as the rod is lowered towards the ground.

For electrical purposes it is necessary to catch the birds alive. Those
required for food are also caught in the same way, that they may be
killed without pain, as, indeed, are all birds and animals used for
food. Birds supply an electricity for lightening ponderous bodies; and
by means of this, the immense blocks of iron-marble used for the
construction of the Mountain Supporter were temporarily lightened, that
they might be raised to their assigned places.

XII.

THE PAIN-LULLER.

VIVISECTION.

"Cause not pain, lest you yourselves be afflicted."

From a small pet-bird of pink and green plumage, called in our language
the Nebo, is extracted an electricity known as the "Pain-luller."

The preparations previously used, though very serviceable, did not
fulfil all requisites, and they so seriously suspended the vital action,
that the patient often died in consequence. By means of the
"pain-luller" vivisection and the most difficult surgical operations can
be performed safely and painlessly, without any part of the system being
affected by the action of the "pain-luller," with the exception of the
nerves of sensation. We knew that the feeling of pain in animals depends
on the action of a particular set of nerves. When this pain-lulling
electricity is introduced into body, it is attracted to the nerves of
sensation, and the sense of feeling remains suspended during several
hours, whilst the other nerves and muscles--as, indeed, all the rest of
the organization--continue to perform their functions as in their normal
state.

VIVISECTION.

In vivisection the animal's eyes are bandaged, so that he does not even
know what is going on, but is free from pain, whilst all the springs of
action, with the one exception, remain in their normal state. This would
not be the case if the animal suffered from acute pain and terror during
the operation. The continued energy of the functions is thought
essential to the complete success of the operation, whether on the human
frame or in vivisection.

HOW DISCOVERED.

The efficacy of the "pain-luller" was discovered by an accident. A
little girl carrying a pet Nebo was knocked down, and the wheel of a
chariot passed over her legs. In a convulsive effort to save her pet,
the child pressed it to her bosom with so much force that she broke, the
bird's skin. When the people ran to her assistance, and lifted her up,
they foun