Am'  Septr"  iP9hia9rm'  )    Standardization  of  Medicinal  Products.  591 
dose  is  used,  until  death,  the  animal  being  killed  at  the  end  of  the 
experiment  by  a  lethal  dose  of  digitalis. 
There  are  certain  historical  cases  where  animal  experimentation 
did  not  precede  human  use,  as  for  example,  Sir  Robert  Christianson, 
who  almost  died  from  eating  Calabar  bean  from  which  physostigmine 
comes ;  Koeppe,  who  tried  the  effects  of  digitoxin  on  himself  with 
like  result.  Chloroform  and  prussic  acid  were  also  investigated 
with  equally  unpleasant  results.  In  some  cases  deaths  have  occurred, 
particularly  in  cases  of  infectious  diseases. 
Animal  experiments  were  used  to  explain  caisson  disease  and 
suggest  means  for  its  prevention  and  remedy,  animals  being  sub- 
jected to  air  pressure  and  the  pressure  applied  and  released  under 
varying  conditions.  Such  experiments  have  also  made  possible  the 
surgical  operations  which  have  done  so  much  to  relieve  pain  and 
prolong  life,  the  human  being  having  the  benefit  of  experience  and 
skill  gained  by  operations  on  animals. 
While  physiological  experimentation  and  the  standardization  of 
drugs  requires  the  use  of  all  the  animals  mentioned,  the  dog  is  more 
widely  used  and  is  almost  beyond  replacement.  Everyone,  almost 
without  exception,  regards  the  dog  as  a  highly  intelligent  animal,  a 
fit  companion  for  man,  There  are  few  dogs  used  in  research  lab- 
oratories that  would  have  the  appeal  of  Mark  Twain's  "  Tale  of  a 
Dog"  or  that  would  be  welcomed  by  any  but  the  small  boy.  The 
class  of  dogs  used  in  experiments,  picked  up  by  the  dog-catcher 
and  not  redeemed,  is  almost  without  exception  friendless.  Even 
the  antivivisectionist  would  at  most  feel  only  pity  for  it  and  with 
proper  recognition  of  the  use  to  which  it  is  put  would  probably 
realize  that  in  a  remarkably  few  cases  is  any  cruelty  involved  in 
using  it  as  a  test  animal. 
Most  people  will  agree  with  Darwin  in  saying  that  "cruelty  to 
the  lower  animals  is  worthy  of  detestation  and  contempt."  But 
what  is  cruelty?  The  transportation  and  preparation  of  animals  for 
food,  the  method  of  slaughter,  hunting,  fishing,  trapping,  are  often 
cruel  to  an  extreme.  But  they  are  not  condemned.  More  actual 
cruelty  is  probably  practiced  in  this  way  in  a  season  than  occurs  in 
all  the  research  laboratories  in  the  world,  in  a  year.  Can  vivisec- 
tion be  condemned  and  sport  exonerated? 
The  advancement  of  knowledge,  the  mitigation  of  misery  and 
the  prevention  of  disease  are  surely  infinitely  higher  and  nobler 
