230 
G. ARCHIE STOCKWElL. 
less, coming- as it does from individuals possessed of but the 
most meagre knowledge of comparative physiology and pa¬ 
thology ; moreover, the statement is false in more than one 
particular.* 
Dogs are not human beings, and 'researches and experi¬ 
ments have repeatedly proven that exact parallels are impos¬ 
sible. To morphine, the Commission say, “ pariah dogs are 
very indifferent.” Such is not true of man, neither is it of 
domestic canines generally, who for the most part are pecu¬ 
liarly sensitive to opium and its derivatives, for reasons obvi¬ 
ous: This is asserted by Youatt, Blaine and May hew, and 
repeatedly proven in my own personal experience. Even do¬ 
mestic canines of the same precise breed vary materially ac¬ 
cording to surroundings, (climate, latitude, altitude, etc.,) and 
more so than man, as they possess extremely impressionable 
nervous systems; and the dog born and bred in Europe has 
the vascular system much greater developed than the same 
animal reared in America. Prof. H. C. Woodf justly re¬ 
marks, criticising this statement of the Commission: “We 
have given elaterium to dogs until it has caused death, but it 
has not purged. Suppose that every dog in India had had 
administered to it elaterium without the production of pur¬ 
gation, would that prove that elaterium does not purge man ? ” 
Again, regarding the absence of shock , and inability to pro¬ 
duce in the animals experimented with, and upon which no 
inconsiderable stress is laid, it is well known to comparative 
physiologists that, while shock may obtain in higher degree 
than in man in some animals—notably certain of the Felidce 
and the Leporidoe —such is practically non-existent in most feral 
creatures, especially the feral Ccinidcz, and the pariah dog is 
practically of this class. 
Also, for all three hundred and sixty pariah dogs in India 
may have died through respiratory failure as the result of 
* This premise, founded on the supposition that like physical conformation 
begets like physiological conditions and attributes, is possessed of neither reason 
or fact. The comparative physiologist’ would never have fallen into this 
error.— Author. 
f Medical News, February 22d, 1890. 
