Misstatements of antivivisectionists : correspondence with American humane association / [by] W.W. Keen.

  • William Williams Keen
Date:
[1901]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Misstatements of antivivisectionists : correspondence with American humane association / [by] W.W. Keen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    repeated interpolations, mistranslations and worse wliich 1 have demonstrated in this letter that I am unwilling to accept <iny alleged quotation or translation emanating from the American Humane Association as accurate and truthful unless I can compare it with the source from which it is derived. In conclusion let me commend to the Humane Association the closing words of President Eliot's letter, to be found on pages 218-9 of the Hearing: Any attempt to interfere with the necessary processes of medical investigation is, in my judgment, in the highest degree inexpedient and is funda- mentally inhuman. I shall take the liberty of publishing my rejjly. I suppose that you will not object to the publication of your letter with it in order to explain the reason for the reply. Very respectfully yours, William W. Keen, ]\I.D. ADDENDUM. Since this letter was written I have seen an article in Gould's Year Book of Medicine and Surgery, 1901 (Medical Volume, p. 327), from the Archives of Pediatrics for Jime. 1900. p. 431, by H. Oliphant Nicholson of Edinburgh, Scotland, re- porting the case of Annie C, a girl of 2 years and 8 months old, with pictures (see plate), Avhich, with a brief statement of the case, well illustrates what Dr. Berkley has asserted, that in proper cases, the results [of the treatment by thyroid extract] are among the most resplendent attained by modern medicine, converting the drooling dwarf into an intelligent, well-grown man or woman. This child was first seen by Dr. Nicholson on October 23, 1894, and the picture shows the swollen, myxedematous-look- ing face and body, a markedly curved back and a pendulous ab- domen. The child could not walk without support and dragged her limbs slowly after her. Her vocabulary was con- fined to calling her mother and father mum and ah, and her wishes were wholly made evident by signs. Very natur- ally, therefore, with this low graae of intelligence, she was .uncleanly in her habits. The treatment was begun on October 30, with 2.5 grains of thyroid powder, once daily. This was reduced on November 2 to 1.25 grains once a day, and was continued for several weeks. As early as November 7, improvement was noticed. On Novem- ber 17 the pulse at the wrist, which was scarcely perceptible through the swollen tissues at the beginning of the treatment, was distinctly felt, and by the 24th, the puffiness of the eyelids and forehead were diminishing and the expression of the face becoming more intelligent. The dose of the extract was now increased again to 2.5 grains. The results I quote as follows: In about three months' time very few traces of cretinism re-
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