Vivisection and the use of remedies.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
1882
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Vivisection and the use of remedies. 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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    carefully passed by on the other side, away from the disgusting object would no doubt regard with scorn, as possessing a coarser nature, the good Samaritan, who not only approached the sufferer, but, prototype of antiseptic surgery, poured oil and wine into his wounds, in spite of any sign of temporary pain which the applications might occasion. This power of controlling one's own emotions, of disregarding one's own feelings at the sight of suffering, and of thinking only of the relief which we can give, varies in different individuals, but it can be greatly increased by training. Thus we find that medical students not unfrequently faint at*, the sight of a surgical operation. Even delicate women learn by training to neglect their own feelings, and to act the part of the good Samaritan : yet I think few will venture to say that Florence Nightingale and the noble women who aided her were rendered callous or debased by their efforts to relieve the suffer- ings of our wounded soldiers during the Crimean campaign. The practical surgeon or the experienced nurse is not less tender- hearted than the medical student or the young probationer, because they do not shudder or grow pale at the sight of the patient's suf- ferings, and because they are even able with a firm hand to inflict upon him present pain for the sake of his future benefit. They have simply learned to disregard their own feelings, and to concentrate their attention on the interests of the patient. They are guided no longer by emotion, but by judgment. There are several reasons why the medical profession has assumed such a decided attitude on the question of vivisection ; and why the mere fact of having received a medical training and being in the daily practice of alleviating human suffering causes humane men to commend the practice, which other humane men, not having received the same training, denounce as atrociously cruel. Firstly, their training and daily experience lead them to subordinate their feelings to their judgment, and make them willing to purchase future good at the expense of present pain. Secondly, they know how great is the amount of suffering inflicted upon human beings by disease. Thirdly, they know that much of their ability to relieve suffering has been derived from experiments upon animals, and that such experiments are likely to render still more service in the future. This knowledge makes them not only willing, but anxious to increase their power to relieve human beings, even at the expense of some suffering to the lower animals. Fourthly, they know how greatly exaggerated is the popular conception of the pains inflicted by experiments on animals. They know that many of them, such as feeding with varied diet or administering drugs, are absolutely painless ; that others, like testing the actions of poisons and deadly vapours, are merely the most merci- ful mode of destroying life, and that of the remainder, the great majority are by the practice of physiologists, now enforced by the law of the land, rendered painless by means of anaesthetic agents.