PKEFACE 



present the public is so poorly informed, that much 

 of its supposed knowledge concerning health and dis- 

 ease represents the traditions which one misinformed 

 person transmits to another, or is absorbed out of the 

 ubiquitous literature of charlatanism. When there is 

 a wider understanding of these things, and of the 

 means by which medical knowledge is secured, there 

 will be a more practical interest in public health and 

 personal hygiene, charlatanry will be less profitable, 

 and the strange cults, recruited from the groping, will 

 be fewer. 



This book is intended to give some information 

 upon one of these branches of scientific work : namely, 

 animal experimentation. It is based upon addresses 

 on this subject given by the author before the New 

 York Academy of Medicine, the Medical Society of 

 the County of Kings, and the Brooklyn Institute of 

 Arts and Sciences. These have been amplified and 

 made into a little book, with the hope that it may 

 be of service in correcting some misconceptions, and 

 that it may elucidate in a measure one of the most 

 important and fruitful fields of scientific effort. 



In referring to certain experiments, the names of 

 a few investigators are given. No attempt is made 

 to mention all of the workers in any specific field. 

 Names are given to serve as tangible links to connect 

 the subject under investigation with the published 

 reports. They must be regarded simply as illustrative, 

 for in many instances the original authority is not 

 given, but some later investigator is cited as serving 

 better for illustrative purposes. 



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