The Washington herald., 1911-02-01
TAFT AND COLONEL
IN PERFECT ACCORD
Continued from Page One.

Continued from Page One.
with courage that is not afraid of tenn
porary unpopularity to render that serv-
ice to his country. 1t is an opportunity
that any man might be glad to take.
Some Of the men whom / can think OF
Old. like Katkoff, render great service In
that way.
Il am always hoping the conditions
which seem to be for one reason not so
favorable to the growth of these men
will in time become more favorable, Tor
truly there is no country In which such
a man for a function of that kind would
be more appreciated and where finer
field would be open for his talents and
his character"
Experiments Essential.
DE- Welch,s talk was under the head OF
Animal experimentation" and every
word was to the point. Nor did he mlnce
words. He spent his entire allotment OF
ten minutes in explaining his views on
vivisection and proclaiming its need as
an essential element in the means for
attacking human ailments. He said:
Although the agitation against animal
experimentation has been going on Tor
half a century and become active in this
country at an earlier date than in Eng
land, comparatively little effort has been
made until within the last few years by
physicians and men of science to en-
tighten the general public upon the util-
ity Of such experimentation and the con-
ditions Of its practice and upon the OBJ
jections Of such prohibitory or restric-
tive legislation as the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
have attempted to secure.
Tn the meantime. the field has been
left open for a vigorous anti-ViVsec-
tionists' propaganda, which, springing
from a noble sentiment, is, / believe,
among movements designed to influence
public opinion, unrivaled for misrepre-
sensation, disingenuousness, ignorance.
credulity, and misdirected Sentimentality.
1T speaks we'll for both the intelli-
gence and the moral sense of our people
that, under such circumstances, this
propaganda has made upon the whole
SO little headway in this country, thar
few influential newspapers have eS-
poused the anti-viviSectioniSt cause, and
that our Federal and State legislators
have hitherto been convinced of the evils
OF legislation which would deprive medl-
cine of its most powerful lever of ad-
vancement, or would seriously restrict
Ms use.
Have Hopeless Fight.
Among the various considerations de-
termining ones attitude toward the
question of experimentation upon animals
there is none more important than that
of the utility of this method of re-
search. Even the leaders in the anti
vivisectionist agitation are beginning to
realize that they are engaged in a per-
fccrly hopeless undertaking in their ef-
forts to convince the public that animal
experimentation has been, and can be of
little or no value TO human welfare
II have sometimes wondered of the
mental attitude of profeSSed humani-
tarianS who are so eager to collect all
testimony, even the most obscure. trivial.
and diScredited, which may make the
public believe that some new remedy
or improved method of treatment. such
an antitoXin or antiseptic surgery, ac-
cepted by the medical profession, is of
no value whatever.
NO science, and the medical and bio
logical least of all, can advance far by ]
mere observation of natural or vital phe-
nomena unaided by experiment. In no
field of inquiry has the combination of
these methods or research during the last |
sixty years yielded results of greater ben !
eft to mankind than in that of medicine. |
Mans power to prevent the accidental in
fection of wounds to control the spread
of great pestilences, such Asiatic
cholera, yellow fever, and the plague; to
exterminate malaria, to reduce the IA
tality of diptheria and cerebro-spinal
meningitis to one-third of a quarter of
the former rate to prevent rabies, to
undertake a successful crusade against
tuberculosis, the greatest scourage of
mankind, has been gained almost wholly
through knowledge attained and only to
be attained, by means of experiments
upon animals.
Battle Even Physicians.
Such enumerations of few of the
practical applications of scientific discov-
cry, although quite sufficient to justify
the use of animals for experimentation.
give a most inadequate idea of the debt
of medicine to expsrimer tai research The
best part of our knowledge of the normal
functions of The body. of the circulation