CHAPTER XI

THE GREAT ANAESTHETIC DELUSION

A popular delusion is often the basis of a great abuse. If at one time witches were burnt by countless thousands, it was at a period when implicit faith in the reality of diabolic conspiracy was undisturbed by sceptical questionings. Human slavery existed for centuries, not only because it was profitable, but because it came to be regarded as the only conceivable permanent relation between the negro and the white man. The Spanish Inquisition existed for ages, because the pious Spaniard could not believe that the good men who upheld, encouraged, and promoted its activity could be liable to error, or actuated by other than the loftiest principles. Men find themselves deluded not merely because of their faith in the integrity of their fellow-men, but because they have also extended that faith to the accuracy of their opinions.

There can be no doubt of the fact that public apathy regarding the abuses of vivisection as now carried on without limitations or restrictions is grounded upon the great anaesthetic delusion. This misinterpretation of facts, this misunderstanding of scientific statements, constitutes the most singular delusion of the present time.

What is anaesthesia? It has been defined as a state of insensibility to external impressions, sometimes introduced by disease, but more generally in modern surgery by the inhalation of the vapours of ether or chloroform. The discovery of the properties of these drugs constitutes a very interesting chapter in the story of scientific achievement; but in this connection the chief point of interest lies in the fact that the most wonderful of all advances in medicine was made without resort to the vivisection of animals. Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, an English scientist who had much to do with its various methods, tells us that "the instauration of general anaesthesia came from experiments on man alone; there is no suspicion of any experiment on a lower animal in connection with it"; and Professor Bigelow, of Harvard Medical School, as we have seen, makes the same statement.

The extent to which insensibility may be carried depends entirely on the amount of the vapour inhaled. Suppose the quantity to be very small. Then the result will be a diminished sensibility, without entire loss of consciousness. Let the quantity inhaled be considerably increase, and we may produce a profound stupor with muscular relaxation, the eyes are fixed, and the eyelids do not respond when the eyeball is touched. There is now deep anaesthesia, and complete unconsciousness to the surgeon's knife. The borderline between life and death is not distant; and if still more of the anaesthetic is administered, we may reach a condition from which there is no awakening. The skill of the anaesthetist is not unlike that of a pilot, who needs to know just how far the ship may be steered in a difficult channel without running upon the rocks.

For a slight operation, a very little of the drug will often suffice. In some hospitals abroad--and perhaps in America--it is the custom not to give anaesthetics to charity patients when the pain is not greater than the extraction of a tooth. Between a light anaesthesia and the deep insensibility required for some capital operation, THERE IS EVERY CONCEIVABLE DEGREE. We see the same thing in ordinary sleep. The deep unconsciousness of a thoroughly exhausted man is vastly different from the light slumber of an anxious mother, who is aroused by a word or touch. Yet both conditions are what we call "sleep."

Now, one of the popular delusions regarding what is called "anaesthesia" arises from ignorance of its innumerable degrees. We are told, for instance, "anaesthetics were used" in certain vivisections. That assertion alone, in a majority of cases, will quiet any criticism. If "anaesthetics were used," then the average reader assumes that of course there was no pain. The experimenter may know better. But if ignorance persists in misinterpreting statements of fact, it is possible that he may think he is not obliged to make the truth plain, to his positive disadvantage. If such method of reasoning ever obtains, it may explain very much.

And yet it would seem that only very ignorant people could be so blinded by authority as not to perceive where the fallacy lies. A slight amount of ether or chloroform may mean to a vivisected animal no protection whatever from extreme pain. The fact has long been known. Many years ago Dr. George Hoggan declared that "complete and conscientious anaesthesia is seldom even attempted, the animal getting at most a slight whiff of chloroform by way of satisfying the conscience of the operator, OR OF ENABLING HIM TO MAKE STATEMENTS OF A HUMANE CHARACTER." In other words, it enables him to say, "Anaesthetics are always used." Shall we always be blind to the insignificance of that phrase?

That chloroform or ether will suppress the consciousness of pain during a surgical operation, every reader is aware. But when we speak of certain vivisections, we are on different ground. The pains to be inflicted are sometimes far more excruciating than any surgical operation. In the stimulation of sensory nerves, and in various operations upon these nerves, there may be excited agonies so great that they break through the limited unconsciousness induced by chloroform. One of the most experienced vivisectors in America has given his testimony on this point. Speaking of his experiments upon some of the most exquisitely sensitive nerves, Dr. Flint says: "WHEN we have used anaesthetics"--not the significance of the phrase--"WE COULD NEVER PUSH THE EFFECTS SUFFICIENTLY TO ABOLISH THE SENSIBILITY OF THE ROOT OF THE NERVE. If an animal, brought so fully under the influence of ether that the conjunctiva had become absolutely insensible" (the degree of insensibility required by the surgeon), "the instant the instrument touched the root of the nerve in the cranium, THERE WERE EVIDENCES OF ACUTE PAIN."[1] Of other experiments upon the same nerves he tells us that "in using anaesthetics, we have never been able to bring an animal under their influence SO COMPLETELY AS TO ABOLISH THE SENSIBILITY.... In cats that appear to be thoroughly etherized, as soon as the instrument touches the nerve, there is more or less struggling."[2]

[1] Flint's "Physiology," vol. iv., p. 97. [2] Flint's "Physiology," vol. iv., p. 193.

This statement needs to be remembered. The agony may be so keen, so exquisite, so far beyond the pain of a surgical operation, that it makes itself felt. Pain, then, conquers the anaesthetic, exactly as the anaesthetic usually conquers the pain.

What, then, is the value of the phrase, "ANAESTHETICS WERE USED"? Dr. Hoggan has told us. It has no value whatever.

Sir Thornley Stoker, President of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, and an inspector of laboratories under the Act, was questioned about the pain endured by an animal in course of a prolonged vivisection, and he frankly admitted that a vivisector "could do no more than give an opinion. He could have no CERTAINTY as to the entire absence, the continuous absence, of pain."[2] Dr. Thane, a professor at University Medical College, London, and a Government inspector, being asked whether one might not be able to distinguish between painful and painless experiments, replied that "the inspector never could distinguish exactly which experiments were painless and which were painful, AND THE EXPERIMENTERS AND OBSERVERS THEMSELVES cannot distinguish IN A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF CASES."[3]

[2] Evidence before Royal Commission, Question 1,064. [3] Ibid., Question 1,335.

These are the opinions of experts. This attitude of uncertainty is the only ground possible for a scientific man who aims at stating the whole truth. When a professional vivisector gives us assurance that no pain was felt during the severest operations, he is only putting forth an opinion. He is but mortal. We are not obliged to assume his infallibility in a region where experts are in doubt, and where there may be a desire for concealment.

During the last decade of the nineteenth century, a work was published describing in detail experiments upon surgical shock--so termed to distinguish it from a similar condition arising from overwhelming emotions. These experiments were almost exclusively made upon dogs, man's faithful friend and companion; and their number was so great and their character so horrible that their publication at first excited general criticism and condemnation. At one the suggestion was put forth that the experiments were painless, because "anaesthetics were employed." The vivisector had said:

"In all cases the animals were anaesthetized, usually by the use of ether, occasionally by chloroform, either alone or with ether. In a few cases CURARE AND MORPHINE WERE USED."

In a number of succeeding volumes, the same assertion has been put forth; and as understood by the average reader, it has tended to dispel doubts regarding the character of the experiments. It seems worth while to examine the account of these investigations a little closely. The question for us is not whether anaesthetics were employed, but to what extent we may find ourselves assured regarding their efficiency in abolishing sensibility in every case.

The experiments in question were of a peculiar kind. They differ in certain respects from anything to be found in the records of American vivisection. The number of dogs sacrificed--148--was far greater than seems necessary to establish any working hypothesis. It would appear that the methods of vivisection selected were generally designed for the purpose of making the strongest possible impression, and, if consciousness was present, the sharpest pangs that human ingenuity could invent were repeatedly inflicted. The most sensitive parts of the body were crushed in various ways. The lungs were stabbed, or shot through; the intestines were lifted from the body, and burned or placed in boiling water; the nerves were exposed and scraped; loops of intestines were manipulated or crushed; the ear was penetrated; the jaws were opened as far as "the maximal normal separation," and then by extraordinary force separated still more; the paws were crushed, and sometimes burnt by the application of a Bunsen's flame; the stomach was dilated by pumping air and water into it till the stomach burst; one animal was subjected to "all kinds of operations for a period of three hours more," including the cutting out of kidneys and double hip-joint amputations; another suffered the opening of the abdomen, the crushing of the kidneys, "severe manipulation of the eye," "severe manipulation of the tongue, puncture, crushing," etc., and lastly, a "stimulation of the sciatic nerve"; in one case, the paw "was placed in boiling water for a considerable time"; in another, "boiling water was poured into the abdominal cavity"; in yet another, flame was applied over the heart. I am not quoting all this from memory; the work describing all these experiments lies open before me as I write. No Iroquois savage, no Spanish inquisitor, no professional tormentor of any age ever devised more exquisite torments, more excruciating agonies, more lengthened tortures than these 148 vivisections imply--UNLESS, THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE EXPERIMENT THE COMPLETE INSENSIBILITY OF THE VICTIMS WAS SECURED BY RECOGNIZED ANAESTHETICS, BEYOND THE POSSIBILITY OF DOUBT.

Such assurance as this it is now impossible for anyone to give with scientific certainty. The absolute insensibility of each and every animal thus vivisected cannot be demonstrated. On the contrary, there are reasons which compel belief that, in many instances, these vivisections implied the most horrible and prolonged torments that the practice of animal experimentation has ever been permitted to evoke.

What are some of these reasons?

FIRST. In the work describing these experiments, the author has nowhere asserted that EACH ANIMAL SUBJECTED TO EXPERIMENT WAS FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END SO DEEPLY AND PROFOUNDLY UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ETHER OR CHLOROFORM AS TO BE TOTALLY UNCONSCIOUS OF PAIN.

Now, the omission of this statement is peculiarly significant. If it had been possible, we may be quite sure that such a statement would have been made. Suppose, for example, that in place of vague generalities the experimenter had said:

"Before the commencement of each experiment, the animal was deeply anaesthetized by the inhalation of chloroform or ether, or both; and the insensibility thus induced before the experiment began was maintained until the death of the animal. Curare was never used. In no instance and at no time during any experiment was the anaesthesia otherwise than profound; the corneal reflex was never to be obtained, nor was any other sign of sensibility to pain ever to be noted."

A statement like this would have been definite. But with due regard for truth, it could not have been made. Instead of an explicit statement, we have merely the assertion--so easily misunderstood-- that "in all cases the animals were anaesthetized." And this statement may mean nothing whatever, so far as concerns the painlessness of these vivisections.

SECOND. GREAT CARE WAS APPARENTLY TAKEN IN SOME CASES TO PREVENT DEEP ANAESTHESIA.

It is a well-known fact that dogs are peculiarly susceptible to chloroform, and very likely to die while under its influence. The president of the Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, a teacher of science for many years, Sir Thornley Stoker, stated in his testimony that a dog's heart is very weak and irregular. "I fear that in the case of dogs, anaesthesia is not always pushed to a sufficient extent, as these animals often die from the effects of the anaesthetic if given to a full extent.... THE ANAESTHESIA CANNOT BE COMPLETE, if the dog lives as long as is necessary for some of these experiments."[1]

[1] Testimony before Royal Commission, Questions 761, 836.

Now, one of these experiments lasted over three hours, and many of them over an hour. How many of the 148 animals died because the anaesthesia was TOO DEEP?

On this point the admissions of the experimenter seem especially significant. "OVER-ANAESTHESIA rendered the animals subject to early collapse, and decidedly less capable of enduring a protracted experiment." During certain experiments, "CONSIDERABLE CARE was necessary to prevent excessive inhalation of the anaesthetic by the animal." And yet all that could happen to the unfortunate victim would be a painless death; to prevent that would require, doubtless, considerable care. "If the animals were allowed PARTIALLY TO RECOVER FROM THE EFFECT OF THE ANAESTHETIC, care was necessary in reducing them again to surgical anaesthesia, as an excess of the anaesthetic was liable to be inhaled."[1] This admission is evidence complete, that the insensibility was not always maintained from beginning to end; the creatures were in some cases--how many we can never know-- "ALLOWED PARTIALLY TO RECOVER."

In the detailed accounts of these vivisections, we find more than one proof of the sensibility of the animals. Take the following:

EXPERIMENT 126. "The animal did not take the anaesthetic well, and part of the experiment was made under INCOMPLETE ANAESTHESIA." There was noted, also, "contraction of the abdominal muscles, on account of INCOMPLETE ANAESTHESIA."

EXPERIMENT 133. "Bunsen's flame to the right paw.... In the control experiments, as well as this, THE DOG WAS NOT UNDER FULL ANAESTHESIA ... THE ANIMAL STRUGGLED ON APPLICATION OF THE FLAME."

EXPERIMENT 5. "UNDER INCOMPLETE ANAESTHESIA, crushing of foot caused a very sharp rise, followed by an equally sharp decline of pressure. THIS WAS REPEATED SEVERAL TIMES. Under full anaesthesia crushing of paws caused rise again."

EXPERIMENT 4. "First, crushing of paw.... Second, crushed foot extensively, JUST BEFORE CORNEAL REFLEX WAS ABOLISHED."

To the average reader the last few words convey no definite meaning, but their significance is plain. Until the corneal reflex is abolished, the surgeon does not begin to operate, for sensibility remains. It is needless to quote further; even a single instance of incomplete anaesthesia, admitted by the vivisector himself, suffices to overturn the claim that the insensibility was complete in every case. "Words," says Bishop Butler, "mean what they do mean, and not other things"; and no amount of literary juggling can prove that whether the insensibility is complete or incomplete, the pain is precisely the same.

THIRD. CURARE AND MORPHIA, NEITHER OF WHICH IS AN ANAESTHETIC, WERE SOMETIMES USED IN THESE EXPERIMENTS, APPARENTLY TO PREVENT THE ANIMALS UNDERGOING VIVISECTION FROM MAKING ANY MOVEMENTS WHICH MIGHT DISTURB THE INSTRUMENTS EMPLOYED.

The use of CURARE rests upon the admission of the vivisector himself. After mentioning the employment of chloroform and ether, as before quoted, he adds: "In a few cases, CURARE and MORPHIA were used." Now, these drugs are not anaesthetics, and curare especially is only used when it is desired to keep the vivisected creature incapable of any movement--no matter what degree of torment it may be suffering. In his textbook on physiology, Professor Holmgren calls curare the "most cruel of poisons," because an animal under its influence "it changes instantly into a living corpse which hears and sees, and knows everything, but is unable to move a single muscle; and under its influence no creature can give the faintest indication of its hopeless condition." Dr. Starling, the professor of physiology at University College, London, states that when an animal has had an anaesthetic administered and also a dose of CURARE, if the anaesthetic passed off, the animal would be unable to move, or to show any sign of suffering.

Nor is morphia an anaesthetic. "So far from suppressing sensibility completely," says Claude Be'rnard in his lectures, "morphine sometimes seems to exaggerate it." An animal under its influence "FEELS THE PAIN, BUT HAS LOST THE IDEA OF DEFENDING HIMSELF."

We should have been very glad if the author had stated in his book the precise experiments in which curare and morphia were employed. We are told that the number was "few." But in comparison with the total number--146--how many may that phrase signify? Were there twenty? Possibly. It would seem that in every case after the preliminary administration of anaesthetics--the dog's throat was cut, so that artificial respiration could be easily maintained; "tracheotomy was performed," to use the scientific phraseology. This is done when curare is given, for then not the slightest movement of the tortured animal can disturb the delicate instruments which are attached to it. We may therefore assume that every case wherein only curare and morphia were used--how many there were we do not know--implied torment for the wretched victims.

Human beings are not submitted on the surgeons' table to operations of this character, prolonged for hours. If, in the interest of Science, some experimenter would place himself in like condition to that of the animals upon which he worked; if, under anaesthesia--complete or incomplete--he would permit a hand to be "crushed," a nerve trunk "stimulated," his feet placed in boiling water "for a considerable time," and a Bunsen's flame applied for two minutes to some part of his body--we might possibly learn whether the acutest pains inflicted could be absolutely suppressed. Perhaps he would survive to tell us; but the animal cannot speak. No assurances suffice to clear our doubts; assurances prove nothing. It may be, to use the words of a great surgeon, that "in this relation, there exists a case of cruelty to animals far transcending in its refinement and in its horror, anything that has been known in the history of nations."

Such are some of the reasons which induce doubt of the theory that all of the experiments of these vivisectors were conducted upon animals wholly insensible to painful impressions. To become the victim of the anaesthetic delusion regarding them is to justify; and to justify is to share responsibility. But this is not all. There would seem to be other evidence of the most convincing character, that some of the animals thus subjected for hours to the stimulation of nerves and to the most frightful mutilations were not at all times in such state of unconsciousness as to prevent the occurrence of one most significant indication of pain. It is proof to which the attention of the public, so far as known, has never yet been directed; and I propose to illustrate somewhat at length what has been done in the name of free and unlimited vivisection, not only during the closing years of the past century, but down almost to the present time.