24 ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION 



at Yale and at Johns Hopkins. At the former the teaching 

 in my day by text-books was absolutely unsatisfactory ; at 

 the latter, experimentally and with vivisections, it was help- 

 ful and most successful. 



But even the liberty to investigate is restricted. No 

 members of the biological department of the Massachu- 

 setts Institute of Technology or of Williams College, for 

 example, could either teach or investigate concerning 

 animals, in the modern scientific way, if this bill passes, 

 for not one of the staff has a medical degree, such as is 

 required in line twelve (House Bill 856). 



Clumsy and insulting restrictions are also set upon the 

 places in which vivisection is to be done, when all that is 

 necessary for any honest visitor is to apply to the presi- 

 dent, or other principal officer of any institution, to learn 

 where these researches are going on. 



As a biologist, the head of a department of biology, 

 and one who has needed to do vivisection in scientific 

 research, in the service of the State Board of Health, and 

 in routine teaching, I protest against the passage of this 

 bill, which would interfere with biological work not only 

 in our universities, colleges, and institutes of technology, 

 but also at the Wood's Hole Marine Biological Laboratory, 

 at the United States Fish Commission, and possibly even 

 with some of the work of our State Fish and Game 

 Commission. 



Sections d and e appear to me to interfere seriously 

 with all bacteriological investigation. 



Finally, in answer to the question why, if we have nothing 

 to conceal, we object to this act, we reply that : 



i. "Regulating" our work means restriction, interfer- 

 ence, registration, inquisition, spying. We might as well 

 have similar " authorized agents " admitted to the operat- 

 ing rooms of our hospitals to see if, in their judgment, 

 etherizing is adequately done. 



