Biology and Medicine 473 



pital of the New York State Institute for the Study of Malig- 

 nant Disease. 



Cancer-like growths are of frequent occurrence in animals 

 other than man. Rats and mice are especially prone to have 

 them, but they are also known in dogs, cats, horses, mules, 

 asses, cattle, hogs and in a host of wild mammals. Among 

 birds they occur commonly in chickens and have been re- 

 ported in others, both wild and domestic. They have been 

 noted in various reptiles and amphibians, while artificially 

 reared fish are especially susceptible. 



Great as is our ignorance regarding many of the scourges 

 of mankind, the advances in our knowledge in the last fifty 

 years have been phenomenal, and the promise of the future 

 was never so bright. 



By what means have these revolutionary advances in our 

 knowledge of disease been made possible? Chiefly by experi- 

 ments on animals. Bacteriology has developed methods pe- 

 culiar to itself and the development of these methods has 

 been possible only through animal experimentation. When 

 the bacteriologist announces the discovery of a ''germ," as 

 causing some disease, it is only after putting his new find 

 through a long series of experiments, which demonstrate con- 

 clusively its relation to tile disease in question. First, it 

 must be found consistently in the bodies of patients afflicted 

 with the disease. Second, it must be isolated from such pa- 

 tients and a "pure culture" in some culture medium (gela- 

 tine, broth, etc.) obtained. Third, it must be possible to in- 

 fect some animal with this culture, and thereby produce the 

 disease in it. Fourth, the same germs must be found in the 

 infected animal. Fifth, from this animal a pure culture 

 must be obtained with which the disease can be reproduced 

 in another animal, and this cycle must be repeated with suffi- 

 cient frequency to prove that the relation between the germ 

 and the disease is a necessary, and not merely accidental 

 one. Sixth, no other germ tested in the same way must give 

 similar results. 



Without experiments on animals most of these results would 

 have been impossible, and yet there are today many seem- 

 ingly rational people, who would restrict the use of animals 

 for the saving of human life, and alleviation of human mis- 

 ery, under the specious plea of preventing suffering to 

 animals ! 



In whose hands is the administration of this new knowl- 

 edge? Who are responsible for safeguarding the nation's 

 health? Many are the agencies involved in this great work 

 and many the objects of their care. International, national, 

 state and local in scope; public and private in support; 



