Report of the Royal Commission on the practice of subjecting live animals to experiments for scientific purposes : with minutes of evidence and appendix.

Great Britain. Royal Commission on Vivisection

Date:: 1876

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the practice of subjecting live animals to experiments for scientific purposes : with minutes of evidence and appendix. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London.

388/450 (page 358)

$App. IV. The peritoneum contained liquid slightly stained with blood, which, on microscopical examination, was found to be crowded with bacteria. The intestines were distended with a frothy liquid, which possessed none of the characters of the natural contents which had been found in other cases to be charged with shed epithelium. The internal surface of the whole of the alimentary canal from the stomach downwards was intensely injected and presented appearances which (as had been found by more careful investigation in previous cases) were due to the separation of the epithelium from the surface of the mucous membrane, and the infiltration of that tissue with liquid. I'he material which produced these results was obtained as follows:—Pus from a pyrnmic abscess of spontaneous, i.e., accidental origin, was introduced into the peritoneal cavity of a guinea-pig and allowed to remain there for two days. It was then withdrawn from the guinea-pig, and some of it at once injected in the peritoneum of a dog. The dog was affected in exactly the same way as the animal exhibited to the Society. The remainder of the liquid \yas kept for five weeks in hermetically sealed tubes, after which six drops were injected into the peritoneum of a guinea- pig ; this showed its action to have become relatively feeble. After two days (the day before the meeting) the transudation liquid produced was tested with a third guinea-pig and found to be extremely active. On the afternoon of the meeting it was injected into the peritoneum of the dog exhibited. After the experiment Dr. Crisp said he differed from Dr. Sanderson in several of his conclusions. There was a great difference between tubercle in man and that in the lower animals; he had shown long ago that in monkeys and other animals no bleeding occurred fi:om the lungs, that cavities were comparatively rare, that the liver and spleen, rarely affected with tubercle in man, were frequently so in the lower animals, and that in other particulars there were important differences. He (Dr. Crisp), as shown in their “Transactions,” had inoculated guinea-pigs with pure pus from a whitlow on his own finger, and had produced tubercle, but in many respects it differed from tubercle in the human subject, although microscopically it was the same. He had also performed numerous inocula- tions in birds and in other animals, the results of which led him to the same conclusion. It was also important to bear in mind that there was a wide distinction between diseases of the lower animals and those affecting the human subject. What we wanted were experiments to ascertain whether by the use of chemical agents we could render this poison innocuous, whether by any external application we could prevent the occurrence of pyaemia. Again as regards bacteria being the cause of pyaemia, he entirely differed from Dr. Sanderson. Bacteria were found in numerous diseases of the lower animals, as had been fully shown by the French pathologists, and they were probably the effects and not the cause of the disease, as he (Dr. Crisp) had long since endeavoured to show. He was the first in this country to describe splenic apoplexy, and to point out its deleterious effects upon man and other animals.. Experiments had been made by French pathologists, who showed that after the inoculation of rabbits with the blood of animals dying of this disease, that bacteria were found in the blood after a certain time, and that death took place at a given period. Dr. Sanderson’s experiments appeared to him to have no important bearing upon pyaemia, the irritating matter he used acted more like a poison, such as prussic acid or arsenic, and killed nearly in a definite term, as others had shown. Mr. Hulke asked Dr. Sanderson if he had not con- founded pyaemia and septicaemia. It seemed to him that the dog suffered from the latter, and not from pyaemia. If perfectly filtered pus were injected into an animal, the ordinary symptoms of pyaemia were produced, and the animal recovered; but if the pus were unfiltered, these symptoms were produced plus others, such as multiple abscesses, constituting septicaemia. Any putrescent fluid, animal or vegetable, would produce the same result. Dr. Murchison had often had the opportunity of ex- amining the bodies of patients who had died of pyaemia following typhus fever, in which there were no ulcerated surfaces, no bed-sores, and no open wounds whatever, and yet in these pus had been deposited in the joints, under the skin, and sometimes in the internal organs. Everyone who had observed ei)idemics of typhus fever must have seen that ])yaemia followed many cases, and that when one case had occurred in an hospital there were many.—The Doctor, 187-, p 132-3. [See also pp. 24 and 39.] The following experiments will show however that ail these .substances when introduced directly into the blood, give rise to analogous reactions, or are followed by the same series of physiological phenomena, the only difference in them being in the quantity of the different salts required to produce these reactions. In the followng experiments the tubes by which the substances were injected directly into the blood-vessels being connected either -with the jugular vein or the axillary artery, haemadynamometer, when used, was connected with the femoral artery. The pressure is given in inches of mercury. In order to ascertain the general symptoms the animal was left at liberty, the substance being injected through a tube inserted into the jugular vein. Salts of Magnesia- Experiment 1.—The animal was a strong healthy dog weighing abo^it 18 lbs., six grains of sulphate of magnesia dissolved in half an ounce of warm water was introduced into the jugular vein. In 10 seconds the pulsations of the heart were quickened. In five minutes the aetion of the heart and the oscilla- tions were the same as before the injection. Injected Ifi grains; in seven seconds the respiration was affected, being deeper, in 10 seconds the heart was affected as before. In 45 seconds after the injection the animal appeared to be uneasy, respiration more laboured. After five minutes injected 25 grains, in seven seconds the respiration deeper. In 30 seconds partial spasmodic contraction of muscles .... heart’s action quick, oscillation slight. 60 grains in 3 oz. of water arrested the action of the heart in eight seconds. Only one or two respiratory movements took place after the arrest of the heart’s action. Experiment 2.—The animal was a healthy dog weighing 16 pounds. A tube was inserted into the right axillary artery, the point directed towards the aorta, the pressure was taken in the femoral; 16 grains of sulphate of magnesia was injected into the axillary artery. Violent struggles commencing immediately after the injection prevented the direct effect on the pressure in the arteries being observed.. One minute, animal quiet, pressure one inch lower,oscillation not so great. In five minutes all effects of injection appeared to have passed, except that the pressure in the arteries was rather lower. Injected 30 grains, apparently considerable fain, and in 10 seconds a general spasmodic contraction of the muscles this soon disappeared, and the pressure on the arteries was rather lower. The animal after a few minutes appeared not affected. Sixty grains injected into the artery arrested the respira- tory movements, in seven seconds there was a state of general tonic spasm, and in a minute and a half the animal was dead. Experiment 3.—Dog weighed 10 lbs., not confined; eight grains of the salt was injected into the jugular ; 10 seconds, slight dyspnoea; 12 seconds, animal fell down as if suddenly paralysed. It got up almost immediately and walked about two seconds vomiting. After this the animal seemed not at all affected. Fourteen grains injected; 12 seconds, animal fell on its side, legs extended, no spasm; the, legs remained in any position they were placed ; no expression of pain, although the animal was perfectly sensible, respiration regular. After remaining on its side almost motionless for 10 minutes, the animal rose and walked about, its move- ments were unsteady. 35 grains arrested the action of the heart. Animal fell in 12 seconds, in 30 seconds respiratory movements arrested, animal dead. Salts of Zinc. Page 203. Experiment 4.—The animal was a strong healthy dog weighing 15 lbs. A solution containing three grains of sulphate of zinc was injected into the jugular; in 10 seconds the respiration was affected, and the action of the heart rendered slower; in 15 seconds the pressure- in the arteries began to fall, and in 35 seconds it had diminished. ...... after five minutes the pressure >vas still down . oscillation slight. ...... Injection six grains; no apparent immediate effect on the action of the heart, but in 15 seconds the pressure in the arteries began to fall, and in 30 seconds it was only equal to two inches, the respiration was irregular; one minute, efforts to vomit; two minutes, heart stopped, but respiratory movements and efforts to vomit continued$