Recent Experiments in Vivisection.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2078, 31 October 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Recent Experiments in Vivisection.

TnosK who aro familiar w ith the work performed by that estimable gentleman and philanthropist, Mr^ Etenry Borgh, cannot help listening attentively to what ho has to say, aod generally aaroeing with him ; but, at times, it seems as n his sympathy for the brote creation carried him to unwarranted excesses. To this latter oategory would eeem to belong his action regarding the very valuable, and in no sense oruel, experiments in osteotomy recently mado with an etherized sheep at the New York Post-Graduate College and Hospital. Suffering humanity has some claims that cannot be overlooked ; and if investigations made by experts with living Hnbjeots -will seem to lessen the pain or shorten the -hb£ of maladies that human flesh is heir to, it would appear unreasonable to demand their discontinuance. The experiments referred to were made with a purpose of ascertaining whether or no bone may be removed in disease of the joiuts without entailing permanent etitlness in the affected parts. The theory upon which Hr. Roberts' operation was based is that the first indications of disease in borro may be removed in much the same manner as that employed by dentistß with decayed teeth, and that the well-known property of bone to throw out new tissue would do for the part removed what the dentist's artificial filling does for the cavity that ie left in the tooth. When the sheep had be«i rendered insensible by the application of ether, Dr. Roberta removed the wool between the thigh and the shank, and then laid bare that portion of the bone which lies Bdjacent to the articulation of the joint. A Fmall eleotric battery served to operate a drill and burr, and by means of these he made ft small exoavfttion in the bone, pausing from time to time to examine by the aid of a miniature incandescence electrio light the progress of his work. When the operation was completed, a cavity was left in the bone largo enough to admit a email thimble, but the articulation of the joint remained uninjured. After a drainage pipe was affixed to the cavity, the parts wero carefully sewed together. Six weeks hence, when the cavity shall hate had ample time to fill up with new bo*ne, the animal will be killed, in order that the remit of the operation may be accurately determined. Should the theory upon which this operation is based prove well founded, the most important results may be expected in the future treatment of diseases of the hip, knee, and ankle where the spongy interior of the bone is the seat of the trouble, and the ilow and trying »ystem of absorbing the diseased bone, or removing the joint and thus shortening th 6 leg, and the other and varioun means employed, all of whioh leave a stiffened joint as a result, will be superseded. It does not require unusual perception to distinguish between operations such at that described, related directly and jspecificially to the art of healing, and those with no more specific aim than the advancement erf knowledge or, worse still, to illustrate thff living organism or satisfy idle curiosity. Such practices as these latter have furnished good cavie for complaint, and moved even those leas sensitive Than Mr. BeTgh to protest in indignant tones against them. But there is a higher cause to which vivieection may be made to appeal— the cause of Buffering humanity ; and when bo directed by competent hinds, objections on the plea of cruelty seem to be at once nnjußt and illogioal.