To make a part "rigid" is equal to the "extirpation" of such part.
While it is in a state of rigidity, it ceases to take part in any
action whatsoever; it is inert and the same as if it had ceased to
exist. What advantage, then, let me ask, is there in extirpating parts
in animals, when we can, by making parts rigid, directly extirpate such
parts in ourselves? We can in this manner suppress the action of any
muscle, or the participation of any vessel, or part of such vessel, in
any act, by the simple exercise of our volition. I find no difficulty
in thus "extirpating" any such part from myself for the time being,
and then observing the consequences. I can take hold of the innermost
part of myself, so to say, and take it _out of myself_. In regard to
vocal utterance, these consequences are positive and direct. That
these operations must be very _carefully_ conducted in connection with
_vital_ parts goes without saying. The action of muscles participating
in the production of vocal utterance, however, or in the act of
breathing, except the muscles of the heart, can be suppressed without
danger. I am thus in a position to modify extirpation of parts to any
extent, almost, I desire. I can add to and detract therefrom at will,
and can shift the act of extirpation from the anterior part of a vessel
to its posterior, or from its superior to its inferior, or vice versa,
now making one side rigid, then the other, now one end, and then the
other; or take hold of its centre and leave the other parts free,
or suppress its circumference and leave the centre free. There is
scarcely a limit to the action of my will in handling my subject. All
this while, my feelings, my intelligence, my mind, take in every phase
of these proceedings, and enable me to give a correct account of the
results I have been observing.
This discovery--for a discovery it must be, as I can find no account of
any similar proceeding ever having been carried on--should, and I hope
will, put an end to vivisection, when it is resorted to for the purpose
of learning anything whatever in respect to the action and the process
of life. By this proceeding I have more or less successfully observed
the acts of breathing, of vocal utterance, motion and locomotion,
hearing, seeing, and thinking.
I beg leave to here insert without comment the following clipping from
the press:
The following extracts are from a lecture on "Vivisection in
Relation to Medical Science," delivered by Edward Berdoe, M.
R. C. S., etc., at Cambridge. Lovers of animals may be glad to
know how the medical fraternity amuse themselves:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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