VIVISECTION IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK. i 79 



1. The object of an experiment may be the advancement of knowl- 

 edge by research, or its diffusion by teaching. 



2. In respect to the infliction of pain and death, experiments are of 

 four kinds : (1.) The animal has been recently killed ; (2.) The animal 

 is rendered insensible by anaesthetics and killed before revival ; (3.) 

 Anaesthetics are used during the experiment, but the animal revives 

 and endures the healing of wounds ; (4.) Without 'anaesthetics, the 

 animal is subjected to cutting operations, or to the effects of poisons 

 or of insufficient food. 



3. All experiments at Cornell University belong to the first two 

 groups. Of all the experiments performed during the past year in the 

 State of New York, whether for research or instruction, probably less 

 than one tenth would come under the fourth class, and not more than 

 one tenth under the third. In view of what is learned from these ex- 

 periments, the total amount of pain and death inflicted is insignificant. 



4. It is desirable to make a verbal distinction between painful and 

 painless experiments, and to adopt a single term in place of the phrase 

 experimentation upon animals.* 



5. Over and above the utilitarian argument drawn from its sub- 

 serviency to medical science, physiology should be pursued and illus- 

 trated experimentally like chemistry or physics, because it is a most 

 interesting and suggestive branch of knowledge. 



6. In the State of New York are very few men whose natural and 

 acquired powers of body and mind qualify them to determine when 

 painful experiments are required, to perform them successfully, and to 

 wisely interpret the results. Such men, deserving alike of the highest 

 honor and the deepest pity, should exercise their solemn office not only 

 unrestrained by law, but upheld by public sentiment. 



7. All teachers of physiology, from primary schools to universities, 

 should illustrate their instruction by experiments upon animals, chiefly 

 if not wholly painless. 



8. All experiments should indirectly inculcate humanity to animals. 

 The victims should be treated with respect on account of what is 

 learned from them, and with gentleness because " cruelty to animals is 

 the beginning of cruelty to man." Even the administration of anaes- 

 thetics should cause the least possible discomfort. 



9. The abolition of vivisection in the State of New York is de- 

 manded by a single individual, who has not as yet displayed the neces- 

 sary qualifications for dealing with so large a problem. The laws 

 proposed by him are vaguely framed, and inconsistent with his own 

 utterances upon the subject. 



10. A single physician has advocated legal restriction of painful 



* Such a term is zoopery, from the Greek oov, an animal, and irelpaca, I experiment. 

 By inflection we get zobperal, relating to experimentation on animals, and zobperist, one who 

 performs such experiments. In this connection, it is to be noted that many experiments 

 are upon dead animals, and some involve no cutting at all. 



