SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
947 
town or towhship board of health should have at least one veterinarian 
on their staff, whose duty it shall be to have charge of contagious 
diseases of animals and the inspection of meat and milk.” 
Signed 
In the discussion following - the reading - of the report special 
interest centred upon the recommendation made regarding ex¬ 
perimental work upon criminals. 
. Dr * Pearson spoke of the personal responsibility of physi¬ 
cians who experiment upon human beings and, asked if a 
physician who by injecting bovine tubercle bacilli into a human 
body and thus causing disease and death be adjudged guilty, 
what can be. said of editors of agricultural papers who have been 
recommending owners to keep tuberculous cows and use or sell 
the products from such animals. He believed that public opin¬ 
ion was against experimenting on human beings, that it 
would prejudice the public against medical men and shake pub¬ 
lic confidence in them and would be morally wrong. Experi¬ 
ments should be limited to animals. ' & 
Dr. Laddey, speaking for the recommendation of the com¬ 
mittee, argued that in cases of experiment, as suggested by 
the committee, the law would place the responsibility upon the 
State and a physician would be acting for the State and hence 
not personally responsible for results of any experiment. 
Dr. Treadwell argued that such a law could not prevail in 
this country, where all men are born free and equal. 
Dr. Rogers stated that there was danger of a misconception 
of the.fundamental principles of law ; that we should remember 
the objects for which criminals were punished, among these being 
the protection of society and the reformation of the criminal. 
Dr. Kitchen argued that the air which we breathe is laden 
with germs, and that they are not to be so greatly feared as some 
might believe ; that autopsies reveal the fact that tuberculosis 
exists 01 has existed at some period of life in a large percentage 
of the human family and that it might not be such a serious 
matter for a person in good health and with great resistive 
power to subject himself to experiments, and that the State 
might better pay volunteers than experiment with criminals. 
Dr. Hoskins gave warning that such a measure as had been 
suggested would meet with much adverse criticism in this coun¬ 
try, where many persons were even opposed to experimental work 
upon animals; that any such a radical movement in the profes¬ 
sion would be freighted with great danger. 
