COLUMBIA LIBRARIES OFFSITE HEALTH SCIENCES STANDARD HX64099105 QP45 .B452 The futility of expe RECAP Qf^Vs- jd^^ Columbia SlnitJem'tp College of ^ijpsiiciansf anj> ^urgeonjf Hibrarp Digitized by tine Internet Arcliive in 2010 with funding from Open Knowledge Commons (for the Medical Heritage Library project) http://www.archive.org/details/futilityofexperiOOberd FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FROM VIVISECTION. THE FUTILITY OF EXPERIMENTS WITH DRUGS ON ANIMALS. BY EDWAED BEEDOE, LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS (EDIN.) ; MEMBER OF THE BOYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS (ENG.) ; LICENTIATE OF THE SOCIETY OF APOTHECARIES (LOND.) ; MEMBER OF THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION ; GOLD MEDALLIST IN MEDICINE, AND MEDICAL SCHOLAR OF THE LONDON HOSPITAL; ETC., ETC., ETC. LONDOX: VICTORIA STREET AND INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANIMALS FROM VIVISECTION, 20, VICTORIA STREET, S.W. ; SWAN SONNENSCHEIN, LOWREY & Co., PATERNOSTER SQUARE ; And ALL Booksellers. 1889. PRICE SIXPENCE. THE FUTILITY OF EXPEKIMENTS WITH DKUGS ON ANIMALS. In Mr. Ericliseu's Auuual Reijort and Return showing tlie number of experiments performed upon living animals during the year 1887, under licenses granted under the Act 39 & 40 Vict., c. 77, we find the following statement : — " The Therapeutical experiments are 280 in number. These have been made, in the case of new drugs, either with the view of justifying the further extension of such remedies to man, or of enlarging their present sphere of usefulness ; in the case of some of the old drugs, with the view of inquiring whether their action is such as to justify their continued administration for the jjurposes for which they have hitherto been used. The experiments consisted chiefly of hypodermic injections, and were mostly of a painless character." We may divide these remarks into those which apply to Xew DriKjs, and those which refer to Ohl onen. Of the Xeu- DnKja, the Inspector says that the experiments have been directed with the view of — (a) Justifying their further extension to man, or iji) Enlarging their present sphere of usefulness. With res^Dect to the (Jhl Dnajs, he says that the experi- ments have been conducted to ascertain whether their action justifies their continued use for the old purposes. He adds that the experiments were mostly performed by inserting the drugs in solution under the skin, as morphia and other drugs are frequently injected in medical i^ractice ; he 4 Futility of Experiments with Drugs. further states that these injections were mostly painless. Whether this latter statement is the fact or not will be shown in the course of our inquiry. It will be found very instructive and interesting to bestow careful attention to what is really involved in these apparently matter-of-fact remarks, and to endeavour to ascertain what we are committed to, if we accept these investigations at the value herein sought to be claimed for them. We propose to show by a careful examination of the works of the most eminent experimental physiologists and medical writers, and for the most part in the words of one set of experimenters com- menting on the proceedings and conclusions of another set — what is the real scientific value to be attached to 1st. The physiological action of drugs used in medicine when tested upon various animals. 2nd. The physiological action of a drug as compared with its clinical action. The reader will be in a position to judge for himself how far it is safe and wise to extend to man any sort of medicine upon this system of arriving at the nature of its action. He will be enabled also to judge how far it is wise to discard a medicine which has jproved itself of definite clinical value, because it has failed to pass satisfactorily the ordeal of an examination in physiology ! The method adopted in these j)ages will be to take the principal drugs and chemicals which are used in the practice of medicine, and compare and contrast their action on the different species of animals upon which they have been tried, both with each other, and upon man. Some very remarkable differences will be found to exist in these effects, differences which will serve to illustrate the contention that this method of investigating the properties of medicines is both misleading and unscientific. It has long been a familiar fact to those who protest against the practices of vivisection, that there are Futilitii of Experiments wHli Drvfis. 5 several drugs Avliicli are deadly poisons to man •which are eaten with impunity by goats, rabbits, and other mammals ; for instance, goats eat hemlock, and take no harm ; rabbits devour belladonna with impunity ; pigeons are not affected by doses of opium strong enough to kill a man. These and a few other stock illustrations are well known to all who take an interest in the vivisection controversy, and the physiolo- gists, like Dr. Lauder- Brunton, have endeavoured to explain away the difficulties connected with the diverse action of these poisons in men and animals. It has been considered advisable to bring together the whole of the materia medica in which these different actions are most clearly shown, and to present the evidence of eminent authorities, both English and foreign, which tends to show how vain a thing it is to expect to find out remedies for our own :Iiseases by experiments upon animals which are not coustibuted as we are, and which frequently find their food in things which would be fatal to mankind. Medical progress does not, and cannot, lie this way. It was not thus that Paracelsus blessed the world with his opiates and his mercurials ; not thus that the Jesuits discovered the virtues of Cinchona bark with its active i^rinciple, quinine ; not thus that Sim^json brought us the heavenly boon of chloroform ; not thus that any one good thing in the armamentaria of the physicians has found its way thither. Mr. Lawson Tait has most ably done for the surgical what I hope to do for the medical side of this important question ; and 1 shall confine ixiy attention therefore to the consideration of the thera- peutical value of experiments with drugs upon animals and men. The drugs will be taken in the alphabetical order of their common English names for facility of reference, and the Latin or pharmacoiJceia names will be appended ; then a short explanation of their action upon animals and human beings will follow, with the ox^inions of the experimenters in parallel columns. 6 Futility of Experiments with Drufis. Aconite {P. B.) — This plant is known by country j)eople as Monk's-hood. Dr. Ringer says :— " Perhaps no drug is more valuable than aconite." An alkaloid is prepared from it which is termed aconiiia.' It is one of the deadliest of the vegetable poisons ; yet Linnaeus says that the plant, when dried, is eaten by horses without injury {Pratt's Floiverhnj Plants of Great Britain, Vol. 1, p. 46). Different experimental pharmacologists have arrived at quite diverse conclusions as to the action of aconitia upon the nervous system of the various animals which they have x^oisoned with this drug. Some of their cruel experiments with the alkaloid, which causes the most irritating and burning effects, are termed by the operators " very complete and beautiful investigations." Rabbits were caused by it " to jump vertically in a very peculiar manner, and often to squeal piteously," then to fall into " severe convulsions." Dogs, however, remained without a quiver, but horses were convulsed. {St. Thomas's Hospital Reports, V.) Achscharumow says that in frogs aconitia produces at first a reduction in the number of the heart's pulsations, then an increase in the rapidity of its action. — {Reichert's Arcldv, 1866, p. 255.) Achscharumow argues that the slowing of the pulse during the early stage of aconite-poison- ing is due to stimulation of the inhibiting centres in the medulla oblongata.— (P. 272.) The most diverse conclusions have been arrived at by different vivisectors as to the action of Lauder-Brunton says : " The heart in the frog is first quickened and then slowed. In man or mammals there is first slowness of the pulse, but shortly before death it may become more rapid." — {Pharmacolnrjy, p. 750.) Bohm and Wartman repu. diate this conclusion. — {Loc. cit., p. 266.) " Later investigations have, however, clearly shown that some fallacy exists in the studies of Achscharumow." — (Wood, p. 174.) Lander-Bx'unton says (p. 750) : " The motor centres of the spinal cord, and the respiratory and FntHiiij of E.cperhnents ii'itli Drugs. 7 aconitia upon the nei'roas sya- vasomotor centres in the medulla torn. Achscharumow says that appear first to be slightly stimu- the spinal cord is not affected. — lated, so that clonic convulsions (Wood, p. 174.) iiiay occur, the reflex power of the cord is diminished." Rmger and Murrell (JoiiriiaJ of Phi/sioloi/t/, I., Nos. 4 and 5) deny the accuracy of the delicate experiments of Liegeois and Hottot. Experiments by Mackenzie upon frogs have yielded appa- rently contrary results to those of Bohm and Wartmann as to the effect of aconite upon these animals. — ( Wood, Therapeutics, p. 177.) MM. Grehaul and Duquesnel, writing in U Union Pharma- eeutiqne, August, 1871, communicated to the French Academy some experiments upon frogs with aconitia. Wood says (p. 177) " that their results are so strikingly different from those of other experimenters as to indicate the existence of some fallacy." Dr. Ringer says {Hand Book of Therapeutics, p. 397, 5th Edition) that " very diverse statements are made concerning its action on the nervous system." The literature of the subject teems with the opjoosed state- ments of the physiologists on the action of aconite upon the animals and men experimented upon with this poison. Yet Dr. Lauder-Brunton says that our objection to the value of such experiments is due to ignorance. " Almost all our eii-act knou-Jedije of the action ofdru/js on the various orf/ans of the liodtj, as well as the jjhi/siolot/ical functions of these ori/anisins themselves, has hceii ohtained by experiments upon animals.'' Ignorance cannot be Dr. Brunton's excuse for this astounding statement ! Alcohol. — Alcohol is used in medicine as a cordial stimu- lant. Physiologists are much divided in opinion as to the way it acts upon man and animals. Dr. Zimmerburg, experi- menting upon cats, said it loirered the ^>m/.s<' rate. Dr. Wood 8 Futilitii of Experiments until Drugs. says that he thinks " there must be some fallacy underlying " these experiments. There generally is ! Our daily experience of the influence of alcohol upon the pulse proves that in this instance there must be a fallacy. The action of various kinds of alcohol as brandy, whisky, rum, wine, and beer is physiologically different. Dr. Stille says (p. 1,347) : " It is one of the unfounded claims of science that chemicals of apparently the same composition are identical in their action ; for experience daily shows that physiological effects cannot be predicted upon chemical grounds alone. The action of whisky, both immediate and remote, differs in many respects from that of brandy." Bocker says that alcohol lessens the atnotiiit of carbonic acid gas exhaled. — (Claude Bernard, Journal de Pharmacie, Com. XV., 3rd series, 1849.) BOcker also experimentally determined that alcohol lessens the excretion of urea. MM. Lallemand, Duvoy, and Perrin assert that alcohol escapes unchanged from the body. Dr. E. Smith found that alcohol increases the elimination of the gas.— (irV.f?, p. 121.) Parkes and WolloAvicz affirm that their experiments gave an exactly contrary result. — {Wond, p. 122.) Baudot fL' Union Medicale, 1863), seriously questions these' results, and declares that after twenty experiments he finds that the alcohol elinrinated by the kidneys practically amounts to nothing. Dr. Ringer says : — " Observations on the influence of alcohol on the blood and organs have yielded contradictory results, the most recent and elaborate investigations of Parkes and Wollowicz clashing in most particulars with those of pre- vious experimenters." — (Therapeuties, p. 274, 5th Ed.) Dr. Ringer (himself a well-known experimenter) admits that "as physiology fails to guide our steps amid these Fiitilitij of Experiments witli Drugs. 9 couflictiug statements ' we must rely solely on experience.' " —{Therapeutics, p. 277, 5tli Ed.) Alkalies. — Such as Bicarbonate of Soda, Bicarbonate of Potash, Citrate of Potash, Acetate of Potash, and other well-known drugs. Writing of these, Dr. Ringer says : — "We may here introduce a short summary of some interesting experiments made by Dr. Paul Guttman (on the lower animals), which confirm many of the conclusions arrived at by Claude Bernard and others on the action of potash and soda salts. The results are singular, and scarcely in accordance with the experience of medical men of the action of these substances on the human body." — {Therapeutics, p. 127, 5th Edition.) As showing how diflicult it is for physiologists, with all their unfettered opportunities of experiment upon living animals, to interpret correctly the phenomena they produce, we may note in this connection that these investi- gators, though agreed that the potash salts in large doses arrest the action of the heart, are at variance as to the process by which this is effected. Traube (says Dr. Ringer, " This view Gnttman (another 16., p. 127) asserts that the action vivisector) considers erroneous, on the heart is effected through as after the vagi nerves were the vagi nerves. both divided and the medulla removed, the potash salts still affected the heart as before, and even when the vagi were paralysed by woorali (curare) the potash salts still acted as usual on this organ." — {Ringer, p. 127.) Ammonia, Acetate of {P. B.) — Afindererus Spirit, a well- known household remedy for colds. Stille and Maisch say : — " Experiments upon animals show that this preparation in large doses affects them energetically ; in rabbits, causing fatal tetanic spasms and dissolution of the gastric mucous 10 Futility of Experiments tvith Drugs. membrane. Given to healthy men, it does not ajDi^ear to occasion any decided symptoms." — (National Dispensatory, p. 836.) Ammonium, Chloride of (P. B.) — Sal Ammoniac. Dr. Smith (quoted by Stille) apphed two drachms of chloride of ammonium to the wounded thighs of dogs, and thereby caused their death in from 12 to 36 hours.— -( TFoofZ's Thera- peuties, p. 526.) Orfila introduced the same chemical into the stomach of a dog, causing it to die in violent convulsions and spasms. Arnold found that 30 grains Dr. Rabateau {L' Union Medi- would kill a rabbit in 10 minutes. cale, 1871, p. 330) injected tbe same drug into the veins of dogs with no ajDparent effect. Sundelin andBocker (BeWra£/e Wood says (Materia Medica, zur HeilTcuiide, Bd. ii., p. 170) p. 527) that " although I have and other experimenters say given the drug very largely that chloride of ammonium im- and freely," he has not found poverishes the blood. evidences of this action. Amyl, Nitrite of (P. B.) — The use of this drug in medi- cine is declared by the Vivisecting School to be a brilliant example of the benefits conferred upon humanity by experi- ments on animals. It was discovered in 1844, by the French chemist Balard. In 1865, Dr. Richardson introduced it to the profession. Guthrie had previously observed its action in causing flushing ; indeed, it would be impossible for anybody who had ever had a sniff of the drug to avoid observing this action. Some years later — that is to say, after all its clinical virtues had been well ascertaiaed — Dr. Gamgee, by experi- menting upon animals, demonstrated that Nitrite of Amyl les- sened the blood pressure in the vessels ; in other words, it dilates the capillaries, which is a pretty scientific way of saying it causes intense flushing. Every doctor who used the drug, on the recommendation of Dr. Richardson, must have known all FutiUfji of Experiments ivith Drugs. 11 this. " Animal torture was unnecessary," concludes Dr. McCormiclv, Deputy-Inspector of Her Majesty's Hosioitals and Fleet, after remarking that the use of Nitrite of Amyl for the relief of spasms of the heart "could have been very readily arrived at by letting a patient inhale its vapour." But so simple a process would not suit our physiologists, and, in sooth, would not make much of a paper to read before -a learned society. So dogs, rabbits, and other animals were used, upon which to demonstrate phenonaena which had already been observed by clinical methods. It is not true, therefore, that the discovery of the uses of Nitrite of Amyl was due to ■experiments upon animals though it is the fact that they were demonstrated by such means. But experimenters are not in perfect accord as to the interpretation of the phenomena which they observed in this way. Wood says (p. 347) : " An iu- " Bernheira, however, asserts teresting question which here that this cannot be so, and that -arises is, whether the dilatation is centric or periiDheric. I be- lieve it must be peripheral and not centric, iu its origin, since both in my own experiments, and in those of Brunton, it occurred after the arterioles had been separated from the vaso-motor centres by division ■of the cord." Mark the reply of the other vivisectors to all this. Wood says (p. 348), "The answer to these results is, that opening the chest must derange most pro- foundhj the pneumonic circula- tion (just what we have always protested with all our might), and that all observations upon the dilatation most be solely due to an action upon the vaso- motor centres, because he found that galvanisation of the cervical symiDathetic still caused con- tractions iu the vessels of the ear of a rabbit, to which nitrite of amyl had been given. As pointed out by Pick (Central- hlatt, Med. Wissen. 55, 1873), Bernheim's experiment does not warrant his conclusion. Dr. W. Filehne (Pfiuger's Archiv, p. 478, Bd. ix.) dissents from the view here taken. . . . Filehne afSrms that when to the animals whose lungs were exposed (that is to say, whose chests were cut open) inhala- 12 Futility of Experiments with Drugs. the comparative size of vessels are very apt to be mere guess-work when the change is slight." In SchuUer's experiments {Berlin. Klin. WocTi. 25, 1874) after destruction of the cervical sympathetic in a rabbit, inhala- tion of the nitrite produced still further dilatation of vessels in the ear. In a rabbit experimented on injection of this drug caused with the same drug on human result. tions of the nitrite were given, the change of colour was not nearly so great as in the ears,, and that if the sympathetic had been destroyed in the neck in a rabbit, and the uitrite of amyl exhibited, the vessels on the unwounded side actually became larger than those of theopisosite ear."— Wood, -p. 348. by Dr. Hoffman, a hypodermic diabetes, but exjperimenters beinss have not detected this Apomorphia. — This is an alkaloid lorepared from morpihia. It is used in medicine as an emetic and expectorant. Doctors using this drug for these purposes have found that in young subjects very considerable depression has been produced by it, with dangerous symptoms of paralysis of the heart. But Siebert and Moerz, experimenting wdth the drug upon animals, say that these facts are contradicted by their physiological observations, as they find that apomorphia does not affect the blood pressure, and that the pulse rises when the emetic effect is produced. — {Bartholoiv's Materia Mediea, p. 459.) Hypodermic injections of this poison in the lower animals elicit no evidence of pain, although in man they have been known to cause intense pain. — {Wood, p. 437.) Quehl says the paralysis pro- Harnack, after experimenting duced by the drag must be upon frogs which he poisoned central, since neither the sensi- tive nor motor nerves nor muscles are affected by the poison. — {Ueher die Physiol., Halle, 1872.) with apomorphia, after cutting off their legs, directly contradicts Quehl's conclusions. — {ArcMv. Exper. Patliol. Bd., ii., p. 291.) Futility of Exiuriments toith Drugs. 13 Moerz says that during the Bourgeois declares that in vomiting the temiDerature rises. man the drag has no influence {Wood, p. 438.) on the temperature. — (FFooci, p. 438.) Ziolkowski says the tempera- ture /a?is during the vomiting. — (Ui supra.) Arsenic. — Drs. Ringer and Murrell {Journal of Physiolo'jy, I., p. 217) experimented upon frogs with arsenic. Dr. W. Sklarck, of Berlin {Reicherfs Archiv, 1866), experi- mented in a similar manner with this chemical on the muscular and nervous system of frogs, obtaining very different results from those of the English physiologists. These gentlemen endeavour to extricate physiological medicine from this diffi- culty by saying that the discrepancies in question depend upon the time of year at which the frogs were experimented upon. We do not dispute that this may materially affect the results, but of what avail is it to study the effects of the medical uses of a drug intended for the treatment of man upon a frog's sj'^stem which behaves in one manner in spring and in a totally different manner in autumn ? This confusion illustrates one other of the many fallacies of a system of medicine founded upon any such basis. Atropine. — {See Belladonna.) Beberine {P.B.) — Analkaloid, prepared from Bebeeru bark. It causes convulsions and paralysis in dogs and rabbits, yet in man no serious symptoms have as yet been recorded from its use. — {Wood, Therajyeutles, p. 57.) Belladonna (P. B.) — Deadbj Nightshade. — The root and leaves of the poisonous plant Atropa Belladonna contain the sXkdiloidi At ropia ; it is entirely to this active principle that the physiological action of Belladonna is due . The plant and its alkaloid act much more mildly upon the lower animals than upon man. Its well-known action in dilating the pupU 14 Fiitilitij of Experiments with Drugs. of tlie human eye may instructively be comx:)arecl with its jpowerlessness to cause any such effect on the j)upils of the eyes of pigeons, or, as Stille says, of those of other birds. Birds and herbivorous animals eat Belladonna with im- punity. " This is one of the many examples," say those great authorities, Drs. Stille and Maisch, " which show the danger of concluding from the lower animals to man in regard to the uses of medicines, unless the mode of action in the two cases is first proved to be identical. In no animal is there any degree of that delirious escitenient which Bella- donna produces in man. — {Therapeutics, ]p. 276.) Dr. Einger {Materia. Medica, p. 454, 5th Ed.) says : — " Cer- tain animals, like pigeons and rabbits, a^spear to be almost insusceptible to the influence of Belladonna," and "Belladonna, it is asserted, has very little effect on horses and donkeys." So powerful is the action of atropine on the human organism,, that it is usually medicinally administered in the very minute dose of from -^ to ^ of a grain. Yet Calmus found that na less than fifteen gTains are required to kill a rabbit, and Ringer says that two grains administered hypodermically are necessary to kill a pigeon. — {Materia Medica, p. 454.) Meuriot administered atropine Bezold and Bloebanm did ex- to various animals, and then actly the same, and they affirm opened their abdomens whilst that they found the poison alive. He declared that the caused marked sedation (calm- poison caused the intestines to ing) in the same organs, undergo violent contraction. Meuriot and Harley contradict each other \x\)0\i the results of their experiments on the action of atropia on the secretions of the alimentary canal. "Wood {Therapeutics, p. 252) says that none of the experi- ments seem decisive, and that their results are not in accord with clinical experience. FuiUiiij of Experiments with Drugs. 15 With respect to the antagouism of Belladonna in cases of opium poisoning, Dr. Erlenmeyer is opposed by Dr. Brown- Sequard and Dr. Harley, who dispute the antagonism, as they say it has not been observed in experiments made on man and the lower animals. To this Dr. Ringer rej)lies : " It must be remembered, however, that these drugs do not similarly affect animals and man." — {Materia Medica, p. 469.) Dr. Harley severely criticises the reputed cases of this antagonism, and " his conclusions," says Dr. Ringer, " are in some respects directly opposed to those of Erlenmeyer." Surely, to any candid and unprejudiced medical man, the lessons taught by this account of the action of Belladonna would alone be sufficient to make him reflect that the anti- vivisectionists may not be such fools after all ! Benzoic Acid (P. B.) — Cruel experiments with this drug have been jjerformed by different physiologists, with the result, says Wood, p. 531, that their testimony is " singularly contradictor}"." Bromides of Potassium, Ammonia, Sodium (P. B.), Sic — Bartholow, Purser, and Laborde, experimented with the bromides upon the nervous system of different animals, and arrived at certain conclusions, which were promptly contra- dicted by Darmourette and Polvette, after a similar series of experiments. — ( Wood, Therajyeutics, p. 325.) Caffein {P. B.) is prepared from Coffee. Much diversity of opinion exists amongst physiologists as to the action of this drug. A great number of animals have undergone experiments with it, causing violent spasms, convulsions and excitement, ending in death. Dr. Mary P. Jacobi (note that this was a lady experimenter) actually experimented with this potent alka- loid on a patient tvhose brain was exposed. (See StiUe's Thera- peutics, p. 312.) Those who exxDorimeut with it on frogs note a different action when they use different species of these animals, the action on rana escidenta being very different from 16 Futility of Experiments u'ith Drugs. that on rana temporaria. — {Lander- B runton, Materia Medica, p. 72.) Calabar Bean (P. B.) — The dried seed of Plujsostigma venenosum. Bartholow and Bourneville experimented with calabar bean, and arrived at conclusions opposite to each other. Indeed, the most conflicting testimony is given by different physiologists as to its action on men and animals. Wood {Therapeutics, p. 310) says: — "The researches of Kohler, of Vintschgau, and of Rossbach and Frohlich, are especially open to doubt, on account of their statement that Calabar beau tetanizes." In summing up the evidence of various vivisectors as to its action upon the vagi nerves, it appears that " no positive conclusion can be reached." Dr. Harley {Practitioner, Vol. Dr. Fraser, who made 331 III., p. 163) declares that it experiments with the drug, does not affect the arteries when chiefly on rabbits, conti'adicts applied locally. this, and says he has de- monstrated that the local application of the drug 'pro- i duces dilatation of the arteries (Wood, p. 316). Bartholow sums up the statements of the conflicting phy- siologists in these suggestive terms: — "The applications of physostigma to the treatment of disease are by no means so imiDortant as the elaborate study given to its physiological action by various observers would seem to indicate." Calomel. — See Mercury. Camphor (P. i?.)— This drug acts differently on different animals. In the articulata it acts as a virulent poison ; in birds it causes epileptiform seizures ; in mammals it is an intoxicant, causing ultimately convulsions and death. In man, Stille says (p. 334), "in no instance does camphor seem to have caused the death of a healthy person." FutUiitj of Experiments with Drays. 17 Camphor, Monobromated. Bouriicville says, after having Trasbot exjieriraented with performed a number of experi- the same drag in a similar ments upon animals with this manner upon dogs, and found drug, that it loioers the tempera- that it neither loioerecl the ture, lowers the pidfie, and, causes temperature nor pulse, nor did sleep. it cause sleep. Trasbot, in his exiDeriments, Valenti y Vico inferred from says it caused symptoms like his experiments that it was an those of strychnia. antidote to strychnia. — {Stille, Therapeutics, 336, 2nd Ed.) Carbonic Acid Gas. — The effects of the inhalation of carbonic acid by man do not correspond with those observed in animals. Dogs inhaling this gas in the proportion of 1 part in 9 are thrown into an anaesthetic sleep ; but Stille and Maisch say that in similar experiments on man no such anaesthetic influence is produced. In dogs which have succumbed to a fatal dose, the heart and lungs are found "orged with blood {Demarquay). " In the case of a young man who died in this manner in the Grotto of Pyrmont, the lungs were not engorged, and the heart contained very little blood."— (-S'^VZZe and Maisch, p. 38.) Chloral Hydrate (P. B.) — Experimenters with chloral hydrate contradict each other about its physiological action in the most bewildering manner. {See American Journal of Insanitij, July, 1871, and American Journal of Medical Science, April, 1870.) Chrysophanic Acid. — Experimenters with this drug do not agree respecting its action. Some declare that it is a purgative, while the greater number assure us that it has no such property. They are equally divided as to the question ■of its elimination from the system after its exhibition. — {Stille and Maisch, p. 42.) Citric Acid (P. B.) is prepared from lemon juice. Physiolo- gists have experimented with it upon cats, rabbits, and other 18 Futility of Experiments ivith Drugs. animals, with results which should teach medical men how fallacious it is to expect the lower animals to illustrate the uses of medicines proposed to be exhibited on human beings. Citric acid proves to be a powerful poison to these animals ; it causes in them the most violent tetanic spasms^ In man, however, no sx^asmodic or any other alarming symptoms ever arise from its use. — {St/Ue and Slai.^ch,. p. 44.) Coca Leaves (P. B.) — Physiological experimenters are greatly at variance as to the influence of this plant upon men and animals. Coculus Indieus is a well-knoAvn poison used for catching fish] by intoxicating them ; under its influence they whirl round, and lie motionless on the water. In dogs and other animals it causes muscular tremors, convulsions, and tetanic spasms. It is remarkable that there is no case on re- cord where such effects have been produced on man by this drug. We have cases of stomach irritation, congestion of the brain and death, but no spasmodic phenomena. — {Stiller Therapeutics, 2nd Ed., jp. 436.) Colocynth [P. B.) has very little action upon horses,, sheep, and swine ; but it is a powerful purgative to dogs and rabbits, on which it acts violently, causing inflammation of the bowels. Small doses act powerfully on human beings. Couia. — See Hemlock. Copper, Sulphate of {P. B.) — Atrociously cruel experi- ments upon dogs have been tried with this poison ; given by the mouth it excites violent vomiting, but some j)hysiologists,, to prevent this, have tied the gxdlet, and thereby have caused convulsions and paralysis. Yet Levi and Barduzzi gave a horse daily 15 grains of sulphate of copper for 30 days without in- jury. An ass was subjected to the same treatment with similar results. Fntilitij of Experiments ivith Drugs. 19 Corrosive Sublimate. — {Perchlor'ule of Mercury, P. B.) — Drs. Wright and Wilbouchc- witch (Archiv de Plujs., Sei^fc., 1874) experimented with cor- rosive sublimate upon rabbits, and foiind that it very greatly diminitihed the number of the red blood corpuscles. Croton Chloral Hydrate B. P.)— This drug was introduced by Liebrich, who claimed as the re- sults of his exjaeriments that it lessened sensibility before it produced its narcotic effect. Croton Oil (P. B.) — Armand Moreau experimented with the intestines of living dogs by cutting them open and putting croton oil into them, and obtained opposite results to those obtained by M. Thivy, who did the ?,dsme.—{Oaz. Med., 1871.) Hertwig ar.d Bucheim {Vir- Conwell did exactly the same, clroiv's Archw, xii., 1) injected hnt with a coiitrary result. Stille J3r. Keyes (Amer. Jova: Med. Sci., Jan., 1876) did the same, and he says that it increases the number of the red blood cor- Ijuscles. -{Butyl — Chloral Hydrate, But the much more elaborate researches of J. V. Merino (Ar- cliiv Experini. Pathl. Pharm., Feb., 1875) do not bear out these assertions. croton oil into the veins of animals, and found that pur- gation did not folloiu. (Therap., Vol. ii., p. 451) says that it will sometimes purge human beings even when ap- plied externally. Currier's Suraach.. — (Ooriaria.) — This plant is poisonous to man. " Snails that had lived on its leaves have poisoned those who ate them" — " but rabbits were usually unaffected." — (Stille and Maisch, p. 466.) Elaterium {P. B.) — This drug, even in very small doses, causes in man violent purging, with severe griping, and more or less vomiting ; " but, however it may be given to dogs and rabbits — does not vomit or purge them, but destroys them with tetanoid phenomena." — {Stille and Maisch, p. 521.) 20 Futility of Experiments with Drugs. Extract of Meat. — Kemmerich arrived at the singular conclusion that concentrated cold extract of horse-flesh in- jected into the stomach of dogs in large doses is fatal to them, with all the appearances of cardiac paralysis ! The experiment does not appear to have yet been tried upon man, but we do not consider that extract of meat is a dangerous poison to the higher animal. Ply Agaric, or Fly Fungus {Fungus Musearius). — This j)oisonous fungus yields the deadly alkaloid Muscarine. In commenting upon a case of poisoning by this fungus, related by Dr. Chevers, Stille says (p. 664), " in this narrative there is absolutely nothing to suggest, or to be explained by the results of the physiological experiments above described." They never do explain anything which is of any importance. Ringer and Morsheacl found Schmiedeberg and Harnack that muscarine dilated tlie puiDil discovered that it contracted the when applied locally. pupil both when applied locally and given iaternally. — (Bruuton Materia Medico, p. 187.) Foxglove Leaves. — {Digitalis, P. B.) — This drugis perhaps the most valuable one which we possess for the treatment of certain forms of heart disease. It has often been claimed by our opponents of the experimental school that its virtues were discovered in consequence of the great number of investi- gations which have been carried out with it upon the lower animals. But this is a typical case of the confusion so often made between a discovery and its demonstration. " Long before " (we quote from Stille's great work, p. 511) "its mode of action had been experimentally investigated, it was estab- lished as the most efficient remedy for dropsy depending upon disease of the heart, or upon that form of renal disease which consists of congestion and tubal obstruction." It is poisonous to plants watered with its infusion. Most animals, the car- nivorous more readily than the herbivorous, are poisoned by this agent {8tille, loo. cit.) Great confusion exists amongst FutiUtjf of Experiments ivith Drugs. 21 experimenters as to its action upon the heart. Its action upon the kidnej^s has been studied by numerous observers with diverse results. With reference to its influence on the blood pressure, note the following quotation : — Boehm, exijerimonting with Ackerman, under jDrecisely digitalis, found that under cer- similar circumstances, found the tain anatomical conditions it does direct opjaosite. — (Wood, p. 139.) not increase arterial pressure. — (Wood, p. 138.) The rise in blood 23ressure With this view I cannot agree,, is regarded by Sclimiedeberg, and I still hold to the opinion Boehm, and others, as entirely wliioh I expressed many years due to increased action of the ago, that the rise in jDressure is heart and not to contraction of due in great measure to contrac- the vessels. — (Brunton, yi. 911.) tion of the arterioles. — (Brunton^ loc. cit.) "According to Saunders, Jorg, Hutchinson, and others, digitalis in moderate doses in the first instance, quickens the pulse, though other observers deny this effect.'" — (RingeVf Tlieya2-)putics, p. 411.) Friar's Balsam. — (Conqwund Tincture of Benzoin, P. B.J — The history of this preparation is curious and instructive — it was probablj^ invented in a monastery, and was used for centuries, especially for cuts and skin affections. When we began to be hyi:)er-scientific in medicine and surgery, an old-fashioned remedy like this was contemptuously regarded as an old woman's heal-all, and it was relegated to the limbo of forgotten therapeutics except among the poor and ignorant who did not care about fashion and science so long as they were cured. At last Mr. Bryant (Lancet, ii., 1876, p. 747) proved in his practice that its great reputation was well founded. " His results " ( JVoocl, p. 532) " appear to challenge those obtained by the most complicated antisei^tic surgery." Stille says {-p. 1436), " Those who considered the cure of disease of more consequence than the justification of a doctrine, adhered by its use, and the medicine survived the theory." 22 FutllitD of Experiments tvith Drugs. One of the regular arguments on behalf of vivisection is the claim that Professor Lister discovered the Carbolic Antiseptic system bj' experiments upon living animals. The plain truth is that perfect cleanliness on the surgeon's part, as Mr. Lawson Tait has laroved, -will achieve all Mr. Lister's results, especially when su]Dplemented by an antiseptic balsam such as Mr. Bryant uses. But then, as we are not bidden to do " some great thing " with a cart load of apparatus and paraiohernalia, we do not believe. Garaboge. — This to man is a drastic purgative, often causing vomiting and griping ; in large doses it acts as a powerful irritant, at times causing inflammation and death. (Garrod.) " Experiments upon animals with gamboge do not render its operation clear. It produces few symptoms of local irritation — and not uniformly either vomiting or purging." — {Stille, p. 670.) Gelsemium. — See Yellow Jasmine. Glycerine. — Even in so apparently innocent a drug as glycerine this diverse action between men and animals has been observed. When large doses are injected subcutaneously in dogs, death is produced with effects resembling those of alcoholic poisoning, in a period varying — according to the dose — from one hour to several days. {DujarcUn-Beaumetz, and Audije, Bull Thei-ap., xci., p. 62.) In man, says Wood {Therapeutics, p. 584), no symptoms of poisoning have ever been produced by glycerine. Euchsinger says [Pfluger's The experiments of Eckhard Archiv, xii., p. 501; Centralb. gave, however, a contrary result. Med.Wiss., 1877) that in rabbits — {Centralb. Med. Wissen, 1876, slightly poisoned with glycerine p. 273.) no sugar ajppears in the urine after the " diabetic puncture." " Its richness in carbon suggested its use as medicinal food, and especially as a substitute for cod-liver oil ; but, as in so Futilitij of Experiments with Drugs. 23 many other iustauces, a little clinical experience showed the so-called scientific induction to be untrue. On theoretical s^rounds, also, it has been used in the treatment of diahetes, but without striking advantage." — [Slille, National Disjjen- satorij, loc. cit.) Ground Ivy. — {Glechoma.) — This plant is a popular remedy in some places in the treatment of chronic bronchitis, and common colds. {Ann Pratt's Flowerinij Plants, Vol. IV., pp. 197-8.) Harmless to man, it is XDoisonous to horses and sheep.— (-S'^(7/e, p. 682.) Guarana. — Mantegazza, the inventor of a horrible machine "for the torture of dogs, which he called the " Tormentatore," •capable of inflicting graduated pain, termed by him according to its degree "intense," "cruel," and " most atrocious agony," experimented with guarana, and found that it excited frogs and threw them into convulsions, that it influenced some warm-blooded animals in a similar manner, but made rabbits •dull and languid, and produced a sort of intoxication in dogs. ■" It is curious," says Stillc, " to contrast these definite and striking results with those of Dr. Macdowall, of West Riding Insane Asylum. He experimented upon himself and two male attendants, and it soon become evident to him that even in very large doses its effect upon the body in a state of health is almost, if not quite, inappreciable." Its action in fact is very similar to that of tea and coffee. Hamamelis. — ( Witch Hazel.) — This is a most serviceable remedy for piles, and for arresting bleeding, yet Drs. Wood and Marshall exj)erimenting with it were unable to obtain any physiological effect. — {Ringer, 12 Ed., p. 308.) Hemlock Leaves and Fruit. — {Conium, P. B.) — Experi- menters are much at variance as to the physiological action of ,^o conclusion that Futility of Experiments with Drugs. 35 performed similar exi^erimeuts on vivisected rabbits by extirpating the cervical ganglia. The results obtained by Eberty are in accord mth those of Vogt, and disagree with those of Dr. Holmes. — (Wood, p. 546.) Sangtiinaria. — {Bloodroot .) — This plant is a native of North America, and is used in bronchitis, asthma, and dyspepsia. Its " physiological action," as shown by many experiments upon animals, "bears no relation to its medicinal use." — [StilU, p. 1254.) Sarsaparilla. — (P. B.) — Doctors are not agreed as to the question of the efficacy of this drug, and though some surgeons still hold by it, the physiologists are sceptical as to its uses. Palotta experimented with it, Boecker found it to be devoid and found its alkaloid produce of physiological activity and gastric disturbance, vomiting, therapeutic power. — (Bartho- and slowing of the pulse. loio's Materia Medica, p. 255.) Senega. — (P. B.) — This is a most valuable medicine for relieving the bronchial troubles of aged people. The experi- menters discourse learnedly about its action on the various organs of the frog, but their investigations have throvrn no light on its clinical application, and they give us no hint as to the mode in which the bronchial and pulmonary disorders are relieved by its use. — (See StiUe, p. 1287.) Soda. — (P-B.) — The Salts of Sodium seem to have little influence over the higher animals, but frogs are more suscep- tible to their action, dying in convulsions after the injection of the drug. — (VtrcJioic's ArcJdv, ^^Z. xxxiii., p. 507.) As usual, there are contradictions between eminent physiologists as to the action of this medicine upon animals. Grandeau [Bohin's Journal de According to Guttman (Fir- I'Anatomie, 1864) found that the choiu's Archiv., Bd. xxxv.), the "u.r^ion of one hundred and Soda salts, when injected into 36 FutiliUj of Experiments until Drugs. seven grains of the carbonate of the blood in very large amounts, sodium into tlie vein of a dog will slowly cause death, the produced only very slight symp- agony being very prolonged, toms, and that thirty-five grains and, when the chloride is used, of the nitrate administered in convulsions are developed.— the same way to a rabbit only {Wood, p. 594.) caused some convulsive move- Podocaepow says that they do ments.-(TFooc?, p. 593.) exert a very feeble action upon Guttman says that these salts the peripheral nerves and the are without influence upon the muscles.— (IFoof?, p. 594.) nerve centres, the peripheral nerves, or the muscles.— (TFoocZ, p. 594.) The effects of the administration for several days of large amounts of salt (chloride of sodium) upon human beings have been elaborately investigated by Dr. Mlinch, and found to be very feeble.— (TFoofZ, p. 594.) Sow-Bread.-((7y.fe«..«).-This plant is used in domestic med,cme in France. Pigs can eat any quantity of its root without harm; yet fish are poisoned by its juice, and will die m water containing ,,^,,th part of the juice of this root Vulpian says it is fatal to frogs. Claude Bernard made many experiments on animals with the plant, and they led him to conclude that its active principle, cyclamn, resembled curare m Its action ; but, as he injected a large amount of the liquid in which It was dissolved into their windpipes, it is very likely the^y^died of "asphyxia, and not of eyclamn^-^StUle, Spanish m:y.~iCantharides, P. i?.) - According to the ■ experiments of Orfila and of Beaupoil on the physiological action of Cantharides upon dogs, it would appear that this ^edicine acts differently upon men and animals.-( JFoo./'. llieraipeutics, p. 563.) _ Squill (P. 5.)-Everybody knows how valuable this drug IS m bronchial affections; it is, perhaps, the commonest J FtitUity of Experiments u-ith Drugs. 37 ingredient in a bottle of ordinary cough medicine. Yet, as Dr. Stille says (p. 1279), in summing up the results of many experiments upon animals with the active principle of squill — scilUtin — " There is nothing in the results of scientific investigation even to suggest that squill acts upon the bronchial mucous membrane, but the much more direct and conclusive evidence of clinical experience leaves no doubt of its great value in bronchitis." Some physiologists, quoted by the author of these remarks, killed a number of rabbits by a poisonous dose of the drug ; it produced violent inflamma- tion and erosion of the stomach, and haemorrhage about the heart, kidneys, brain and lungs was found ; but on the same experiments being repeated by Husemann and Konig no injuries of stomach or kidneys were discovered. Stramonium. — (Datura Stramonium — Thorn Apiile, P. B.) — Stramonium is almost as deadly a j)oison to man as bella- donna ; yet insects of the [caterpillar tribe feed upon it, and goats^devour it without injury. A decoction of the leaves, on the other hand, when merely applied to the skin of the rat, caused convulsive movements, and large doses have caused death in horses. Strychnine {P. B.) — An alkaloid prepared from Nux Vomica. This deadly poison, like so many others which we have considered, bears out to the full our contention that it is in vain to attempt to discover the physiological action of drugs on man by experimenting with them upon animals. " Very minute portions of strychnia in the soil will destroy the life of growing plants." — {Stille Therapeutics, p. 1362.) Flies and intestinal worms are readily killed by it, and it is very fatal to fish. It is generally believed that the frog is peculiarly sensitive to strychnine, but Falck maintains that in proportion to its weight it is really not so suscei)tible to its influence as various mammals, and that "it requires four times the dose needed by dogs, cats, rabbits, &c., to produce an equal effect upon frogs." — {Stille, lac. cit.) Birds appear to 38 Futility of Experiments ivith Drugs. be comparatively insusceptible to its action. Stille says that a hen, in progressive doses, at last took two-and-a-half drachms of nux vomica daily. It requires ten times as much strychnine to kill a chicken as would suffice for a pheasant. Yet half a drachm of this poison has proved fatal to human beings. — {Oinj and Ferrier's Forensic Medicine, 4th Ed., p. 572.) The ruminating animals are not so readily affected as other quadrupeds when the poison is taken by the mouth. Ten grains may fail to kill a sheep when thus administered, though half of a grain may kill a man. The same would be fatal to the sheep if administered hypodermically or into the veins. The action of the poison on ^the goat is similar to that on the sheep. In whatever way it is given to cats, whether by the stomach, injected into the veins, or under the skin, they " resist it singularly," says Stille. Yet dogs are easily killed by it. It has been enclosed in fulminating bullets to kill whales, and it has been observed that when so poisoned they perish in the spasms which are so characteristic of its action on many other animals, yet " guinea-pigs and monkeys are said to be comparatively insusceptible to it." — {Stille, loc. cit.) As we have said, half a grain has proved fatal to an adult, and it is on record that a child died in four hours from taking one-sixteenth of a grain. Dr. Lauder-Brunton minutely details the atruoiUusly cruel experiments of Majendie on the physio- logical action of strychnine upon dogs. He terms the modus operandi " a model of this method of research." As the great English experimenter so highly praises the system followed by the most cruel perhaps of all the foreign physiologists, it is only fair to assume that it is imitated in our English labora- tories. Dr. Lauder-Brunton in page 147 of his Text Book of Pharmacologij has lifted the veil for us. The strychnine was introduced under the skin of the thigh of a dog ; soon the poison began to produce symptoms of general malaise ; the poor beast " took shelter in a corner of Futilitij of Experiments ifitli Drugs. 39 the laboratory," and couvulsious of the muscles of the body occurred, "the fore feet quitting the ground for a moment on account of the sudden extension of the spine." The animal was quiet for a few seconds, and was then seized with con- vulsions " more marked and prolonged than the first." Others succeeded, gradually becoming more severe. Each time the animal was touched a convulsion immediately followed. My readers will now be in a position to understand what is the value of Mr. Erichsen's statement when he says, ■" the experiments consisted chiefly of hj^podermic injec- tions, and were mostly of a painless character." — (Report for 1887.) No cutting operation could have caused more intense suffering than this injection of strychnine caused the dogs used by Majendie. As for the utility of such experiments Stille says, loc. cit., " Although physiological experiments do not lead to the suggestion that strychnine acts upon the peripheral ends of nerves, clinical observation, as in so many other cases, is supposed to demonstrate what the former method has failed to show." This is a very important admission emanating from a great authority on Materia Medica, and tends to prove that we are not retarding the progress of medical science by our efforts to confine it to its proper sphere. Tartar Enietie. — (P. B.) — Tarturated Antimony. — Many cruel experiments have been performed upon animals with this drug. It seems to have been proved in this instance that its action is precisely the same on the lower animals as on man. — {See Wood's Therapeutics, p. 151.) In contradiction to this statement, Dr. Lauder-Brunton says that " Ipecacuanha, or Tartar Emetic, will cause vomiting in man, but does not ■do so in rabbits. The reason of this is that the position of the stomach in the rabbit is different from that in man, and is such that the animal cannot vomit." — {PJtarmacolo(/y, -p. 40.) Nobiling had a theory that the action of Tartar Emetic upon the heart is owing to the p)otash it contains. Of course he 40 Futility of Experiments tvith Drugs. performed a number of experiments to support his theory, and equally, of course, another experimenter (Wood, p. 151), says, " This theory in itself is so improbable that it would seem scarcely worthy of discussion were it not for the fact that Nobiling asserts that the tartarate of antimony and soda is not poisonous " (even to such lengths will men go who have a theory to support !) " Dr. Radziejewsld {Reicherfs Archiv fur Anatomie, 1871), has repeated and extended the experi- ments of Nobiling, and completely dis]proved both the asserted fact and the theory based upon it." — {Wood, p. 151.) " A rabbit," says Wood, " poisoned with this drug could still drag itself around, and suffered its paws to be deeply burned without evincing the slightest evidence of feeling." Upon this our author says, " In man the anaesthesia which occurs ia animals has been overlooked, but in the advanced stages of poisoning it is no doubt present." This point evidently wants clearing up ! Thein, from Tea. Chemists and physiologists tell us that the active principle of tea, Thein, and that of coffee, Caffdn, are identical. Dr. A. Burnett experimented with these alkaloids upon frogs, mice, rabbits, and cats, and came to the conclusion that they were " identical throughout the whole range of their action." Are we to conclude therefore, that the action of tea and coffee on the human system is identical ? By no means. Says Stille (p. 1424), "The identity of these alkaloids in their physio- logy does not imply a similar identity in tea and coffee. As little should we be entitled to infer that aU alcoholic drinks produce identical effects because they all contain alcohol as their chief constituent. It is just as certain that tea and coffee differ in their action upon the human system as that Rhenish or Bordeaux wines act very differently from whiskey or brandy, although in all of these liquors the common cause of their effects is alcohol." So much, therefore, for the value of physiological medicine ! Fiitilitij of l'].rj)rriuu'iils trifh T)ru(/s. 41 Toot Plant of Australia. — ((Jorim-ia iS(iniifJi/ot>n.) — This is exceedingly poisonous to human heings, yet native horses and cattle, and it is said even '' old colonists " eat the plant with tolerahle impunity. Fifteen berries of another s^jecies {Coriurid MyrtifoHa) have caused the death of an adult, a teaspoonful of an extract of the juice will kill a cat in two hours, yet when the plant is given to rabbits they do not api^ear to be affected by it. — {Woodiiutii (('■ Tidji's 't'oxicohxiii, \). 392.) Tobacco. — The active princij)le of this jilant is nicotia, and it stands next to prussic acid in the rapidity and energy of its poisonous action. Tobacco is i^oisonous to all forms of life, yet " herbivorous animals are not readily affected by it." —{StilU, p. 1406.) Many experimenters have investigated its action on the nerves, muscular system, and circulation of the lesser animals, chief of whom are Traube and Rosenthal, but Wood saj^s, p. 363, "that the results obtained by Rosenthal are difficult to reconcile with the effects — already quoted from Traube." Trimethylamina. — This drug was first emploj'ed medi- cinally for the cure of articular rheumatism in 1854. It is obtained by distilling herring brine or stale fish with lime. Injected under a rabbit's skin it caused trembling, convulsive movements, agitation, increased sensibility and quickening of the breathing and heart's action — then depression or collapse, paralysis, and death by asphyxia, in fact, such symptoms as were termed by Mr. Erichseu in his report as consequent upon " hypodermic injections " and " mostly of a painless character." To dogs they gave the drug by the mouth, producing vomiting, anxiety, distress, immobility, muscular tremors, emaciation, bloody urine at the end of six days. (Note the length of time occupied by these injection experiments, and the pain and extreme misery inflicted on the animals). When the rabbits were killed by the injections, mortification was found at the i^oint of the insertion of the needle, the lungs 42 FutlUtij of Experiments with Drags. and kidneys were congested, yet all these things we are told are painless and trifling because they do not involve vivisec- tion in the ordinary sense. Husemann, Dujardin-Beaumetz, and Stille, are at variance as to the physiological action of the drug. Its action upon man appears to be quite different from the effects observed on the rabbits, and it has been entirely superseded as a remedy for rheumatism by the Salicylates, so that the sufferings of the animals have not in this instance conferred any boon on medicine. Urea. — Segalas demonstrated that urea injected into the veins of animals notably increased the discharge of urine. According to Rabateau it exhibits no diuretic action in human beings even in very large doses. Veratria. — {Veralriiie, P. B.) — Obtained from cevadilla seeds. This is an exceedingly powerful and dangerous alkaloid. Even the minutest quantity brought in contact with the nostrils occasions great and continued irritation, sneezing, and coughing. Injected hypodermically, it causes the most intense pain, as though one were burned with hot needles. Even the fortieth or from that to a twentieth of a grain inserted under the skin causes a tingling which begins in the fingers and toes and extends over the whole body. Yet we know that Kolliker {Virchow's ArcMv, Bd. x., p. 261) opened the skulls of living frogs and dropped in a solution of the poison, causing " violent general tetanic convulsions." Prevost {Rohin's Journal dc VAnatoinle, 1868, ]). 209) performed similar experiments, and of course the Frenchman contradicted the German on every jjoint. We include this drug in our observa- tions, as it illustrates how exceedingly cruel the "painless hypodei-mic injections " may be, though they involve no cutting operations whatever. Professor Wood says " the study of its ])hysiological action shows that its rational therapeutical use (note the distinction !) must be limited." — {Therapeutics, p. 169.) Fulililij of Vj.rpi'rinieul^ iritJi Driifis. 43 Woody Nightshade. — (Snlanuin Dtilcunuini.) — The extract of this plant when iutroduced into the stomach of rabbits causes a remarkable degree of apathy with blunted sensibility. It reduces the frequency of the pulse and the respiration, and brings on later, convulsions and death. Dr. John Harley experi- mented with it on man, without causing any appreciable physio- logical effect. Whereupon Dr. Stille {Tlierapeutie.s, p. 519) makes the following admirable remarks: — "The so-called scientific therapeutists of the present day are disj)0sed to deny any curative virtues to dulcamara, because they are unable to ex^^lain those it is alleged to jjossess, according to tlieir notions of its mode of action. Such a reason may, in a logical sense, be called impertinent. The claims of dulcamara rest on the same grounds as those of opium, mercury, and cinchona, the ground of clinical experience." M. Duval gave 180 Woody Nightshade berries as well as four ounces of the extract to dogs without producing any effect, yet death is recorded to have been produced by two berries in a child four years old. — {Wondiiian and Tithfs Forensic Medicine and Toxicolotjy, p. 434, 1st Ed.) Yellow Jasmine. — (QeUemium, P. B.J. — Kabbits and cats when poisoned by Gelsemium perform very remarkable back- ward movements, in which sometimes a complete backward somersault occurs. No corresponding acts have taken place in the fatal cases observed in man. Bartholow says (j). 415) that Ringer and Ott, in an elaborate series of investigations, have confirmed his experimental observations, but he regrets that they were regarded as "inconclusive" by Dr. H. C. Wood. Dr. Stille says, p. 676, that " incalculable mischief " has been produced by using this and other drugs ' * upon no better ground than their power of lowering the pulse and depressing the nervous system." The experimental school of physio- logists look upon the animal organism as merely a complicated machine ; powerless to solve the mystery of being, they ignore 44 Fiitilitij of Experiments with Drugs. it and treat its disturbances of function as they would treat a watch or a steam-engine out of order. The stomach is but a superior sort of test tube, the blood vessels mere conduits, and the nerves electric wires, all to be regulated on chemical and mechanical principles ; hence the abundant errors and the irreconcileable confusion which have occujpied our attention in these pages. AVhat else could have been expected ? I would like to ask "the candid reader" who may have followed me thus far if he really thinks that medical science can make any progress in such a direction as this ? Does he honestly think that it is worth while to torture countless thousands of sensitive creatures, to stifle the voice of pity within his breast and to degrade his higher nature by dethron- ing every sentiment of mercy, merely to attain such results as I have been describing? Putting aside for a moment the con- sideration of the misleading and confusing nature of the experiments, and the inferences to be drawn from them, let him ask himself what he thinks has been gained by all this cruelty in testing the action of drugs. What has it taught us about opium ? What about mercury, quinine, and the other drugs in daily use by every doctor ? I firmly believe that our knowledge so far as it concerns the healing of disease has not been advanced one single step by anj' such means. But suppose it has dowered the medical jprofession with some boon which I have overlooked or concealed from my readers ? I would reply in the words of the poet Coleridge, that " the duties which we owe to our own moral being, are the gromid and condition of all other duties ; and to set our nature at strife with itself for a good purpose, implies the same sort of prudence as a priest of Diana would have manifested who should have jDroposed to dig up the celebrated charcoal foundations of the mighty temple of Ephesus, in order to furnish fuel for the burnt offerings on its altars.""''- If the * The Friend (S. T. Coleririge, p. 20). Futility of Experiments iritJi hnuji^. 45 great writers ou ethics who have denounced this sacrifice of the temple of God which is within us for tlie paltry boon of a little increase of knowledge are not listened to by those wlio have the power to arrest the hands of the men of blood, it is certain that nothing which I can say will have any better effect. One lower motive I may appeal to with some hope of success. I have, I venture to think, exposed many of the false XJi'etences of the vivisecting fraternity, and with regard to their claims to the gratitude of suffering humanity have " poured contempt on all their pride." They may have earned the rewards of their learned fellows in medicine and physiology, and decked their brows with the laurels of their Universities. Every profession distributes its own prizes in its own sphere, and the path of the vivisector is perhaps just now the most direct one bjMvhich to attain those of the medical profession. They have their reward, and they are welcome to it. Let them be held in honour by those who are participants in their guilt. I would not deprive them of a single leaf of their blood-sprinkled chaplets. What I have aimed at removing is the usurper's crown, stolen from those who have advanced the sciences of medicine and surgery by legitimate and time-honoured means. These false pre- tenders claim our gratitude and esteem. What sort of title they have to either I trust these pages have shewn. In my opening paragraphs I quoted from the Inspector's Return relating to experiments on living animals, where he states that of the 280 therapeutical experiments performed under the Act in 1887, some were undertaken " either with the view of justifying the further extension of such remedies to man or of enlarging their present sphere of usefulness." Puzzle — to find the animal on which to try any such remedy for the purpose described ! Other experiments with " some of the old drugs " were undertaken, says Mr. Erichsen, with the view of inquiring " whether their action is such as to justify their continued 46 Futility of Experiments with Drugs. administration for the jDurposes for which they have hitherto been used." Did anybody pro^DOse to discard the old drug opium, I wonder, because it had no effect upon pigeons and rabbits '? Did anybody j)ropose to discard calomel ? Yes ! Professor Rutherford did ; but that is a sore subject, and the i^rofession has laughed at him sufB.ciently ever since. We say no more of that — it is ill flogging a dead horse. Prussic acid is an old drug, and a merciful poison for diseased dogs and cats. Did any wiseacre i^roiDOse to turn it out of the pharmacies because it has little or no effect on horses and hyaenas ? Are we to give up belladonna because rabbits eat it without harm ? And henbane because it has no effect on sheep, cows, and jDigs '? But it is idle to ask Mr. Erichsen any more questions. I believe Mr. Erichsen to be a very learned and a very honourable man ; therefore I am equally unwilling to believe that he is not perfectly well acquainted with the whole of the facts which I have collected in these pages, or that he wishes the public to believe that the therapeutical experiments referred to in his report will have any such results as those suggested. My respect and esteem for Mr. Erichsen lead me to think that he knows better ; but I wisli he had thrown the respon- sibOity for the statements I have quoted on the persons who performed the experiments and had not accepted them himself. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES This book is due on the date indicated below, or at the expiration of a definite period £if ter the date of borrowing, as provided by the rules of the Library or by special arrange- ment with the Librarian in charge. DATE BORROWED DATE DUE DATE BORROWED DATE DUE C28(i14i)m100 QP45 . B452 Berdoa ' ^ The futility of experiments ^^^ with drugs on animals.