equally by some who followed and imitated him, but certainly
he was never surpassed.

Another distinguished French chiffonier in the slum-districts of
scientific exploration was Dr. L. J. Brachet, a contemporary of
Magendie. In his day he was a man of extended reputation as a
vivisector of animals. His principal work is entitled: "Recherches
Expe'rimentales de Syste`me Nerveux...par J. L. Brachet, Membre de
l'Acade'mie Royale de Me'decine" and member of similar academies at
Berlin, Copenhagen, and elsewhere; member of various medical societies
of Paris, Lyons, Bordeaux, and Marseilles--the title-page of his book
records his fame. It will be of interest to study the character of
the experimentation, recorded by himself, upon which rests his
eminence as a scientific man.

His first great "discovery" unfortunately has not yet been accorded
scientific acceptance. "It is little," he says, "to have proven the
existence of sensibility in animals; I have proven that sensation
pertains not merely to animals, but that it also is the property of
vegetables--in a word, OF EVERYTHING THAT LIVES. Everywhere it acts
in the same manner, through the nerves. The entire vegetable kingdom
possesses the sense of feeling" (tous les vegetaux possedent la
faculte de sentier).[1]

[1] "Recherches," etc., p. 13.

Had Brachet confined himself solely to experiments on the sensibility
of plants, we should have little to criticize. Unfortunately,
however, his scientific tastes led him in another direction. He
belonged to a class of men who cannot permit the most apparent fact to
be taken for granted, when, at the cost of torment, it may be
demonstrated--men like Magendie, who insisted on proving to his
students that an animal could really feel pain by stabbing it with his
knife before commencing his experiment. Brachet's problem was a
simple one. We all know, for instance, that an animal--a dog--may
feel an intense dislike to some particular person. Why? Because of
impressions conveyed to the brain of the animal by the senses of sight
and hearing. Outside an asylum for idiots, it is probable that no one
ever questioned the fact. Brachet, however, would not permit his
readers to accept any statement merely upon the general experience of
mankind, when it might be proven scientifically, and he has described
in his book the experiments by which he claims to have demonstrated
his theory.

"EXPERIMENT 162.--I inspired a dog with the st