The physician to the public : valedictory address to the graduating class of Jefferson Medical College, at the sixtieth annual commencement, delivered in the Academy fo Music, April 2, 1885 / by William H. Pancoast.

  • Pancoast, William Henry, 1834-1897.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The physician to the public : valedictory address to the graduating class of Jefferson Medical College, at the sixtieth annual commencement, delivered in the Academy fo Music, April 2, 1885 / by William H. Pancoast. 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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    Vlll suffering. As a class, none other is more fond of the brute creation. How often have I seen medical men in the cities and the country, in this and foreign lands, proud and fond of their dogs, their horses and their cattle. You and we have studied together, human anatomy and physiology thoroughly; we have investigated, in connection with them, comparative anatomy, so often furnishing valuable comparisons and illustrations. We know that the machinery of all animals is similar. Even if not believers in evolution, we know that there is a wonderful similarity and grading of the anatomy from the lowest to the highest, or from the highest to the lowest. We know, also, that the vital spark, which in man we call the vis anima, the soul, is very similar in the highest and lowest, through all the chain of the animal creation. It sparkles in the flashing eye of the war-horse and is recog- nized in his shrill neigh, vying with the trumpet, or in the affectionate recognition, as the steed turns in his stall to his master, ready for the harness,or the saddle. In the dog, man’s faithful companion, how human, often, is his liquid eye of affection; how responsive the vital spark of his machinery to every action, every gesture, often even the emotion of his master. He thinks and seems to reason. His instinct sometimes even excels reason. So full of love is his being, that he will lay down his life for those to whom he is devoted. As nothing is lost in the chemistry of organic and inorganic structure, when their bodies dis- solve and disappear to assume new forms, the vital spark must be economized also. Sym- pathizing with the brute creation, the majority of our profession, I believe, are strong friends of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. All civilized communities have their laws, dealing with the subject of cruelty to animals. Great good have these done. Brutal men, more brutal than the brutes, have been checked and taught a consideration for suffer- ing-flesh. Yet many benevolent and well meaning peo- ple and some sensationalists, have endeavored to create the impression that vivisectors delight in giving pain to dumb animals. This may be answered by stating the fact, that in vivisection the operator requires all his attention to be devoted to the investigation, and it is to his interest that the animal should be tranquil. He therefore generally employs some anaesthetic— ether or chloroform, or the hypodermatic in- jection of morphia or laudanum, whatever may be best suited. I remember, when studying in Vienna in 1856, being strongly impressed with the care which the famous Briicke used, in saving animals from pain while he was experimenting upon them. The cries and struggles of the animal would often interfere with the method and suc- cess of the investigation. Animals prey upon animals, from man down. From this standpoint the world seems a bloody one and full of carnage. Yet it is so ordered. If animals did not prey upon each other, and if man did not kill them, the world would be over- run with animals and vermin, and there would be no place for man. Animals take the lives of each other, and also of vegetables. It is right for us to kill animals that we may live. The world and all upon it was made for man. It is certainly right for those experienced men, who are devoting themselves to the study and working of the animal economy, and of the effects of drugs upon the structures, to use judiciously and mercifully the lives of the lower animals. To save the highest—man’s—our lives. To study on the animated flesh of the brute the action of therapeutic agents, to know their power and use, to see and learn how and in what way, they may benefit man. I, for one, would not have animals tortured nor vivi- sected uselessly; but to make experiments on animals, in a merciful way, is much more benevolent than to rashly try them on human beings. My belief is, and I think that it ac- cords with the judgment of the majority of the profession, that vivisection should be per- mitted, if properly performed, by those who are devoted to the study of physiological sci- ence ; not ruthlessly, but under the control of mercy and sound judgment. Ether was introduced into this city as the anaesthetic, while I was a student on the benches that you have just left. I recollect the experi- ments performed upon animals to test its effect. Notably those of Professor Charles D. Meigs, the distinguished Professor of Obstetrics of that time. He was opposed to the use of ether in his specialty, believing in and quoting the Scripture, “ That in travail and in pain the child must be born.” He experimented upon animals in the upper lecture-room—the amphi- theatre. I recollect the amusement created in 1 the class, by the struggles and resistance made