226 HUMANE TREATMENT OF ANIMALS USED IN RESEARCH 
we do not know of any practical method of irradiating these dogs and burning 
them at the same time in the laboratory, which is the goal we would like to 
achieve.” 
There is even a “Standardized Back Burn Procedure,” developed by a re- 
searcher at the University of Pennsylvania 13 for immersing rats (illustration 
C) in water only a few degrees below the boiling point. 
Such blistering agents as lewisite (poison gas) have been applied to the skin 
of rabbits (illustration D) tied to animal boards. The researcher reports that 
“damage from relatively large doses * * * may penetrate deeply into the 
muscles and even to and into the viscera beneath. Healing takes 5 to 7 weeks.” 
Thousands of rabbits have been used, according to reports of experiments per- 
taining to chemical warfare medicine. 11 Although animals have been subjected 
to the agonizing effects of inhaling lewisite (poison gas) vapor, the researcher 
states in the report on chemical warfare medicine that “It is unlikely that it 
would be an important hazard under field conditions” since even a low concen- 
tration of poison gas is highly irritating and men would have an opportunity to 
put on masks affording complete protection against the gas. 
We come now to some of the methods by which animals are tormented by an 
amazing variety of “noxious stimuli” or to put it plainly, stimuli that hurts. 
At Cornell University, 15 researchers destroyed the sight, hearing, and sense of 
smell in cats and then for a period of 10 years applied such stimuli as (a) elec- 
tric shocks delivered via a metal grid covering the floor, (ft) blows to the face 
with a plastic fly swatter, and (c) pinching of the tip of the tail. 
At the University of Oregon 16 noxious stimulation was applied to cats by 
means of a “noxious level of heat in wires on the floor * * * and (ft) pin 
prick.” The responsiveness of some of the animals to the pricking of their paws 
would cause them “to leap into the air and frequently hit the top of the test 
apparatus. If they landed on the pins, they would jerk their paws aside vigor- 
ously every contact, sometimes even trying to balance on the forepaws with 
the hindpaws up in the air.” 
Since 1928 researchers at Johns Hopkins University 17 have been inducing rage, 
fear, and other manifestations of distress in cats. In a typical study, the re- 
searchers report : “We pinched their tails, their feet, and their ears. We picked 
them up by the loose skin of their backs and shook them. We spanked them 
and determined their responses to restraint.” Postoperatively, “quite intense 
and prolonged nociceptive stimuli were applied * * *. Such procedures as tying 
her in the dorsal decubitus on an animal board, picking her up by the loose skin 
of the back and vigorously shaking her, spanking her or pinching her tail as 
hard as possible between thumb and forefinger elicited only a few plaintive 
meows. When her tail was grasped between the jaws of a large surgical clamp 
and compressed sufficiently to produce a bruise she cried loudly and attempted 
to escape * * *. During the 139 days of survival she was subjected, every 2 or 
3 days, to a variety of noxious stimuli * * *. On one occasion her tail, shaved 
and moistened, was stimulated tetanically through electrodes connected with 
the secondary of a Harvard inductorium the primary circuit of which was 
activated by 4.5 volts. When the secondary coil was at 13, she mewed ; at 11 
there was loud crying * * * at the end of the 5-second stimulation with the 
secondary at 5 she screamed loudly and spat twice. The last of these stimula- 
tions produced a third-degree electrical burn of the tail.” 
Methods of inducing conditioned reflexes in animals are reported extensively 
in medical journals. Electrical shocks are by far the most popular method but 
burning irons, sharply pointed objects and other implements designed to cause 
pain and fear also are used. At the Jackson Memorial Laboratory, 18 25 new- 
born puppies were tested for conditioned avoidance responses to electric shock 
applied to the forelegs, using sound, light, odor, and contact as stimuli. “Cloth 
strips soaked in salt solution were tied around each forelimb and attached to 
leads from an induction coil” to produce shocks. When electric shock was ap- 
plied to rats at Cornell University, 10 some rats “showed extreme fear of the 
experimenter after biting him. Some would not enter the adaptation apparatus 
and, if forced in, would refuse to eat, and do nothing but scramble up the 
walls.” 
13 Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine, 302 : 1027-1033, 1945. 
14 Fasciculus on Chemical Warfare Medicine, 1945. 
15 Archives of Neurology, 1 : 203-215, 1959. 
18 Journal of Neurophysiology, 21 : 353-367, 1958. 
17 Proceedings of the Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases, 27 : 
32-399, 1948. 
13 American Journal of Physiology, 160 : 3, March 1960, pp. 462-466. 
49 Annals of New York Academy of Sciences, vol. 62, art. 12, pp. 277-294. 
