The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-03
Human NiNisectiOn.

A bill prohibiting human vivisection was
recently introduced in the Senate, and has
! been referred to the Committee on the
District of Columbia. By the terms of
( the bill, experiments on human beings
who cannot protect themselves are abso-
| lutely prohibited, while ii does not affect
operations deemed necessary for the bene-
| fit of the patient. by reputable physicians
and surgeons. 1t is intended simply for
| the prevention of such shocking incidents
as those reported In the German medical
! journals, on the authority of eminent Ger
! man physicians who admitted with ap-
parent unconcern the commission of crimes
against helpless and ignorant women and
children. II is not unreasonable to sup
pose that INSCRIPTIONS physicians in this
country may seek to add TO their expert
| ence and skill by similar methods, and all
i intelligent people will agree that this
ought TO be made impossible.
The bill provides as follows:
That no physician, surgeon, psthologist. student
OF medicine or of science or any other person
shall make perform upon the body of any
human being, in any hospital, asylum, retreat, or
'nfrnafy established for the treatment of the sick,
3r in any other place in the District Of Columbia,
any scientific experiment involving pain, distress,
or risk 10 life and health, whether by admnstra-
ilon OF poisonous drugs for the purpose of ascer-
tlininS their toNcity by inoculating the germs of
disease, by grating cancerous tumors into healthy
tissues or by performance Of any surgical opera
ton for any other object than the amelioration Of
the patient, except subject to the restrictions and
regulations hereinafter prescribed"
1t is provided that a special license may
be issued for such experiments to quail
fed physicians or surgeons, subject TO GER
tain restrictions. The person to be oper-
ated upon must be not less than twenty
years of age, and in complete possession
of his or her reasoning faculties The
operator must, at least one week in adj
vance, apply to the Commissioners for
license and in the application must fully
state the object and method of the pro-
posed experiment, and enclose the written
permission of the subject signed in the
presence of two witnesses. If the Com
missoners, upon investigation, are salts
fed that the subject is aware of the nature
Of the experiment and is quite willing
that it should be made. the license may
then be issued. Six months later the in
-yestigator must present a report OF the
.,
and in the event of any untoward cir
cumstances. the full details may be re-
quired TO be reported and printed. 1t will
be seen that the work of the vivisector is
thus hedged about with so many restric-
tions that there would be some difficulty
in evading the law. 1t would prohibit alb
solutely any such horrible occurrences as
those
journals.
Under such law il would be impossible
for the vivisector TO go into hospital
ward, and administer poison to newborn
infants, in order to watch the effect. He
could not inoculate a healthy child with
germs of consumption, nor could he. under
pretence of performing a surgical opera
ton, graft cancerous tumors into the flesh
of a helpless and ignorant woman, with
out considerable risk TO himself If the
thing happened to be discovered. The
German physicians who did all these
things seem to have been utterly uncon-
scious that anyone could object to them.
They told the story themselves, appar-
emily with pride and satisfaction in care
fully written articles published in repu-
table papers. They were allowed to make
their experiments with the fun permission
of the authorities in charge of the patients.
II is not desirable that such things should
cially in those which exist for the benefit
of the poor and ignorant classes of the |
population. who cannot protect themselves. /