. It does not flow more rapidly during diges¬ 
tion, but, on the contrary, it seems slower. I think it is generally 
more copious in young animals*.’ At page 212, however, of the 
same work, the account of the quantity secreted is a little dif¬ 
ferent. ^ Sometimes,’ he says, ‘ a quarter of an hour passes 
before a drop of the fluid springs from the orifice of the canal 
w'hich pours it into the intestinesand in the next paragraph 
he observes, that he has seen ‘ the flowing of the pancreatic 
fluid take place in certain cases wdth considerable rapidity.’ 
The term considerable rapidity is very vague; but it shews that 
the secretion was in some cases much more copious than in 
others, and is a farther proof of the great uncertainty that always 
must and will attach to experiments of this character. 
But it may be objected, that a similar exposure of the bile- 
duct shews that the bile is constantly pouring from it into the 
intestine. But if we suppose, as has been generally done, that 
the pancreas is in truth a salivary gland, we may readily conceive 
that, as in those of the mouth, the effect of terror and acute pain 
will be to suspend its action; for every one knows that both of 
these cause a great decrease or suspension of the flow of the 
salivary secretion, and an ardent desire to take drink. This is 
very obvious in tedious surgical operations. If, therefore, pain 
and terror suspend the action of the salivary glands in the mouth, 
we may well suppose that the same causes wdll suspend the secre¬ 
tion of the pancreas. 
I believe myself to be amongst the last persons who would 
be inclined to throw any impediment in the w^ay of improvement 
or knowledge; but 1 most conscientiously believe, that, in attempt¬ 
ing to excite your detestation of such cruelties, I am speaking 
the language of truth, as well as of mercy. What, again, is to 
be expected of a young medical man who acquires a taste for 
dissecting living animals ? Is that the way to pursue his studies 
with advantage ? Is it not most likely to draw' him from the le¬ 
gitimate study of his profession ? In place of storing his mind 
with a knowledge of chemistry, materia medica, human anatomy, 
and the other fundamental branches of medicine and surgery, he 
is employing his time in cutting up living cats and dogs, in the 
hope, perhaps, that he too may become a discoverer; or as likely, 
♦ Majjeiidie’s Physiology, translated by Milligan, ed. 8, p. 457. 
