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
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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.

    409/450 (page 379)
    but with one spring the movement came to an end, and the animal became motionless as before. The same thing could be repeated over and over again. In some cases the animal sprung four, si.x, or even sixteen times. The animal sat without making any attempt at spontaneous movement, and if not disturbed until death occurred, just like an animal from which the cerebral hemisphere liad been re- moved. Nor did the animals eat of their own accord. Most of the animals died on the second or third day, but six lived till the seventeenth day and were very emaciated.—Stirlinf/, Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, November 1874, p. 210. On October 25th he divided the right hypoglossal nerve in a rabbit, and took out a piece about a quarter of an inch in length. Immediately after the operation, and during the whole time that the animal was under observation, the tongue was strongly protruded to the right side. On November the 27th the rabbit was killed. N[r, Clarke, Doctor, January 1st, 1872, p. 24. Dr. Milne Edwards also endeavoured to substitute the carbonates of iron, iftanganese, and magnesia respectively for that of lime in bones by an artificial diet. This diet having reduced the pigeons subjected to experiment to utter emaciation they were killed; the bones were extremely brittle and thin, but only traces of magnesia and iron were discovered in two and none in the third. So thus the composition of bone does not appear susceptible of altera- tion by substitution; and Dr. Milne Edwards concludes that bone is a compound of two primordial substances, viz., phosphate of lime and osseine, the immediate ])rincij)le of bone. Rather a lame conclusion this after all.— Dr. Milne Edwards, Lancet, No. 1,977, p- 69. Another, and a very droll discovery, made by the same Professor (who, by the way, should be called to order by some member of the Society for the Prevention of Crilelty to Animals) is that the testicle of one frog may be engrafted into the body of another animal of the same species, so that one '‘froggy” may “go a-wooing” with the testicles of another froggy, and not at all a ses propres frais ; this seems a “leetle”too much. His last experiment is far more intelligible than the preceding, in part, at least. He says, “If you transplant into the abdomen (under the skin) “ of a female frog, a few days before the laying of her eggs, “ a frog’s testicle, such is the attraction between this body “ and the eggs that ulceration of the abdominal muscles “ takes place, the male and female elements coming into “ contact, and so violently that the frog dies.” This last result is, I confess, the only portion of the whole paper- which I can conveniently credit.—Lancet, No. 1,981, p. 224. One frog died in twelve hours, another was killed, and the third, after remaining on its back in a tetanic condition for ten days, recovered.—Dr. Harvey, Lancet, No. 2,053, P. 7. App. IV. C. EVIDENCE OF DESIGN TO TEACH STUDENTS BY VIVISECTION. [The numerous handbooks published for students would alone jrrovide this evidence; but professors have spoken out their thoughts freely, and these are reported as well as the contents of handbooks. Foreign handbooks are extensively used in England, but these have not been quoted from. The volume published by Drs. Burdoij-Sanderson, Klein, Foster, and Brunton, necessarily appears in this division. Its experiments might.have been classed under (A.) and (B.), but the tendency of its teaching would not have been seen so well by such an arrangement. Consequently, a large number of experiments appear under this head. That the object of the editor and his co-adjutors was to induce young persons to perform experiments on their own account and without adequate surveillance is manifest throughout the work, by the supply of elementary knowledge and elaborate data. Not only are the names and quantities of necessary chemicals given, but the most careful description is provided in letter-press and plates of implements for holding animals during their strugfdes, so that a novice may learn at home without a teacher. Besides, the editor’s preface states, that the book is “ intended for beginners,” and that “ difficult and complicated ” experiments consequently have been omitted; and that of Dr. Foster allures the student by assurances of inexpensive as well as .easy manipulation, for it avers that the experiments “ may for the most part be conducted on frogs, may be repeated any number of times without difficulty or expense, and “ so serve usefully as a means of training students in physiological study and inquiry.” Very seldom indeed is the student told to anaesthetise, and then only during dn operation. It cannot be alleged that “beffinners ” know when to narcotise, and when not; but if they do then the few directions to use chloral, etc. are un- necessary. No doubt should have been left on this point in a handbook designed “for beginners.” Besides, where will students find cautions against the infliction of unnecessary pain, and wanton experimentation ? On the contrary, the student is encouraged to repeat the torture “ any number of times.” These facts are significant.] Advance of Physiology.—Nature, No. 204, p. 456-7. Presumption of students.—Dr. Scoffern, Belgravia, Ajiril 1867, p. 221. Experiments during lecture.—Lancet, No. 2,471, p. 3. Dr. Rutherford, Lancet, No. 2,476, p. 185. Pfliiger discovered a curious fact regarding the stimula- tion of a motor nerve, and the effect which it produces on a muscle. He found that when he stimulated with equal force the sciatic nerve of a frog at one time near the gas- trocnemius and at another time at a distance from the muscle, in the latter case a more powerful impression was produced on the muscle. We shall perform the experiment. I dissect out the sciatic nerve of a frog, sever it from the vertebral column, but leave it connected mth the leg.— Dr. Rutherford, Lancet, No. 2,483, p. 438. I shall illustrate what I have been saying by some experiments. We have here a white rabbit I now cut down upon the cervical sympathetic nerve. Let us take that on the right side for convenience. I expose the nerve about the middle of the neck. I separate it from the superior cardiac branch of the vagus, a smaller nerve which lies close beside the sympathetic, and I put a fine silk ligature round the sympathetic, and tie it firmly round the nerve. The effect of this is to paralyse the nerve as thoroughly as if the nerve were divided. Now compare the two ears and the two pupils again. The vessels in the right ear are much larger than those in the left ear. The right ear is in consequence distinctly redder than the left You see also that the right pupil is smaller than the left one. I shall now divide the nerve immediately below the ligatured point and then irritate the nerve just above the ligature. In an experiment of this sort we call this part of the divided nerve its “ upper ” end; the end of the nerve which lies below the point of section is called the “ lower ” end. Watch the vessels of the right ear while I faradise (stimulate with faradic or induced electricity) the uppei' end of the nerve. You see that they contract, and the ear in consequence becomes blanched. We shall wait for a few moments until the irritation passes off. Now look at the right j)upil while I irritate the upper end of the nerve again. You see that it dilates enormously under the influence of the irritation. We have seen then that on paralysing the cervical sympathetic blood vessels of the ear on that same side dilate and the pupil on the same side contracts, and that on stimulating the upper or cranial end of the divided nerve precisely the converse takes place in both parts. We therefore conclude that this nerve contains fibres whose function, is to cause the vessels of the ear to contract and the pupil to dilate, and that these fibres convey their influence up the neck. As I want to keep the experiment as simple as possible, I shall not stimulate the lower end of this nerve at present. I cut down the phrenic, and I open the abdomen in order that you may see the diajjhragm. You see that at intervals both sides of the diaphragm are drawn downwards. I divide the right phrenic nerve in the neck. Now look at the right side of the diaphragm. It remains quite loose and flabby when the left side is drawn down instead of being tightly drawn