DR. BROWN-SEQUARD'S INVESTIGATIONS.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8521, 16 November 1889, Page 5

DR. BROWN-SEQUARD'S INVESTIGATIONS.

The Paria correspondent of the New York Herald, writes :— Dr. Brown-Sequard, who recently returned to Paris from Brighton, where he has b,een passing his summer holidays, is still 'pursuing his investigations &nd experiments in reference to the methods of lnoreaeiag vitality. His studies are now direoted toward accomplishing for women the same result that he maintains has been reaohed in the case of men — that is to say, the period of capacity for conception can be prolonged by subcutaneous inoculations with substances primarily obtained from female dogs. These researches have not yet arrived at a sufficiently advanced stage to convince Dr. Brown^Sequard that a praotical application can be made in this direction ■■£& pttaent, but several women have alS s dw called upon him and oß*? 0 " ■l^alfielvea as sobjeota foe these inba^.tiona.' ' Dr. Brotrn-Seqaard received me yesterday afternoon' at his residence in J?arißi Theyenerablo Aoademloiaft w^b

suffering f roai an attack of acute muscular rheumatism of the lower limbs that has kept him in bed for the last few days, but he is now much better, althnugh his limbs are still stiff and painful. DISAPPOINTED IN AMERICAN DOCTOBS. As I hauded Dr. Brown-Sequard a voluminous package of cuttings from American papers referring to experiI ments made with his inooulations, he smiled rather sadly and said : "Why, I thought I knew your countrymnn pretty well, but it seems that I was mistaken. It never occurred to me that so many of thorn would go off at half-cock, as it were, aud undertake ex. poriments sf this kind without thoroughly mastering all the preliminary details." "Yourelixer has certainly caused a great sensation in America." " Please don't make use of that word * elixir !' " exclaimeuDr.Brown-Sequard. " I never made use of the word ' elixir,' These are all expressions or inventions of sensational newspapers. If quacks or ignorant in men America have killed people, as stated by the New York papers, they would have avoided committing those murdnrs had they paid the ijleast attaution to the moat elementary rules as regards the subcutaneous injection of animal substances, or even if they had carefully read the paper on the subject which appeared in the London Lancet of July 20." NO SPECIAL DANdEB. " Are injections of animal matter attended with epecial danger P" "No," replied Dr. Brown-Sequard ; "injections of animal matter have no danger, as a rule, unless the substances begin to be decomposed. When this condition of things exists no good can be obtained, and there is grave danger of inflammation, abscesses and even death. Thore is, of course, also great danger unless the strictest attention is paid to the cleanliness of all vases and instruments. Persons wishing to make use of my process ought to bestow on Iho small operation that it involves as much care as they would upon an operation for the amputation of the thigh, for instance."

" You seem to have got many letters from America," I remarked, glancing at a huge pile of envelopes bearing United State 3 postage stamps. "Yes, I receive about twenty-fivo letters a day from America. I have no private secretary and never wiil have one, as I hato to have anyone about who thinks he Knows all my affairs, So that I answer as many of these letters as I can myself and let tho rest remain till another day."

NO HAP)

■PY MBAN.

" What is your opinion of the way in which your process has been received in America and E gland."

" I am prepared to say with the utmost frankness that the appreciations of the method saem to mo to be either too laudatory— absurdly so, in fact — ou the one hand, and too depreciatory — too vindictive, I may say— on the other hand. Public opinion haß gone to the two extremes. There seems to be no happy medium of criticiom. The views expressed by Dr. Loomio, of New York, seems to me to be very just."

"Do you think that your old antivlvisectionht enemies are the cause of the vindictive views expressed in reference to the procoae ?"

" Yes, I am afraid that the anti-vivi-sectionists are at the bottom of a great deal of it, but what annoys me rofst is that experiments should bo made promiscuously, as it were, without proper atduy or precaution. Why, while I was at Brighton an experiment was made, and when blood poisoning ensued from an utter disregard of the ordinary precautions taken in subcutaneous injections of animal substances, the fact was made known to me and my advipe asked for. I replied : ' The mischief is done now. Why didn't you ask me about it before the operation P' "