78 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 
Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Surgeon-Gen- 
eral of the Navy, the Surgeon-General of the Army and the 
Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, in which it 
was requested that the Academy be asked to express an opinion 
on the probable effect of such restriction on the progress of 
biological science. 
The letter was forwarded by Senator Gallinger to the 
Academy, with a request for suggestions or a report on the sub- 
ject. The Academy took the rather unusual course of reporting 
directly and not by means of a committee. The report consisted 
of a letter signed by Wolcott Gibbs, the President of the Acad- 
emy, in which it was asserted that experiments in animals 
have resulted in “incalculable benefits to the human race.” It 
was admitted that abuses might occasionally arise, but the fact 
was pointed out that no claims were made by those interested in 
obtaining restrictive legislation that abuses existed in the District 
of Columbia to which the pending bill had reference.” Senator 
Gallinger remarked on the floor of the Senate on May 26, 1896, 
regarding this bill: 
“T desire to state that this is the bill known as the vivisection bill, concerning 
which there is a great deal of controversy and a very marked difference of opinion, 
both on the part of physicians and the general public. ... . It is proper I should 
state in this connection so as to correct a misapprehension that is being very 
industriously circulated, that it does not propose to prohibit vivisection, but that it 
proposes to restrict and regulate it according to law, and that is all.” “7 
The third International Zodlogical Congress was held in 
Leiden in 1895 and on that occasion a commission was appointed 
to examine the codes of nomenclature adopted in various con- 
nections, with a view to determining whether the international 
code should be amended to agree with the provisions of any of 
them. The commission was to report at the next succeeding 
congress to be held in London in 1898. The American member 
" This letter, which was dated April 24, 1896, is published in full in the Report of the 
Academy for that year, pages 18 to 20. 
“ Congressional Record, vol. 28, part 6, p. 5709, 54th Congress, rst Session, 1896. The 
caption of the bill was: “For the further prevention of cruelty to animals in the District 
of Columbia.” (See Senate Report 1049, 54th Congress, rst Session, on Senate Bill 1552.) 
Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1896, p. 12. 
