Page:Blackwell 1898 Scientific method in biology.pdf/58

46 1892, when the following appearances were presented: The whole region of the shoulder was inflamed; there was necrosis of the corresponding upper extremity, which dropped off from dry gangrene; the stump left was indurated, hard, and painful, whilst the lymphatic glands in connection with the part were enlarged. The examination of the tumour disclosed nothing very particular. The bones were the seat of osteoperosis, and the arteries showed arteritis. The investigators believe the tumours were cancerous, but this statement must be received with caution.'

Such long-continued torture, even of a mouse, is morally degrading, and, as if in retribution, is doomed to be useless.

A Chinese medical author—Tuan Mei—writing in the last century, 1716–1797, lays down a true medical axiom when he marks the difference between death and torture as follows: 'Living creatures are for our use, and we may put them to death. But we may not make death a boon, and then withhold it from them.'