On the cattle plague Part 19

After this, I pursued my inquiry in this direction. I studied for several months the chemical composition of calculi by examining them in their dissolved state; and I saw that those in which the alkaline bases prevailed, being submitted to a diluted solution of tartaric acid, which would not injure the bladder, crumbled after a time; that the calculi with excess of acid were also attacked by an alkaline solution; in fine, that the calculi of oxalate of lime alone seemed to resist the action of these chemical solutions. But it is well known that they sometimes defy all lithotrite instruments, and compel us to have recourse to the knife.

These preliminary experiments over, it was necessary to come to their application, and for that purpose to make experiments on some animals.

The canine species, omnivorous like ourselves, was chosen in preference.

b.i.t.c.hes were selected to be practised on; for as their urinary pa.s.sages are wider and more flexible, it enabled me to insert in the bladder fragments of calculi already a.n.a.lysed, which were to serve as the nuclei to the stones they were intended to develop.

This second a.s.sortment of animals, penned up apart from each other, were supplied with different modes of sustenance: some of them were put upon a diet of meat only, others on a farinaceous diet, and a third set on a mixed course of food. These experiments were being regularly followed up, when an important and unforeseen event compelled me to desist at the end of six months. The poor animals were destroyed; but all of them, as I had antic.i.p.ated, had generated calculi of various chemical composition.

These unfinished inquiries concerning comparative pathology, thus interrupted in spite of myself, might, had circ.u.mstances allowed them to reach the goal, have authorized us to undertake in man the dissolution of stone in the bladder. And how would this have been effected? By seizing the stone between the two ends of the catheter with the double current, and by injecting a well-sustained series of dissolvents into the patient, whilst lying at his ease in a rec.u.mbent posture.

Nor is this all. They would likewise, I believe, have thrown some light on the organic production of calculi, on the lithic diathesis, and the particular formation of the stone; and led us, in some degree, to their preventive treatment, which is always superior to the curative remedy.

On a subsequent occasion, I betook myself to my task under more favourable conditions. I undertook at Alfort, conjointly with Professor Delafond, a course of experiments on the cutaneous diseases of animals in relation to comparative pathology, having already, whilst walking the hospitals, published a work on the "Entomology and Pathology of Psora in Man," which had been printed at the expense of the Academy.

These inquiries and examinations at Alfort were persisted in for five years, and were considered to have led to very satisfactory results as regards general pathology. But I have spoken of these labours in the first part of my book.

Pardon me, reader, and do not suppose that vanity or any desire to parade myself has induced me to refer to these experiments. No; my only object is to show to what results similar studies might lead, if they were executed on a large scale and on the whole animal kingdom; if, instead of these partial efforts made under favour, some special and appropriate medical inst.i.tution encouraged earnest experimentalists, supplying them without stint with all necessary resources, and with the best and completest instruments of observation.

Will any one deny, that if medical science had been settled on this foundation fifty years ago--that is to say, since the exact sciences first began to provide us with the means of investigation, it would now be so impotent? Epizootias and epidemics would not thus flout us as they do; the cholera would no longer be an enigma, nor the ox typhus so incurable. No! a hundred times no! Medical science would not he helpless and impotent in our day, had our forerunners been more mindful and provident.

But, instead of this, the science for which we plead would have done good work. It would have made and confirmed an infinite variety of observations on the brute creation; it would have transmitted our diseases to them as they transmit their diseases to us; it would have treated and cured these diseases, and every such cure would have been a new triumph, a new victory for mankind.

For instance, during an outbreak of cholera, this science would have been ready and prepared to try different experiments on men and animals; it would first have communicated the cholera to animals, and then submitted them to a variety of experimental treatments. This cholera, which is not an infectious fever, with its regular and a.s.signed periods, like typhus, and which we are not obliged to suffer to run its course, but which, on the contrary, is a nervous affection produced by some poisonous miasma, the toxical effects of which first of all a.s.sail the nervous system and then more particularly the great sympathetic; the cramps being but the result of a reflective action--_this cholera, we say, must be curable_, and well-advised experiments would reveal the remedy we want for it, nor should we have to wait long for the revelation.

As for me, I once made a desperate attempt in this direction. It was during the cholera of 1854. We remarked whilst dissecting subjects, as is always the case, that the mucous membranes of the stomach and intestines, which were in a manner paralyzed, had suffered the fluid parts of the blood to ooze out on the surface. Hence the cause of those vomitings, and those watery and colourless diarrhoeas which nothing can stop, so that at a given moment the patients die, poisoned, of course, but dying more particularly through want of circulation, the blood being reduced to its solid parts and unable to circulate any longer. Relying on this fact, and trusting for want of better to the secondary effects, I strove to restore to the blood its aqueous part, and, if possible, to re-establish the circulation.

With this view, I went to the Hopital de la Charite, provided with all the requisite instruments. Choleraic patients were being brought there every hour. The experiments being new, venturesome, and _dangerous_, in the eyes of the hospital directors, I was only suffered to operate on the moribund. The first patient, considered to be in a state sufficiently desperate to be given up to me, was a woman, forty-five years old. She was literally insensible, and thoroughly cold. I hesitated for a moment to try the operation under conditions so unreasonable, so preposterous--almost upon a corpse. The radial arteries in the arm had ceased to beat, and the heart alone kept up a feeble circulation at the central parts. At length I opened the vein, from which not a single drop of blood proceeded, and taking the usual measures to prevent the air from having access, I gradually and slowly injected two ounces of alkaline solution, the process of injection lasting twelve minutes. It was scarcely over before the patient half-opened her eyelids, and looked about her with astonishment; the pulse became perceptible for a few moments, and all present thought she was saved. We put a few questions to her; the patient could not answer us, but she nodded as much as to say "yes," when asked if she felt better. But this was all we could do in her case. The circulation stopped again, the patient relapsed into her state of insensibility and died two hours after the injection.

The result obtained in this instance had not answered our expectation.

However, the circulation had for a minute or two resumed its course, and a flash of reason had once more shown itself.

I thought the experiment ought to be repeated, and accordingly the next morning I made another trial. The patient this time was a working shoemaker, thirty-eight years of age, exactly in the same far-gone, hopeless state as the patient of the day before. In his case, the inward commotion caused by the injection was more powerful; twenty minutes after the injection he was able to see, to understand, to speak, to raise his head; but this vital recovery was, as in the former case, but of short continuance, and two hours and a half after the operation the man expired.

After these experiments I dissected the two bodies, and then, finding that their lungs were infiltrated with water, I understood that the alkaline solution had not been a.s.similated, that it had stopped in its pa.s.sage into the pulmonary parenchyma, to the detriment of the functions of the haematosis. I also understood that the proper injection, instead of distilled alkaline water, would have been the serum of the blood, drawn at the very moment from some man or animal.

The conclusion which I drew from these experiments was that a variety of operations, made at different stages of the malady, might lead to beneficial results, especially if we succeeded in transmitting the cholera to animals, as that would enable us to test a large number of curative agents and to pursue a methodical course of experimentalization.

From all I have said, I infer that life, health, and disease, being subject to the same laws throughout the whole animal kind, it is certain that the physician should possess precise knowledge as to the organization, the functions, and diseases of animals. That by proceeding in this manner, we shall advance from the simple to the complex, from the plant to the animal, and from the animal to man. That we must of necessity emerge from the state in which we are now entangled BY FOUNDING AND ESTABLIs.h.i.+NG IN LONDON A COLLEGE OF THE NATURAL AND MEDICAL SCIENCES.

Every medical pupil might spend two years in this college, receiving in it an experimental and practical training; he would devote himself in it to the chemical a.n.a.lysis of all bodies, to physiological experiments and tests, without limit and of every kind.

Most deeply do I appreciate the many difficulties and obstacles that would interfere with the execution of such a design. In our civilized age, nations seem rather bent on seeking out the means of exterminating each other than of protecting themselves and animals from epidemics and epizootias. It is believed that every first-rate kingdom now spends from 400 to 500 millions of francs (16 to 20,000,000_l._) annually in maintaining their land and sea forces, whilst one-half of their populations are living in misery and ignorance, in disease and corruption. The time is not come--shall we ever see it?--to employ the vital powers of the peoples, to better incessantly their social condition. Perhaps, by reason of its organization, the Government of this country would not be authorized to devote 100,000_l._ or 200,000_l._ to the establishment of an inst.i.tution like the medical college I suggest, notwithstanding its paramount necessity. But England is in the habit of doing great things independently of the Government.

In default of the ruling powers, then, let me appeal to the national initiative, for if the spectacle which we are at present witnessing was not, in the case of England, one of those trials which invigorate a people by the salutary teachings which they bring; if it did not induce them to take some energetic resolution by which their interests would be saved and their power enlarged, it would indeed be a deplorable sign of the times and make us despair of its future.

Moreover, to show the urgency of founding a _College of Natural and Medical Science_, let us add, that in every other country they are endeavouring to unite this indispensable complement to medical education. The German universities, the Faculty of Paris, have, for several years past, incorporated a course of comparative pathology, with the other series of public lectures.

It is not a mere Utopia that we propose, but an extension and improvement, all the parts of which are already prepared. If this College could be thrown open to-morrow, competent professors would be ready at the call of duty to indite the programme for this instruction within twenty-four hours; and as for the professors themselves, there would be enough to choose among the large body of efficient scholars who do honour to the country.

If we have been rightly understood, we desire to see established in London an inst.i.tution which would afford an equivalent to what exists in Paris, at the Museum and College de France, where numerous courses of lectures on anatomy, physiology, physics, and chemistry are given. Only in London this special college would be formed and organized on such a scale as to bear away the palm from every previous foundation of the same kind; it would be an inst.i.tution unexampled in the world, out of whose halls would one day come anatomists, physiologists, and pathologists of the very highest order of excellence.--But organic matter would not be the sole object of this instruction, for the animal is something more than matter. Courses of medical history and philosophy, of really general pathology, would introduce the students to the grand phenomena of nature, to the great laws which govern the worlds and the globe; and descending from the heights of science to the observation of the infinitely minute, they would never forget the important part of the vital powers, and of that unknown power called at different times by the names of p?e?a, _archec_--_mind_ and _soul_.

The Regent's Park would, we think, be the proper site for this college, as the contiguity of the Zoological Gardens would afford continual opportunities for investigating the diseases of animals.

Moreover, this college would not trench upon or interfere in any manner with those medical and veterinary establishments which at present exist; it would ally itself with, and complete them, nothing more. The instruction received at this "College of Natural and Medical Science"

would be so useful and necessary, and so attractive withal, that the sons of the great families would come to it to finish their collegiate studies, to the great benefit of the country. Other young men, in considerable numbers, would flock to it from various parts of the world.

The foundation of such an inst.i.tution would be an epoch in the history of science, and would give England another claim to the esteem of nations.

I conclude, then, with a conviction that a nation which owes to Lord Bacon, the founder of experimental philosophy, his imperishable book on the _restoration, the method and teaching of the sciences_; to Harvey, the circulation; to Priestley, the const.i.tution of chemistry; to Sydenham, the modern Hippocrates, his treatise on "Practical Medicine"; to Jenner, vaccination; and to Charles Bell, the discovery of the sensitive and motor nerves--is a people too great and too enlightened to retrograde; and that, if the epizootic of ox typhus did find them at first unready and disarmed, they will in the end convert this disaster into a new source of greatness and strength.

Such is the sincere hope which I cherish and the prayer I offer up for the happiness of a country which, for the future, has become my own.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A.

BREMEN, August 30.

The following report, drawn up by two German veterinary surgeons, of a recent visit to London to examine into the cattle murrain, has been furnished by the agent of the North German Lloyd's at Nordenhamm:--

"On Wednesday, the 9th instant, we, the undersigned, were requested to be at Nordenhamm, if possible, the following morning. Upon our arrival we were asked by the agent of the North German Lloyd's, who had consulted with several of the chief cattle exporters, to undertake a voyage to London at once in the steamer _Schwan_, in the interest of the cattle export from the Weser. The object of our mission was, first, to examine as closely as possible into the epidemic cattle disease raging in and around London for some time past; then carefully to observe the treatment of cattle upon the vessel during the voyage, upon arrival, and at the time of disembarkation; lastly, to use every means in our power to prevent obstacles being opposed to the continued export of cattle from these ports to England.

"Furnished by the agent of the North German Lloyd's with letters of introduction to cattle dealers in London, and with the necessary funds, we left Nordenhamm in the steamer _Schwan_, Captain Christensen, at 4 P.M., on the 10th instant. The vessel carried 347 head of large cattle, 2 calves, and 260 sheep. Favoured by very fine weather, we arrived in the Thames at 2 P.M., on the 12th. At the beginning of the voyage the animals were rather uneasy, trampled a good deal, and caused considerable motion in the s.h.i.+p; after a time, however, they became quiet. A sharp, penetrating smell was easily perceptible in the 'tween decks of the s.h.i.+p, which was quickly removed upon a light breeze springing up, by means of the excellent ventilation and numerous air-pipes and wind shafts. The animals were several times watered, and it was easy to see how greatly they were refreshed. The hay in the racks, on the other hand, was hardly touched.

"Upon arriving in the port we were introduced by the captain to the two veterinary surgeons stationed here to inspect the cattle, and witnessed the rapid disembarkation of the cargo, all of which were thoroughly healthy, not one being condemned. The cattle, when landed, were immediately brought to carts standing in readiness and transported to London, where they are cleansed and then driven into the adjacent fields.

"After doing all in our power to attain the object of our journey, we went back to the port to wait for the _Schwan_, having first thoroughly cleansed the clothes we had worn during our inspection of the diseased cattle. The _Schwan_ came in shortly after our arrival, and disembarked 256 head of large cattle, 12 calves and 400 sheep, all in good condition. Mr. Philipps, the London agent of the North German Lloyd's, was on the spot, together with several reporters from newspapers, who wished to see by personal investigation how and in what condition cattle are brought from the Weser.

"We re-embarked on the _Schwan_ upon the 19th. The crew were engaged during the voyage in carefully cleansing the s.h.i.+p. The weather was fine, and we arrived safely at Nordenhamm upon the 21st.

(Signed)

"G. J. RIPPEN, "Veterinary Surgeon at Seefield.

"H. FASTING, "Veterinary Surgeon at Schwey."

NOTE B.

Professor Simonds having had such opportunities of investigating those diseases as they existed in England and in foreign countries as were possessed only by a few Englishmen, might be permitted to offer a few observations. He had been appointed by the Royal Agricultural Societies of England and Ireland to proceed to the Continent in 1857, when there was a rumour that the disease which existed among cattle in this country at the present time was prevailing in Mecklenburg. Consuls sent despatches that the rinderpest was prevailing largely, and the Government, as a precautionary measure, closed the ports against the introduction of cattle from the Baltic to this country. He found, however, from his observations abroad that since 1817 there had been no disease of this kind westward of a line between Revel in the Baltic and the Gulf of Venice, but to the eastward of that line it had existed. He came up with the affection at the Carpathian mountains, where it was raging in 1857 just as it is raging in England at the present time. Not only had it existed there, but it had been carried into the interior of Russia in the ordinary method of the cattle trade. A person who was in the habit of purchasing cattle attended a fair and bought a number of animals, and took them to his own farm, and in the course of ten days one or two were seized with the disease, and the result was there was a gradual spread of the evil in that district. It gained ground until the Government inst.i.tuted the sanitary police regulations, which, though they were such as would be considered strange in England, were, he believed, absolutely necessary for the extirpation of the plague. It was undoubtedly true that no foreign animals had been seized at our ports or in the metropolitan market; but it was not necessary for the case they had in hand to say whether the disease was or was not of foreign importation. There was this fact before them, that it was not until the month of June that the disease appeared in England. A certain number of animals came out of a diseased district. He had doc.u.mentary evidence that animals came from Revel and came from the district of Esthonia. He had before him proof that the disease now in England was raging in that district. They had proof that shortly after the arrival of those cattle in England the disease manifested itself here. He admitted there were difficulties in the way of checking the importation of foreign cattle.

The Government had its eyes open to the matter, and he did not think it possible for the Government to have done more than they had done or to have done more quickly what they had been doing. At this moment half the supply of the metropolitan market came from foreign countries, and he did not wish to convey any reflection by saying that this disease had its origin from abroad. He would admit that the animals from Germany and Hungary were coming in a healthy condition; but he could not admit that they came from Russia, Poland, or Galicia in so perfect a condition, because the regulations there were not sufficient to stamp out the disease. The Government had made an inquiry as to the general health of cattle on the Continent. They believed France, Belgium, Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg, and a large part of the Continent that supplied cattle to this country were free from disease. This went to show that we had admitted a disease not from where we received our supplies of meat, but from some other district. Then it must be a.s.sociated with the fact that it came into this country when animals arrived here from an infected district in Russia. Animals from Germany and Hungary were often s.h.i.+pped and mixed with others from a diseased district. As regarded the disease being spontaneous, we had been free from it for twenty years. What was the state of our cowsheds fifty years ago? Were they not in a more filthy condition than they are now? If, therefore, the disease had been induced from common causes it would have been here years and years ago. It was no reflection to say that a great many cases could be traced directly to the metropolitan market. Take one case which occurred in Suss.e.x. Certain cattle had been bought in the metropolitan market and were taken home. In three or four days they were ill, and presented symptoms of this affection. In a few days more the cows and calves were dead. In another instance calves were bought in Chichester Market, where they had been taken from London. The result was the death of twelve cows and ten calves. The people had other cattle on the same farm, and not one of them took it. He could say, too, that persons who had only one animal had lost it by the disease. How had the disease got into Norfolk and Kent but by the animals which went from the metropolitan market? He could prove by doc.u.mentary evidence that it was so. He could show there was not a single instance where the origin of the disease could not be traced to the metropolis. It was the most fearful visitation that had ever been seen in England. They had adopted a system of compensation in Norfolk, and if by this meeting something was done to shut out the animals of infected districts, no doubt the promoters would receive not only the thanks of London, but the country generally.

Mr. Gibbins--Now, if the disease came from abroad, and diseased cattle were s.h.i.+pped on the other side of the sea, no doubt the voyage would concentrate and aggravate the disease. The Government inspectors reported, however, that not one instance had been seen of foreign cattle so diseased, nor had any been seized and destroyed in London or anywhere else. Whether the disease came from abroad or elsewhere he was not able to state. Sir George Grey asked him whether he had found any disease among the foreign cattle that came into the market. He said not one.

They had, no doubt, many instances of the disease amongst the cows that were ordinarily called milch cows, but that were not milch cows when they came to market, because one effect of the disease was to deprive the animal of milk. These were then sent to the market and sold as fat stock. He could only say they had had no cases, except in cows, whether they came from the dairies in London or elsewhere.

NOTE C.