HAROLD C. ERNST 143 



porting with perfect callousness fashions that are lead- 

 ing to the wholesale destruction of some of the most 

 beautiful species of birds, and are in some cases de- 

 pendent upon acts of very aggravated cruelty." 



It has been interesting to follow the variations in the 

 attitude of the petitioners, from the opening of counsel 

 through the conduct of the case. 



Almost the first statement of counsel was that the pe- 

 titioners must show that there is abuse of the practice of 

 vivisection, and yet witness after witness came forward and 

 testified that he knew of no abuse existing in this Common- 

 wealth. 



Later, counsel stated that there was plenty of evidence 

 of abuse, but that those who were dependent for their live- 

 lihood upon men like Dr. Bowditch and Dr. Ernst were 

 afraid to come forward and testify. 



We, in common with all other teachers, resent such a 

 statement, and demand why, if it be true, the President 

 and Fellows of Harvard College are not instantly notified 

 of our intimidating methods and told that we must be re- 

 moved from our places, as is easily possible for any such 

 cause. I have had some conversation on this question 

 with members of the second class at the Harvard Medical 

 School, and they laugh at the statement that we could be 

 so unjust. I assure you, Gentlemen of the Committee, 

 that you have run some risk of an irruption of that class 

 in this room that might have made it necessary to continue 

 taking testimony for weeks to come. 



Dr. Bigelow in his address, so often quoted, denounced 

 vivisection in unmeasured terms, but in the paper quoted 

 by Dr. Bowditch it is made clear that he, like ourselves, 

 denounced brutality and cruelty, but he distinctly states 

 (Anaesthesia: Addresses and Other Papers;" Boston, 

 Little, Brown, and Company, 1900, page 371): 



