HENRY P. BOWDITCH 79 



place by the authority of the governing boards of the insti- 

 tutions in which vivisection takes place. These boards 

 would be quick to correct any abuse of this practice which 

 might be brought to their attention. 



In the third place the practice is controlled by the 

 regulations of the laboratories in which the work is done. 

 Thus in the physiological laboratory of the Harvard Medi- 

 cal School the following rules are in force : 



" i . No experiments on animals shall be made except 

 under the authority of the Director of the Laboratory. 



" 2. No operations likely to cause suffering greater 

 than that connected with etherization shall be made 

 in this Laboratory, unless the animal experimented 

 upon is rendered incapable of perceiving pain by 

 drugs or by other painless methods of producing 

 anesthesia. 



" Exceptions to this rule will be made by the Di- 

 rector only in those investigations in which the giv- 

 ing of the anesthetic would interfere with the object 

 of the experiment. In such cases any preliminary 

 operation likely to cause suffering must be made under 

 anesthesia, and the anesthetic discontinued only so 

 long as may be absolutely essential to permit the 

 necessary observations. 



" 3. At the conclusion of the experiment, the animal 

 shall be killed in as painless a manner as possible, ex- 

 cept in those cases in which the preservation of the 

 animal's life is unattended by suffering or in which 

 it is necessary to preserve life in order to determine 

 the result of the experiment." 



Vivisection is therefore already controlled by those who 

 best understand the matter, i. e. t by those who best know 

 the amount of pain inflicted and the necessity for its 

 infliction. 



