The evening times., 1896-04-20
FULL SCOPE OF MEASURE
Mcmillan Henderson Bill to Regu-
late Vivisection as Mod.6,d.
The More Painful Pha SEES of the Work
Must BE Carried on With
Anaesthetics.

Editor Times: I know The Times would
not Intentionally IDisiead its readers as 10
the character OF the bill to regulate vivi
SECTION now pending in Congress, and, there
fore, that the editorial i'll Saturdays Times
is due simply to the fact that you did not
have copy of the bill before you. | there
fore inClose Il copy OF the McMlllan-licnder'
son bill, as modified TO meet tue objections
raised by the vIvisecturs. and as IL is now
being pressed before Congress.
1t Is SO moderate ana reasonable that no
fair-nindcd and disntercstcd person can
object to IT, and am conTidenJ that The
Times, which has been the champion OF so
many reforms, Will, upon consideration or
its provisions, give II the bcncIit or Its sup
port. Meanwhile | ass you as matter OF
Justice To allow me briefly to set the bill
right i'll the minds of your readers through
TINS communication, whicn l am sure you
will be good enough 10 puDllsn.
First, tue bill does not prohibit or virtu-
ally prohibit yivisecJiOn III the District,
except IN the public schools. Ii was not
stated at the senate hearing on frldty
that ii was now practiccd In the pubhc
schools, but ~ is known that II Is prdc-
ticed in public schools elsewhere, and IL
is desirable 10 prevent that practice from
ever being introduced here, II III is not
already here. But all the vlvlseCtlon which
the opponents OF the bill Will ADMIT TO
be now carried on in the plstrlct OF 20
umbia VIII go right on without the slight
est restriction il me hill becomes Jaw,
for all the sO-Called inofisnsive classes OF
yvisection are expressly exempted from me
requirement of the USE OF an3esthctic>,
and, according to the opponents OF the
bill, no other classes OF Vlviseclloh are
carried on here.
The language of the bill Is: The animal
must. during the whole OF the experiment,
he completely under the influence of ether
or ChlOrOfOrm sufficiently TO prevent the
animal from feeling pain. excepting only
that in so-Called inOC Cuidtipn experiments or
tests of drugs or medicines. the animal
need not be anaesthctized nor killed after
ward. nor In tests OF surgical procedure
need animals be kept completely Jnaesthet-
lied during tine process or recovery from
the surgical opera ton. Otherwise than this
the animal must be kept from pain during
all experiments.
The '.s0-caI:pI inoculation experiments
are those OF which the opponents OF the bili
make their boast, covering as they 90 al
such work as is involved IN the production
or .'anti-toXIn." for example. They claim
that they are not severely painful,
and are very useful. Most of what they
claim for yivi>ectiOn Is "a Sed on such eX-
IreriInents for they do rot Ike To tell
The public about the torture experiments.
They claim that there is Practically 10
other VIviseCtiOn than tins dHd the nth"r
comparatively harmless kinds carried on
in Washing gtOn.
Taking them at their word, we concede
that this kind OF experimentation can 20
right on without anaCsthettcs, while we
ask III the bill that more patnfGl ViviSec-
ton shall hc carried on only under the use
OF anaesthetiCs No form of yiyisec-
tion Is to he prohibited TO medical men or
scientists, bJt they must use anaesthetiCs
for torture experiments. Surely there can
he no reasonable objection to this, even on
the part Of viviseCtorS-
Second. The other important feature
of the bill is section 6, which reads that
the President pftne United States sha II cause
a II places where experiments on living YER
tebrdte animals are carried on III the Dis
trict OF Columbia, TO be from time 10 time
VISITED and inspected, without previous no.
tice. for the purpose Of securing compliance
with the provisions of this act. and 10 that
end shall appoint four inspectors, who shall
serve without compensation, and who stall
have authority TO visit and inspect the
places aforesaid, and who shall report
to The President OF the United States,
from time TO time, the results OF their OBJ
servations therein, which shall he made
public by him.
This is made necessary by the fact that
there Is no other way or aSceruliring what
is actually being done in the expe rimental
laboratories except by the visitation of
inspectors at unexpected times. If, as
the vlyiscctCrS say. all their work is hu-
name. they ought To welcome such in
spection. and If it is not they need il
badly. They objected TO the original
provision in the bill because IL REQUIRED the
Commissioners TO appoint the inspectors.
while NEST of the yiviSeCtors here are
government Officers. but they cannot Oh
ject to supervision hy the repre- seutativeS
OF their chief superior, unless they really
mean TO say that they consider themselves
above all Law and authority. which would
be too un-American for official servants
of the people to admit.
THIRD. The other provisions of the bill
are simply TO prevent private individuals
from practicing vivisectiou without a
license from the Commissioners of the
District of Columbia. TO be obtained on GER
tficate from medical men that they are
suitable persons for such work. and also
to prevent exhibitions TO the general public
of vivisectOn.
This Is all there Is to the bill, which ought
to have the support OF every humane per
son. The very fact that the viviSeCtors
are opposing so moderate and reasonable
a measure confirms the suspicion that they
are doing in Washington the terrible
things yivisectors are doing elsewhere in
the United states and publishing in medical
journals and books. Finally. if the Wash
ington Humane Society could reach this
matter under existing law it would not b..
appealing to Congress for this legislation
But 1t is because viviSeciion is held to he
outside the human laws that this bill is
being pressed ny those who believe that
no man, however humane he is, is fit 10
be trusted with absolute, unregulated and
unsuperyiSe1 power over sentient creatures
HENRY b. F. MCFARLAND
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