784 
SENATE BILL 1552 . 
which will be useful for saving or prolonging life or alleviating suffering,” it is not likely 
that he will accomplish much by his work. 
3. “The experiment must be performed by a person holding such license from the 
Commissioners of the District of Columbia as in this act mentioned.” The substitute bill 
adds the words “ or by a duly authorized medical officer of the Government of the United 
States or of the District of Columbia.” The provision in each bill is objectionable. The 
first-mentioned bill makes the work of this department dependent upon the action of the 
Commissioners of the District of Columbia and would allow these Commissioners to dic¬ 
tate as to the persons who should be employed in this scientific work. The substitute bill 
allows experiments to be performed by a duly authorized medical officer of the Govern¬ 
ment of the United States without license. This would still exclude a large proportion 
of our men engaged in experimental work, who, while graduates in science, and perfectly 
competent, could not be considered medical officers. It appears from an examination of 
the records that some of our best men in the past would not have been allowed to serve 
under this provision. 
4. The bill provides that “notwithstanding anything in this act contained, no experi¬ 
ment calculated to give pain shall be performed on a dog or cat, except upon such certifi¬ 
cate being given as in this act mentioned, stating, in addition to the statements herein¬ 
before required to be made in such certificate, that for reasons specified in the certificate 
the object of the experiment will be necessarily frustrated unless it is performed on an 
animal similar in constitution and habits to a cat or a dog, and no other animal is avail¬ 
able for such experiment; and an experiment calculated to give pain shall not be per 
formed on any horse, ass, or mule, except on such certificate being given as in this act 
me ntioned ; that the object of the experiment will be necessarily frustrated unless it is 
performed on a horse, ass, or mule, and that no other animal is available for such 
purPose.” 
Section 7 provides “ that any application for a license under this act, and for a certifi¬ 
cate to be given as in this act mentioned, must be signed by three physicians duly licensed 
to practice and actually engaged in practicing medicine in the District of Columbia, and 
also by a professor of physiology, medicine, anatomy, medical jurisprudence, materia 
medica, or surgery in the medical department of any duly established reliable school or 
college in the District of Columbia : Provided , That when any person applying for a 
certificate under this act is himself one of the persons authorized to sign such certificate, 
the signature of some other of such persons shall be substituted for the signature of the 
applicant. 
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“ A copy of any certificate under this section shall be forwarded by the applicant to the 
Commissioners of the District, but shall not be available until one week after a copy has 
been so forwarded. 
“ The Commissioners of the District may at any time disallow or suspend any certifi¬ 
cate given under this section.” 
These provisions prevent the use of five species of animals in experiments, except upon 
special certificate being given. The form of this certificate and the manner in which it is 
to be obtained or given, are indefinite, and it can not be clearly understood from the lan¬ 
guage of the bill what kind of a certificate is intended. The fact that an application for a 
certificate must be signed by three physicians, and by a professor in a medical college, 
makes the work of an Executive Department of the United States Government dependent 
again in this instance not only upon the Commissioners of the District but upon the action 
of individuals in the District of Columbia, who have no connection either with the 
United States Government or the District Government. Such a provision is, I believe, 
unprecedented in legislation affecting the Executive Departments. 
The language quoted makes it plain that a certificate must be given for each experi¬ 
ment, or certainly for each series of experiments made upon any of the animals mentioned. 
As these certificates are not available until one week after a copy has been forwarded to 
the Commissioners of the District, experiments upon these animals are practically prohibi¬ 
ted. As before explained, experiments can not be planned or performed until the material 
to be used in such experiments is obtained, and such material being perishable, a delay of a 
week would lead to its total loss, and thus prevent the experiment being carried out. This 
