326 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. LVI, No. 1447 



by volcanic action or by differential diffusion 

 m the earth or in unorganized matter. The 

 slime of some snails carries as much as three 

 per cent, of free sulphuric acid. Temperature, 

 light, water and COj are potent factors. 



While the actual experimental work is 

 largely the province of biologists, they will 

 gain much both in direction and interpretation 

 by close consultaition with the chemists and 

 physicists. 



Jerome Alexander 

 EiDGEPiELD, Conn. 



SCIENTIFIC EVENTS 

 ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS IN GREAT BRITAINi 



The annual return showing the number and 

 nature of experiments on living animals during 

 the year 1921 gives a list of all "registered 

 places" where such experiments may be per- 

 formed, the names of all persons who hold 

 licenses during 1921, together with the regis- 

 tered place for which the license was in force 

 and the number and nature of experiments per- 

 formed. In the year 1921 twenty new places 

 were registered for the performance of experi- 

 ments and thirteen places were removed from 

 the register. The total number of licensees was 

 812, of whom 219 performed no experiments. 

 The experiments may be divided into two main 

 groups, according to whether or not an anes- 

 thetic was used. It sh«uld be noted that the 

 granting of a license only permits the licensee 

 to perform experiments under an anesthetic, 

 for the law declares "the animal must, during 

 the whole of the experiment, be under the 

 influence of some anesthetic of sufficient power 

 to prevent the animal feeling pain; and the 

 aniimal must, if the pain is likely to continue 

 after the effect of the anesthetic has ceased, or 

 if any serious injury has been inflicted on the 

 animal, be killed before it recovers from the 

 influence of the anesthetic which has been ad- 

 ministered." To perform other experiments or 

 even to observe the subsequent course of experi- 

 ments undertaken with an anesthetic the 

 licensee must be possessed of special certifi- 

 cates. Special certificates are also necessary 

 for experiments on dogs, cats, horses, asses, 

 mules and other large animals. The total num- 

 ber of experiments with anesthetics was 8,165, 

 1 The British Medical Journal. 



and of these 2,053 were simple inoculations into 

 the skin of guinea-pigs, which were anesthe- 

 tized in order to keep the animals motionless 

 during the introduction of a minute quantity 

 of the fluid to be tested for the purpose of 

 standardization. Of the remaining 6,112 ex- 

 periments, comprising all the cases in which 

 any serious operation was involved, 2,751 were 

 performed under the license alone, and were 

 subject therefore to the restrictions above men- 

 tioned. In all operations, with the exception of 

 a few special cases dealing with the efficiency 

 of antiseptics, the law demands that the opera- 

 tion shall be performed antiseptically so that 

 the healing of wounds shall, as far as possible, 

 take place without pain. If the antiseptic pre- 

 cautions fail, and suppuration occurs, the ani- 

 mal must be killed. The following "pain con- 

 dition" is attached to the license under special 

 certificates : "If an animal, after and by reason 

 of the said experiments, is found to be suffer- 

 ing pain which ds either severe or is likely to 

 endure, and if the main result of the experi- 

 ment has been attained, the animal shall forth- 

 with be painlessly killed. If an animal, after 

 and by reason of the said experiments, is found 

 to be suffering severe pain which is likely to 

 endure, such animal shall forthwith be pain- 

 lessly killed, whether the main result of the 

 experiment has been attained or not. If any 

 animal appears to an inspector to be suffering 

 consideralble pain, and if the inspector directs 

 such animal to be destroyed, it shall forthwith 

 be painlessly killed." The total number of ex- 

 periments without anesthetics was 67,097. 

 These were mostly simple inoculations and 

 hypodermic injections, but included also some 

 feeding experiments and administration of 

 various substances by the mouth or by inhala- 

 tion or by external application, and the ab- 

 straction of blood by puncture or simple vene- 

 section. In no instance was a certificate dis- 

 pensing with the use of anesthetics allowed for 

 an experiment involving a serious operation. 

 The total number of experiments was 75,262, 

 being 4,895 more than in 1920. The objects for 

 which these experiments were performed were 

 very diverse. A large number, almost wholly 

 simple inoculations, were performed either on 

 behalf of official bodies, with a view to the 

 presei-vation of the public health or directly for 



