DR. FERRIER ON THE SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF VIVISECTION.* Zr -is

our intention, in examining Dr. Ferrier's new work on the Functions of the Brain, to attempt some practical estimate of the actual scientific value and importance of the numerous physio- logical experiments to which he has given publicity in its pages; and in this endeavour we shall leave the moral aspects of vivisection as much aside as possible, not that we re- gard such considerations lightly, but that for the moment we wish to meet the experimentor on his own ground. With this end we shall begin our investigation of the merits of the book before us with the admission which the author makes in its very first page. We allude to his dedication, which runs thus To Dr. Hughlings-Jackson, who, from a clinical and pathological stand-point, anticipated many of the more im- portant results of recent experimental investigation into the

• Functions of the Brain. By David Ferrier, M.D., Loudon: Smith, Eider, and Co. 1876. functions of the cerebral hemispheres." In connection with the terms of this dedication, we take from page 126 of the volume-a still more remarkable tribute to the value of that patient and attentive bed-side study which vivisectors tell us is inadequate to the acquirement of medical knowledge The careful clinical and pathological observations in reference to unilateral and localised epileptiform convulsions and the acute reason- ings of the distinguished physician to whom this work is dedicated, throw a new light on the physiological significance of certain parts of the cerebral hemispheres. Hughlings-Jackson pointed out that certain convulsive movements on the one side of the body were due to diseased conditions which caused localised irritation of the opposite cerebral hemisphere. From such facts he came to the conclusion that the convolutions surrounding the corpus striatum had a direct relation to these movements the convulsive phenomena being the result of irritative or discharging lesions of the cortex in this region. The views of Hughlings-Jackson, published from time to time in the form of scattered contributions to the various medical journals, and now happily being collected by their author, were re- garded by many as ingenious, but rather fanciful speculations, and devoid of experimental corroboration, seeing that all experimenters on the brain had failed to produce any such phenomena by irritation of the surface of the cerebral hemispheres."

Let the reader carefully note the concluding words of this para- graph, and then, turning back to Professor Ferrier's introduction, study the following passages :-

"There is, perhaps, no subject in physiology of greater importance and general interest than the functions of the brain, and there are few which present to experimental investigation conditions of greater in- tricacy and complexity. No one who has attentively studied the results of the labours of the numerous investigators in this field of research can help being struck by the want of harmony, and even positive contradictions, among the conclusions which apparently the same experiments and the same facts have led to in different hands. And when the seemingly well-established facts of ex- perimentation on the brains of the lower animals are compared with those of clinical observation and morbid anatomy in man, the discord between them is frequently so great as to lead many to the opinion that physiological investigation on the lower animals is little calculated to throw true light on the functions of the human brain The-serious nature of the operations necessary to expose the brain for the purposes of experiment, and the fact that the various parts of the encephalon, though anatomically distinct, are yet so inti- mately combined and related to each other as to form a complex whole, make it natural to suppose that the establishment of lesions of greater or less extent in any one part should produce such a general perturba- tion of the functions of the organ as a whole as to render it at least highly difficult to trace any uncomplicated connection between the symptoms produced and the lesion as such. Moreover, the degree of evolution of the central nervous system, from the simplest reflex mechanism up to the highest encephalic centres, and the differences as regards the relative independence or subordination of the lower to the higher centres, according as we ascend or descend the animal scale, introduce ether complications, and render the application of the results of experiment on the brain of a frog, a pigeon, or a rabbit, without due qualification, to the physiology of the human brain very questionable, or even lead to conclusions seriously at variance with well-established facts of clinical and pathological observation."

It will be observed that we have in these statements a singular inconsistency of argument, which gives them somewhat the air of a conundrum. First, Dr. Ferrier seems to wish us to understand that Dr. Hughlings-Jackson, by means of intelligent observation of the human patients committed to his care, and of careful in- ductive reasoning based on anatomical knowledge, anticipated in his published views of the functions of the brain the precise re- sults at which Dr. Ferrier has arrived by means of operations on the brains of the lower animals. Secondly, he intimates that Dr. Hughlings-Jackson's observations have been regarded by the faculty as fanciful and valueless, solely because all experiments on the brains of animals fail to produce similar results, even although it is generally admitted that experiments performed on the cerebral lobes of animals are incapable of giving any just data for conclu- sions applicable to pathological lesions of the brain in man, both on account of the difficult nature of such experiments, and of the difference existing between the brute and the human anatomy and corresponding functions. In this second line of argument he is strongly supported by one of our greatest living authorities in matters affecting cerebral physiology and pathology —Dr. Maudsley—whose work on the Physiology of Mind was recently reviewed in these pages. "No trustworthy conclu- sions," says Dr. Maudsley, "can be drawn from experiments in which the cerebral hemispheres have been removed, for the mis- chief done is far too great to warrant any inference." (p. 255.) But whichever of these two apparently contradictory statements be the really true one, the same conclusion is clearly deducible from both alike. If, as Dr. Ferrier's first assertion shows, clinical observation and intelligent reasoning from such observation suffice to anticipate the results of vivisection, then it is evident that vivisection can only be even aj beat a mere work of veri- fication, and that science ought to dispense with it if that verification involve the sufferings of other oreatures and con- eloquently inhumanity in us. This belief—that observation and intelligent reasoning from the phenomena of human health and disease are our chief sources of physiological discovery— has, in the minds of most informed persons, been strengthened into conviction by the numerous and important facts which the controversy upon vivisection has brought to light in the pages of various literary and scientific serials, notably by the very able article on "Harvey and Vivisection" which appeared in the Fortnightly Review of last July. The writer, Dr. J. H. Bridges, proves in the most complete manner and by the most conclusive evidence that Harvey's disdovery of the circulation of the blood, so often claimed by vivisectors as chiefly due to experimentation on living animals, was worked out in the mind of the great physio- logist by a process of close reasoning, assisted by examination of the structure of the veins and arteries in the dead subject, and by attention to certain physiological and pathological phenomena which his superior intelligence, perception, and opportunities allowed him to interpret as no man before him had been enabled to do. "Comparison of structures, direct observation of struc- tures; these supplied Harvey with his materials,—profound medi- tation did the rest." It was not until his theory had been thoroughly elaborated, and the discovery vindicated in public, that Harvey made use of operations on living animals in order to verify the inferences which his reason had already grasped.

But if, on the other hand, we are to rely upon the accuracy of Professor Ferrier's second assertion that, at least as regards experiment on living nerve-tissue, "the serious nature of the operations necessary" and the "questionable application of the results of such experiments to the physiology of the human brain" are calculated to "lead to conclusions seriously at vari- ance with well-established facts of clinical and pathological observation," then, also, the verdict is still clearer against such vivisecting. For since the liability to error and wrong judgment resulting from the practice of vivisection is so great as actually to make it hard for physiologists to accept conclusions drawn from clinical study of the human subject, because "all experimenters on the brain have failed to produce any such phe- nomena," surely the sooner medical science is relieved of so dangerous a snare, the better for her true interests and for those of the public dependent on her ministers. Auguste Comte, in his Cours cle Philosophic Positive, gives expression to an opinion on this subject identical with our own, and as his are words which carry with them considerable weight to a large class of thinkers, we reproduce the passage in question :— "Sons run et rautre aspect, on no saurait ordinairement imaginer en ea genre, d'expdriences moms susceptibles d'un vrai mimes scientifique quo cellos de Vivisection, qui out etd, neanmoins, les plus frequentes. La mart, plus on moms prochaine, et sonvent rapids, qu'elles deter- minent presque tonjours dens nn systeme eminemment indivisible, et le trouble universel quo rensemble de reconomie organique on dprouve immediatement, lea rendent on general plus spBcialement impropres Ii procurer auoune solution positive. L'evidente consideration soeiale, non seulement ii regard de rhomme, male aussi envers lea animaux, dolt faire hautement repronver cette legdrete deplorable qui laisse contractor a la jeanesse des habitudes de cruantd aussi radicalement funeste a son developpement moral quo profondement inutiles, pour ne pas dire davantage, a son ddveloppement intellectuel."

And if further corroboration be needed of Dr. Ferrier's express admission regarding the misleading nature of experiments con- ducted on the lower animals, no better evidence can be adduced for the purpose than that of men who are themselves familiar both with the work of the physiological laboratory and with hospital study. Dr. Garth Wilkinson, in a letter addressed to the Morning Star (August 20, 1863), expressed his views on the subject of vivisection in the following terms :—" Vivisection has contributed to healing diseases nothing but false paths and wrong roads. It is a delusion as a means of scientific progress." M. Neaton, the first of French surgeons, about seven years ago de- nounced as false and delusive all systems based on experimental physiology, or on anything but direct observation of the patient ; but most remarkable of all, and most pertinent to the subject of Professor Ferrier's treatise, is the admission made last August by Dr. Brown-S6quard, one of the greatest living vivisectors and authorities on vivisection, that "the teachings of vivisection on the functions of the brain and nerves are a tissue of mistakes, created by vivisection, but rectified at last by correct clinical observation

during life, and careful examination of the diseased structures after death."* Dr. Ferrier, by way of getting as near to man as circum- stances permit, has conducted a great part of his experi- mental researches upon monkeys, of which one at least was

* 77m Home ChroMeler, November 11, 1876t and the-Annual Report of She oath- Somerset Branch, R.S.P.O.A. selected, as he himself tells us, on account of its peculiar intelli- gence. " The brain of these animals," he writes, " is constructed on the same type as the human brain, and their habits are such as to afford the most reliable data for inferences applicable to the physiology of the brain of man. This is more especially the case in reference to the existence or not of sensation, as it is often extremely difficult to distinguish between conscious and reflex reaction to sensory stimuli. The localised destruction of special areas was effected principally by means of the actual cautery "—red-hot iron—" varied occasionally with excision of the part." Note that this proceeding, i.e., "the destruction by various means of the different parts of the encephalon," has been expressly repudiated in Dr. Ferrier's introduction, on account of its being calculated to "produce such general perturbation of the functions of the organ as to render it at least highly difficult to trace any uncomplicated connection between the symptoms produced and the lesion as such." The following is an account in detail of one of these experiments, which may serve as a fair specimen of the kind of " science " contained in the volume under

notice :—

" The left hemisphere of a monkey was exposed by trephining in the region of the bridging convolution between the angular gyrus and the.

occipital lobe. Through the anterior extremity of this gyms a troear

and canals of small size were introduced in a horizontal direotion, so as to traverse the optic thalamus." [A trocar is a small surgical in- strument resembling a stiletto, and is usually about the size of amedium knitting-pin. It is used to puncture tough surfaces. The optic thalami are situated in the interior of the brain, beneath the convolu- tions.] "On withdrawal of the trocar, a stiletto with expanding wings was inserted and rotated, after the manner employed by Nothnagel, so as to break up the tissue with which it should come in contact. On recovery from chloroform narcosis the animal exhibited little symptom of impairment of sensation on the opposite side of the body, with the exception of some degree of hesitation and caution in the movements of the right limbs. It used the left hands only for purposes of prehension, but reaction to tactile and thermal stimuli continued' [i.e., it manifested a sense of pain when pinched, pricked, or burnt]. "Little or no alteration of this condition was observed twenty hours after the operation. Having reason to believe from accurate measure- ments, that the stiletto had not quite penetrated the optic thalamus, I again chloroformed the animal, and inserted a wire cautery in the track of the canula, carefully calculating the distance by ex- periments on the dead brain, so as to traverse the optic thalamus com- pletely. When the animal recovered from narcosis and opened its right eye, the pupil was found to be dilated. In attempts at locomotion the left limbs alone were used, the right remaining motionless. Active reaction ensued on the application of a hot iron to the left side," [i.e., the monkey exhibited signs of great pain,] "but no reaction followed its application to any part of the right aide, hand, foot, or cheek. The animal moved about by the aid of the left limbs only, turning tower& the right side and dragging its right limbs. It was evidently blind, as it made no attempt to avoid obstacles placed in its path until it knocked its head against them, It was observed that though the animal made no use of its right limbs for purposes of prehension or progression, yet in attempting to get up when laid on its back it struggled with all four limbs freely. . . . . . On post-mortem examination it was found that there was a slight hernial protrusion of the brain-substance of the size of a shilling, corresponding to the opening made by the crown of the trephine, and occupying chiefly the upper part of the superior temper's- sphenoidal convolution. In the centre of this was an opening leading into the optic thalamus. This had been completely traversed by the red-hot wire almost in the centre of the ganglion, so that the anterior and posterior extremities of the optic thalamus were separated from each other by a track of softening and disintegration. As had bees conjectured, the expanding stiletto had not penetrated the thalamus, but had broken up the medullary substance to a considerable extent just external to the ganglion. This was clearly indicated by the irregular laceration and discoloration, easily distinguishable from the track of the cautery."

It is worthy of note that Professor Ferrier administered chloroform to his victims while preparing their skulls for operation. But the fact that the very essence of the ex- periments performed depended on the complete recovery from unconsciousness of the animals concerned, and on their exhibiting evidence of the deprivation of some special sense, and of pain under painful applications, as a result of the mutilation they had undergone, shows how little confidence can be placed by humani- tarians in the use of anwsthetics as a safeguard against the in- fliction of all suffering. Dr. Ferrier continues :—

" It is, of course, to be noted that the lesion of the optio thalamus was not the only condition here. The medullary substance external to the ganglion was likewise injured, and there was, moreover, some affection of the cortical substance of the hemisphere, in the neighbour- hood of the centres of sight and hearing. It is, therefore, a question- how much the affection of sight in this case was due to the (sorties" lesion and to the laceration of the medullary fibres, apart from the optic-thalamus lesion. The chief point on which I wished to satisfy myself, and towards which attention was principally directed, was the condition as to tactile sensation. This, though apparently diminished by the lesion which had caused laceration of the medullary fibres ex- ternal to the optic thalamus was not thoroughly abolished until the thalamus had been disorganised. Without, for the pre,sent, attempting to estimate how much was here due to the lesion of the thalamus as such, and how much to the medullary lesion external to it, we have in

this experiment a conclusive proof of the abolition of cutaneous sensa-

tion by an injury in and around the optic thalamus More con- clusively, as regards the consciousness. of sensory impressions, it has been shown that hemiana3sthesia occurs in man when the corresponding regions of the peduncular expansion are destroyed by disease, as in cases reported by Tiirck, Cheroot, Demeaux, Bourneville, and others."

The intelligent reader of this passage will not fail to observe that the only real information given in it, and the only practical con- clusions applicable to the human subject, are found in its closing sentence, and that they are drawn, not from the experiment recorded, the results of which are pitifully small and uncertain, but from the clinical investigation of other men. And again, a little further on, we have this distinct assertion :—

" In experiments on the lower animals, as has already been remarked, the determination of partial affections of vision is extremely difficult. The decisive settlement of such points must depend mainly on careful clinical and pathological research. Experiments on rabbits, dogs, and other animals have led to different views in different bands."

A singular and instructive fact, upon which we are inclined to lay considerable emphasis, is that although so many severe opera- tions upon animals have been instituted by Professor Ferrier and others, for the avowed purpose of determining the localisation of the various sensory and motor centres, contemporary physio- logists have agreed only to regard the position of a single one as actually settled, and that was ascertained purely by means of anatomical knowledge, combined with the observation of cerebral disease in human beings, the very nature of the manifestation of such disease rendering it inaccessible to study by means of the vivisection of animals. We refer to the localisation of the faculty of articulate and written speech in the third frontal convolution of the left side. Since the publication of Dr. Ferrier's experiments, a medical treatise, known as Kass and Duval's Physiology, has been issued in Paris, and is already largely in circulation as a class- book, both at home and abroad. On pp. 68 and N of this work, the following statements occur :—

" Malheurensement, ces tentatives " [attempts to localise the different centres of the brain by experiment] "ne sont pas parvenues encore a des rdsultats assez precis ; nous donnons ci-contre une figure representant, &spies lea recherches de Fritsch, Hitzig, et Ferrier, la situation probable de quelques centres moteurs chez l'homme ; coals nous evens déjà in- clique quelques-nue° des objections nombreuses qua l'on pent faire a ffinterpretation que ces anteurs donnent de leurs experiences. Nous no saurions abandonner encore la loi sus-nonce, ear Pinter- pretation des resultats de ces experiences est tres contestee. Dans l'etat actuel do la science, il n'est qu'une localisation bien demontr6e, east cello de la faculte du langage, of cette de"monstration est dile aux dudes d'anatomie pathologique dans les cas de perte de la parole par lesion cerebrale, ou Aphasie. Personne n'ignore quo c'est principalement aux travaux de Broca que Aphasia a da de sortir dn domaine des hypotheses, et aujourd'hui, aussi bien a retranger qu'en France la troisieme circonvolutiou frontale gauche est designee sons le nom de circonvolution de Broca."

But if Professor Ferrier's experimental labours have so far failed of attaining their ostensible object that even his brother physio- logists do not regard them as being of the smallest practical value, if all the distressing records of death and suffering pre- sented to us in Functions of the Brain are, for their scientific value, comparable to those proverbial throes of the mountain which ultimately resulted in the birth of a mouse, it must at least be admitted that, from another point of view, they do not appear to have been by any means unproductive. So much distress and suffering could not be inflicted on helpless animals with- out doing its work and leaving its traces in some direction, and though its results may have been negative as regards the acquisi- tion of fresh knowledge, they have been positive in other ways, and especially in tending to harden the mind of the public against a mode of experimentation which, whatever else may be said of it, should at least be regarded with extreme dislike as justifiable, if at all, only as the last resort of science when in search of a remedy for a terrible disease. Let the subjoined quotations from the report of a "popular lecture " given by Dr. Ferrier in the Public Hall at Leeds justify our assertion to our readers :—

" Dr. Ferrier showed to the audience maps of a monkey's brain. The monkey had had his skull sawn open and the brain freely exposed. Pro- fessor Ferrier stated, as the object of this experiment, that he could, by applying electricity to the exposed brain, foretell with certainty what involuntary movements the monkey would make. Dr. Ferrier observed that he had operated on a clever monkey which he had kept for a long time. Part of the brain of this animal he cut off and removed, an injury which, although it did not appear to affect the general health of the creature, rendered it perfectly stnpid,—perfectly demented. Even while eating, it looked as if it were sound asleep, like Dickens's fat boy. (Laughter!) By touching certain parts of the brain, he could cause an animal to make certain movements with its body ; he could make a dog bark, a cat mew, or a dog, a monkey, or a rat to wag its tail ; but added the lecturer, amid considerable amusement (!), he could -never get a cat to wag its tail."—(Leeds Times, March 1, 1874.)

That Professor Ferrier himself entertains some misgiving with regard even to the scientific results of his own labours, is but too evident from the fact that after summing up the singularly meagre conclusions of his terrible experiments, he closes his book with this significant paragraph :—

"Many other important points in cerebral physio!ogy still remain to be considered, such as the relation of the encephalic centres to nutritive or trophic processes; the conditions of the normal activity of the brain; the physiological conditions of consciousness, &c. ; but as these require discussion in the light more of the phenomena of disease in man, than of experiments on the lower animals, I propose to reserve these and similar topics for another treatise, especially devoted to the considera- tion of diseases of the brain."

It would seem that if Professor Ferrier had given his whole study to this latter subject, and not made any of his distressing experiments, the world of physiology would not have lost much, while the humanity of our race would certainly have gained much.