HAROLD C. ERNST 173 



that that antitoxin was negligently prepared or carelessly 

 used. 



The antitoxin is necessarily a very unstable material, 

 being made up largely of blood-serum, an albuminous sub- 

 stance that is easily subject to putrescent changes, and 

 unless properly taken care of may become dangerous. It 

 has happened to me personally, when I had charge of its 

 production for the City of Boston, to prevent the use of the 

 substance when it had already become decomposed, the 

 proposition to use it coming from a physician who would 

 resent any reflection that she was and is not as competent 

 to judge of the application of new remedies as the most 

 expert. 



Before leaving this part of the subject, it may be well 

 to give in concise form to the committee the list of diseases 

 due to the bacteria in which it may be necessary to employ 

 experiment upon animals for purposes of diagnosis, in 

 each case the procedure being necessary for the proper 

 diagnosis and treatment of the disease. As they are 

 mentioned in the text-book which I use for my students 

 they are : the pyogenic bacteria (those which produce 

 abscesses and the varying forms of suppuration), the 

 tubercle bacillus (the cause of consumption), the glanders 

 bacillus, the fungus of actinomycosis, the anthrax bacillus 

 (in man the disease is called malignant pustule), diphtheria, 

 tetanus (lock-jaw), malignant edema, cholera, influenza, 

 plague. 



The necessity for the use of animal experimentation in 

 any one of these may and does arise in hospital labora- 

 tories, and in private practice, wherever the best methods 

 of diagnosis are appreciated and applied. 



The petitioners assert that nothing new has been brought 

 forward by the remonstrants. Nothing new can be brought 

 forward until something new is offered by the petitioners. 

 Nevertheless the remonstrants do not feel that these hear- 



