The aid which experimentation on animals has given to the science and practice of medicine / by Sir Lauder Brunton.

  • Brunton, Thomas Lauder, Sir, 1844-1916.
Date:
[between 1900 and 1909?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The aid which experimentation on animals has given to the science and practice of medicine / by Sir Lauder Brunton. 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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    Knowledge regarding the Pulse. Both before and since Harvey, physicians have felt the pulse in patients, but the causes of alterations in its rate, volume and strength were not known until about half-a- century ago, when Humboldt and others showed that heat quickens the beats of the heart and thus explained the rapid pulse in fever, and more recently still the experiments of the Webers, of Ludwig, and of his scholars upon animals showed the effects of the nerves in altering the condition both of the heart and vessels. Diagnosis of Cardiac Disease. The sounds of the heart were known to Harvey, but the true significance of alterations in them which now allows of valvular disease to be so readily recognised by every doctor, was only definitely discovered in 1836, by a Com- mittee of the British Association by experiments on animals. Benefits to Patients in Heart Disease from Regimen. The benefits which patients suffering from heart disease receive from the use of drugs, great as they are, are much exceeded by the benefits they derive from the rules for the proper regulation of diet and exercise, which a knowledge of their condition allows to be laid down, and which, if followed out, not only prolong the patient’s life, but prevent for a long time, it may be for years, the occurrence of any distressing symptoms. All these benefits they owe to experiments on animals. Benefits from Remedies. When such symptoms do appear they can often be relieved, and life prolonged, by the use of drugs, but the exact knowledge of the action of these remedies which enables us to use them with success is almost entirely derived from experiments on animals. Even when I was a student digitalis,