Vivisection : is it necessary or justifiable? : being two prize essays published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vivisection : is it necessary or justifiable? : being two prize essays published by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    IPMrned riiisecfors :—These rcs7iJfs lead to the conclMKlan— 'That a dog may he deprived of air d'ltnng a. period of ‘imw. 50 see., and afterwards recover without the ap/iliration of artifieud means; and, kindly, that a dog is not lilccly to rerover if left to itself after having been deprived of air during a. period of 4 min. 10,sw. Other experiments, which icill snhseguently he referred to, in ronnedion with other questions, tend also to confirm the above fact, viz., that in dogs the doubtful interval of recovery and death lies between ?>min. ^Osec. and ^min. 10,vet*.”—or, that if you deprive a dog of air for a ceiiain period, he will die! A mighty discovery, and deserving the dignity ef the Royal Medical Cliirur- gical Society. But the cpie,stion is still unanswered—if a dog will live fire minutes icithout air, a cat four,a guinea-png three,huw long ■will a man lice ? After these scientific and humane operations, the Committee state “■ no definite conclusion concerning the relative value of the various methods of artificial respiration can he drawn from these experimentsand they, therefore, '■’•refer to the report of experiments upon the dead luiman hody,”—and with good reason, for these cdone were found of practiced value. 'The whole transactions of the vivisedors were a magnificent failure, and if Dr. Caipenter can find comfort in them, it is morethan any other humane man can do. No case can be quoted which will better illustrate the utter uselessness and cruelty of these opcrcdions; for, as the reader will will see, the simple advantage gained from these disgusting abuses is, that the learned Committee is able to eossurc the Royrjd Humane Society, that their plan of restoring drowned persons, adopited many years before, (and for which we are not indebted, to vivisection,) is the best method that can be used. Mell may DicTens say:— “ Inhumane Humanily.—Will the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals be good enough to look after the Royal Inhumane Society! I make the request in behalf of the dogs, the cats, the guinea-pigs, and the rabbits, who have a very serious charge to bring against the society. ... In the Report we find a record of nearly a hundred cruel experiments made upon the lower animals, for the purpose of investigating the subject of suspended animation. This is the plan generally and commonly ado])ted : The animal is secured on its back, and the trachea is exposed by a single incision in the mesial line of the neck ’ (which, being translated into plain English, means that the .anim.al is tied uji and has its throat cut). ‘ A ligature being passed round it, it is opened by a vertical cut, and a glass tube, as large as can conveniently be inserted, is passed into it for a short distance down- wards, and firmly secured by the ligature. Q^hrough this tube, while patent ’ (fine words will not cover thi-oat-cutting), ‘ the animal breathes freely, but the supply of air can be at once completely cut off, by in- serting a tightly-fitting cork into the upper end of the tube.’ ” [Then follows the recital of experiments, appended to which is the following note: — ‘ The duration of the heart’s action was conveniently ascer- tained by means of a long pin inserted through the thoracic walls into