Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-31

the sessions OF the encampment.
The Health Officer and VivisecliOn.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
DR.. Woodward's report to the Commits
sioners on the bill for the further preven-
ton of cruelty to animals in the District of
Columbia" shows on its face his proposes
sion and prejudice against the bill which
he has always opposed. His bias Is so
strong that he feels the necessity of eXcuS-
ing it. and this bias has led him into mis-
statements that are easily corrected. After
trying to argue away the necessity which
eminent Washington lawyers have found
for this law. although he admits that ex-
ceptional crueltieS in vivisection, like
crimes, should be met by law, he makes
this statement:
Those whose special training has not
been such as to enable them to appreciate
properly the fruits of experimentation on
animals are those who cry for its regula-
| ton out of existence. Those who know
what has been and what is capable of being
accomplished by 1t are those who seek it's
continuance. The former Judgment is the
product of emotion; the latter the product
| of thought
1 would like to submit few quotations
| on the subject of Nivisect.on from some
| eminent surgeons and physicians who are
| regarded great luminaries in the medical
world. 1t is possible that their light may
pale before the enulsence of the District
| health Office but at least it will be admit
| ted that they are men of thought rather
| than men of emotion" They are few of
| many.
| r. S.. in his admirable book Biological
| Experimentation (Which every one who
| wants to be intelligent on the subject of
vivisection should read) says:
in any animal. obscures and faisifies for
the time all the other vital phenomena
which admit of investigation In
| plain words it is utterly Impossible to OBJ
/ ha "a
| of pain either in man or animal, for he who
| tries to observe under those circumstances
| must make SO many allowances for the cir
| cumstances under which he Is observing
| them. he finds 1t extremely difficult, even
| If 1T be possible, to be precise in his CON
| illusions l am certain that vital ex-
periments, to have any value at ALL must
| be conducted without any trace of the dis
i turbing influence Of suffering whether man
| or lower animal be the subject of observa-
| ton, nor do l stand alone in this view; l
| Rrodie, DR.. Baly perhaps the most accom-
| plished and learned Psychologist I have
| met, Sir John Forbes, DR.. w. B. Carpsn
ter and Dr. John Snow. Sir Charles Bell
and Alexander Walker also shared this
| view that pain as a disturbing influence is
| of so serious a character that, quite apart
| from sentiment on the matter. l think it
| best to exclude it altogether. 1t must de-
| ceive."
Professor Lawson TAFT F. R. c. g. Zone
| OF the greatest surgeons who ever lived):
| Like every memDer OF my profession,
| was brought up in the belief that by vivi-
| section had been obtained almost every i'm
portant fact in physiology. and that many
| of our most valued means of saving life and
diminishing suffering had resulted from ex-
| periments on the lower animals. 1 now
| know that nothing Of the sort Is true con.
| corning the art of surgery, and not only dc
| not believe that vivfsection has helped
| the surgeon one bit, but know that 1t has
| often led him astray. In the interests OF
| true science its employment should be
| Observation-Disclosures Daily Post, Decem.
Der IL. 1884.
Professor Henry J. Bigelow. MD. date)
professor of surgery in Harvard University
How few facts of immediate considera.
BILE value to our race have of late years
of dumb animals the cold-blooded cruelties
\ now more and more practiced under the au.
thority of science! It is said. somebody
must do this say nobody should do it
| 1t Is needless. Vivisection in medica
schools should be abolished" Address be
fore the Massachusetts, Medical Society
June Z, 1871
Dr. Charles Bell Taylor. F. r. G. s.:
| 1.-The practice of cutting open living ami
mails, literally the practice of dissectins
them alive. in the supposed interests OF
science, which is called vivisection, is, in
my judgment. to be condemned.
"First-Because there is really no neces.
sity for it.
"Second-Because 1t has been proved t.
be not only useless. but misleading
Third-Because It takes the place OF
other methods of study and Observation
| which are infinitely preferable, and t.
which no one can possibly object; and
"Eourth-Because 1t 10 Q gross and erue