78 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 



Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture, the Surgeon-Gen- 

 eral of the Navy, the Surgeon-General of the Army and the 

 Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service, in which it 

 was requested that the Academy be asked to express an opinion 

 on the probable effect of such restriction on the progress of 

 biological science. 



The letter was forwarded by Senator Gallinger to the 

 Academy, with a request for suggestions or a report on the sub- 

 ject. The Academy took the rather unusual course of reporting 

 directly and not by means of a committee. The report consisted 

 of a letter signed by Wolcott Gibbs, the President of the Acad- 

 emy, in which it was asserted that experiments in animals 

 have resulted in " incalculable benefits to the human race." It 

 was admitted that abuses might occasionally arise, but the fact 

 was pointed out that no claims were made by those interested in 

 obtaining restrictive legislation that abuses existed in the District 

 of Columbia to which the pending bill had reference." Senator 

 Gallinger remarked on the floor of the Senate on May 26, 1896, 

 regarding this bill : 



" I desire to state that this is the bill known as the vivisection bill, concerning 

 which there is a great deal of controversy and a very marked difference of opinion, 



both on the part of phj'sicians and the general public It is proper I should 



state in this connection so as to correct a misapprehension that is being very 

 industriously circulated, that it does not propose to prohibit vivisection, but that it 

 proposes to restrict and regulate it according to law, and that is all." "' 



The third International Zoological Congress was held in 

 Leiden in 1895 ^^^ O" that occasion a commission was appointed 

 to examine the codes of nomenclature adopted in various con- 

 nections, with a view to determining whether the international 

 code should be amended to agree with the provisions of any of 

 them. The commission was to report at the next succeeding 

 congress to be held in London in 1898."'" The American member 



'"This letter, which was dated April 24, 1896, is published in full in the Report of the 

 Academy for that year, pages 18 to 20. 



"Congressional Record, vol. 28, part 6, p. 5709, 54th Congress, ist Session, 1896. The 

 caption of the bill was: "For the further prevention of cruelty to animals in the District 

 of Columbia." (See Senate Report 1049, 54th Congress, 1st Session, on Senate Bill 1552.) 



"Rep. Nat. Acad. Sci. for 1896, p. 12. 



