The use of prussic acid in the cure of consumptions, lately suggested by M. Magendie, at Paris, is little more than the revival of the Dutch practice in this disorder; for Linnaeus informs us, that distilled laurel water was frequently used in the cure of pulmonary consumption.

Magendie may have gone too far, certainly, in dissecting a live dogbut what harm in my pulling the mane of a dead lion?'

Although Magendie is rightly considered the true initiator of experimentation upon living beings, the practice of vivisection is as old as science itself.

MAGENDIE, FRANÇOIS, a celebrated French physiologist, born at Bordeaux; was the author of several works on physiology, made important discoveries in connection with the animal system, and was an unscrupulous vivisectionist (1783-1855).