HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 31 
An animal is regarded as living so long as it is breathing and its heart 
is beating and any part of its cerebrum and basal ganglia is intact. If the 
function of these is destroyed, even though circulation and respiration 
continue, it is regarded as dead. Experiments on pithed frogs, or on cats 
in which the cerebral hemispheres and basal ganglia are destroyed, are 
outside the Act. 
A vertebrate animal, strictly speaking, should include all members 
of the sub-phylum Vertebrata, at any stage in their life cycle. However, 
practical difficulties arise in the case of larval, embryonic and foetal forms. 
In the absence of legal definition, one may be guided by a convention 
which excludes from the provisions of the Act larval forms of fishes and 
amphibia (tadpoles before metamorphosis) ; avian and reptilian embryos 
before hatching ; and mammalian foetuses which never achieve indepen- 
dent life ex utero, provided that the mother is counted as an experiment 
under the Act. In ambiguous cases the Chief Inspector at the Home 
Office should be consulted. 
3. REGISTRATION OF PREMISES 
The places where experiments under the Act are to be carried out are 
normally registered by the Home Secretary. There is no application form 
for this ; the person or body having authority over the premises — for 
example, the vice-chancellor of a university, a senior officer in a govern- 
ment department or research council, the chairman or secretary of a 
board of governors, management committee or firm, etc.— should write 
to the Under-Secretary of State, Home Office, Whitehall, London, S.W.l, 
requesting that the place be registered under the Cruelty to Animals Act, 
1876. To make this request before the place is ready for use is premature, 
but if, during the planning or construction, advice is needed an informal 
approach may be made to the Chief Inspector about the likely require- 
ments of the Home Office. These have been summarized in a memor- 
andum entitled Experiments on Living Animals — Registration of 
Premises, which is obtainable from the Home Office. 
4. LICENCE AND CERTIFICATES 
A licence is needed to carry out experiments under the Act and, for 
certain procedures, certificates in addition. 
When the licence is used by itself, every experiment so made is subject 
to certain restrictions, among which are the following : — 
(i) The animal must be under the influence of an anaesthetic 
throughout the experiment. The Act does not define or qualify 
the term anaesthetic beyond that it should be of sufficient power 
to prevent the animal from feeling pain. A local anaesthetic in 
appropriate cases can satisfy this requirement. 
(ii) The animal must be killed at the end of the experiment while still 
under the anaesthetic. Section 3, restriction (4), of the Act 
states that the animal must, if the pain is likely to continue 
after the effect of the anaesthetic has ceased, or if any serious 
injury has been inflicted on the animal, be killed before it 
recovers from the influence of the anaesthetic which has been 
administered. In practice recovery is rarely permissible in 
experiments under licence alone. 
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