40 ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION 



tion of medical students. The object of medical education 

 to-day is to make students practical instead of theoretical ; 

 and if they were excluded from the physiological labora- 

 tories they would become theorists, and have no working 

 or useful knowledge concerning physiological matters. 



Subhead d calls for a general anesthesia where frequently 

 a local anesthesia would be quite enough. 



Subheads requires the death of the animal at the end of 

 an experiment, before coming out of the anesthetized state. 

 This is a wholly unnecessary provision, and one that would 

 frequently make the experiment worthless, since the very 

 point of some experiments is established by the safe and 

 happy recovery of the animal. 



Section 2 is as objectionable in its bearing, and would 

 be as detrimental to medical education along bacterio- 

 logical lines as section I, subhead c, would be along purely 

 physiological lines, and is to be met with the same serious 

 objections. 



Section 3. The objection to this section is that people 

 who have had no technical training, who are generally 

 unacquainted with laboratory methods, who have but little 

 sympathy with the experimental method of education, and 

 who are in avowed antipathy to physiological investigation 

 of any sort, arc not fit people to make inspection of 

 physiological laboratories. 



Quite apart from Bill 856 (the one under discussion), I 

 would earnestly urge the validity of our existing laws 

 'nst cruelty to animals. In my opinion the petitioners 

 would do well to bring their charges of cruelty against an 

 institution or an individual before a court of justice and 

 prove whether or not our present laws are insufficient, 

 before agitating themselves and the community concerning 

 the enactment of new laws. In my experience of a quarter 

 of a century of medical life no such test case has come to 

 my knowledge. 



