J. P. SUTHERLAND 



DEAN, AND PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY, BOSTON 

 UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE 



MY chief objections to Bill 856 (the one under discussion) 

 are: Section I, subhead b excludes from the possibility 

 of obtaining knowledge by vivisection a large class of 

 scientists who are devoting their lives to the study of 

 biology. In the State of Massachusetts there are a large 

 number of men and women who have devoted years to 

 obtaining a degree, Ph.D., and who are devoting 

 their lives to the study and teaching of biology. Some of 

 these teachers are connected with medical schools, and 

 many, or most of them, have to do with the preparation 

 of students for medical schools. In consideration of the 

 fact that biology to-day is a more comprehensive science 

 than medicine, and that biologists are continually adding 

 matter of great importance to the total sum of human 

 knowledge, I claim that this bill, if enacted, would be a 

 great injustice. 



Subhead c if enacted would exclude from physiological 

 laboratories the very people for whom such laboratories 

 exist; viz, medical students and biologists. This would 

 be a very severe blow to medical education. The trend of 

 modern educational methods is away from the theoretical 

 and toward the practical. The didactic lecture course 

 is no longer considered a sufficient form of instruction 

 in any branch of science. Technical schools are multi- 

 plying, and schools for manual training are being estab- 

 lished all over the land. Dispensaries, anatomical and 

 surgical amphitheatres, are considered essential in the educa- 



