26 The American Naturalist. 
EDITORIALS. 
EDITORS, E. D. COPE, AND J. 8. KINGSLEY. 
—Ar the October meeting of the American Humane Association, — 
held in Philadelphia, a resolution was passed of a very dangerous — 
nature. It urged upon the Legislature of every State in the Union — 
the enactment of laws which shall prohibit, under severe penalty, the a 
repetition of painful experiments upon animals for the purpose fa 
teaching or demonstrating well-known and accepted facts. The danger 
lies not in the intent, but in the fact that incompetent persons will feel — 
it their duty to say that this experiment is painful, that another is 4 
unnecessary ; and further, it strikes a deadly blow at all future increase — 
of knowledge. An investigator in physiology can only be trained 
by the laboratory method. He cannot read the accounts of previous = 
work and, with no further preparation, proceed at once to the solution 
of new problems. He must, rather, test his powers of experimenta- 
tion by this very repetition which the proposed law prohibits. He — 
must demonstrate for himself “well-known and accepted facts,” and 
until he is able to bring his results into full accord with those facts 
he is incompetent to enter untrodden fields where he is without checks — 
upon the accuracy of his results. 
That the proposed legislation is not so vicious as some, which, for- — 
tunately, has been rare in the United States, is a matter for which We — 
should be thankful; but, on the other hand, it would place a danger 
ous tool in the hands of such fanatics and unqualified persons as com- — 
monly occupy important positions in connection with the societies for 
the prevention of cruelty to animals. The writer has a somewhat — 
extensive acquaintance with the physiological investigators of both 
Europe and America, and he knows them to be as a class humane per- 
sons unwilling to inflict unnecessary suffering upon any animal, and 
at the same time fully as competent to judge of the necessity of any 
experiment as the persons whom the proposed legislation would put m 
the position of prosecutors and judges. 
— LIEUTENANT PEARY has obtained leave of absence from the Sec- 
retary of the Navy for the purpose of further prosecution of Arcti¢ 
explorations. He proposes to establish himself at a point on the 
northern coast of Greenland already visited by him as a base for — 
4 
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