What has vivisection done for science? : a paper read before the Cheltenham Natural Science Society / by Francis Day.

  • Day, Francis, 1829-1889.
Date:
[between 1870 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: What has vivisection done for science? : a paper read before the Cheltenham Natural Science Society / by Francis Day. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    matter, the mischief is deeper in the brain. It was by experiments on living animals that it became proved what function appertained to each nerve. Before Bell's time it was the common practice to divide the portio dura poi*tion of the seventh pair, or the facial nerve, for neuralgia. However, experiments showed that tliis nerve exercises no influence over sensation, it is entirely employed for motion. Here was a useless operation as investigations proved. Marshall Hall established very important principles as to the functions of different parts of the spinal cord, independent of the brain itself, showing that there are certain functions residing in the spinal cord, which were not known to exist before, commonly called the reflex action of the spinal cord. These functions con- tinue even if the spinal cord is divided, and which before his time were believed to depend on the action of the brain. It may be asked hut what is the good of this discover/ ? A man may fall from a scaffold or some high place, a soldier or sailor may be shot through the spine and the spinal cord be injured. Here the patient lies in bed without the power of moving his lower extremi- ties by his own will, and a casual observer would be surprised to see his legs moving, giving the uninitiated the belief that the paralysis is assumed. Touch the sole of that paralysed man's foot with a feather, the leg is drawn up, but the patient is unconscious of it. This motion is due to the independent function of the spinal cord, and may be observed in a fi-og that has had its head cut off. I remember when all these cases were deemed hopeless or nearly so, that Brown Sequard demonstrated the possibility of recovery, and that to the relief of many an unfortunate patient whom the nurses previously considered, it was almost trouble thrown away to look after He divided the spinal cord in one of the canine species, and the animal not only recovered but subsequently reared a numerous offspring. A division of the spinal cord may be re- stored, and the lost 2'>owers be entirely regained. From Marshall Hall's experiments on the nervous system, the action of spasmodic afl^ections first became understood, how the exciting cause had to be removed, as a tooth, a spicula of bone, or the irritation set up by the cicatrix of a wound. Experiments have shown how some diseases which were formerly considered due to affecti(ms of the brain really have their seat in the spinal cord. By experiments on the liver it was ascertained that its functions are not merely to secrete bile, but likewise to elaborate substances which become the sugar principle in the circulation. But (it has been asked) why do you not discover the cause, the nrogress, and the cure of disease by working in the dead-house andexamining all fatal cases ? This is done, and medical investi- gation in ascertaining appearances after death, has arrived at almost as far as it can go. But it is requisite to know how and in what order those processes occur in the living body. This can only bo made out by performing experiments on the lower