HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 109 
And many of the most distinguished scientists assist in the work of 
the Universities Federation. 
Major Hume was also a founder and member of the Society for 
Freedom and Science and has all his life been a scientist, a physicist, 
and devoted his efforts for the past 25 years to animal welfare. _ Last 
year he received the Order of the British Empire for his services to 
animal welfare. 
Mr. Roberts. Thank you very much. 
Major, it is a pleasure to have you. And we appreciate the effort 
you have made to be our guest, our witness. And we will certainly 
be delighted to hear from you. 
STATEMENT 0E MAJ. C. W. HUME, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE 
UNIVERSITIES FEDERATION FOR ANIMAL WELFARE 
Mr. Hume. Mr. Chairman, I am very grateful to you for permitting 
me to tell you something about British experience in preventing irre- 
sponsible treatment of animals used for scientific research, an experi- 
ence which has extended over 86 years. 
Our system has been attacked in the United States by two opposite 
groups of extremists. At one extreme the antivivisectionists claim 
that it is ineffective and is merely a screen for unlimited cruelty in the 
laboratory. At the other extreme, the National Society for Medical 
Research claims that our system seriously hampers research in 
Britain. 
Although these views cancel one another out, Mr. Rohweder, on 
one side, recently exchanged letters with Mr. Clarence Richard, on 
the other, whereby the two parties agreed to collaborate in opposing 
reform. My task is to show, where the truth lies between these two 
extremes; but in passing I must notice a third line of resistance to 
which some of the less fanatical opponents of reform have retreated. 
These allege that although the British can work a system like this, 
the Americans are incapable of doing so. Those who administer it. 
do indeed have to be men of exceptionally high intellectual and moral 
caliber, capable of understanding the purposes and requirements of 
scientific research, humane, incorruptible, endowed with tact, firmness, 
moral integrity, and commonsense. We are asked to believe that while 
such men can be found in Great Britain, they cannot be found among 
the 150 million citizens of a nation which, on the technical side, has 
sent a satellite to Venus, and on the moral side is leading the defense of 
the free world against the threat of intellectual and spiritual enslave- 
ment. The task set by the Clark and Griffiths bills is indeed a for- 
midable one, but to say that the United States is unequal to it is as 
preposterous as it is insulting. 
Before giving my evidence I must state my own modest credentials, 
such as they are. Throughout my life I have been in close touch with 
research and invention. I was at one time an honorable Secretary of 
the British Science Guild, which had been founded by Sir Norman 
Lockyer and Sir Richard Gregory, founders of the scientific journal 
Nature, for the purpose of promoting the application of scientific 
knowledge and results to public affairs. 
While I was Secretary of the British Science Guild I decided, with 
Sir Richard Gregory’s encouragement, to apply its principles to the 
