New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-04-10

Some years ago there was founded
here a society ostensibly designed
10 meet the requirements OF temper
ate reformers. of reformers who were
for nothing more than regulating and
controlling irresponsible eXperimenters
and abolishinC abuses, without inter
fering i'm the least degree with leglu-
mate scientific research by competent
experts" Many reasonable persons
were taken with the FEASIBILITY of this
programme, which. however. bore no
relation 10 the actual aims Of the so
cioty, whose ringleaders we're quietly
engaged i'm projects and schemes as
mischievous as any ever conceived by
the most outspokcn anti-vivisectionsts.
Thus. while declaring the most pro
found respect for scientific inyestlga-
ton. they were distributing among the
newspapers, with apparent approval.
lcafet showing that we must elm
mate the claims of science altogether.
They were likewise the publishers oil
one Of the most irresponsible and foul
est pamphlets over written In oppoSl-
ton 20 experimental research. vet they
had ri the same time the eifrontery to
assure their critics that nothing was
further from their intention than TO
tic the hands Of serious inquirers; and
that. on the contrary. they thoroughly
believed in the use Of experiments on
animals. and would, in fact, regard the
abolition OF vivisection as disastrous.
In dealing with opponents so double
faced and slippery one comes soon TO
realize the wisdom of the advice given
by the late Sir Michael Foster at
time when there was some thought OF
making few slight concessions to the
more reasonable reformcrs in TINS coun-
trv. MY advice to you he wrote. us,
accept no compromise whatever; refuse
TO admit for a moment the need OF
such a law. and fight against it every
where" This may sound intolerant,
but it was out OF bitter experience OF
what had come to pass in England that
the great psychologist spoke. He in his
time had given ground where II seemed
safe and cxpedicnt, if not necessary,
TO do so. but III the time were to
come over again" he admitted some
years latev. go would fight tooth and
nail against any act at all, on the
ground that all such Legislative rcstric-
tions arc Unnecessary
As one of the most valiant and in
dcfatigable champions of the freedom
of research in this country, DR.. Keen
can have no difficulty i'm understanding
Fosters sentiments or i'm SympathiZing
with him I'm his regret at attempting 20
come to terms with an interruptions
enemy The truth is that IN this coun-
try. no less than in England, the
more notorious observation-disclosures have
proved themselves unworthy Of hear
| ing. not only by their manifest igno-
rance Of the very matters they under
take 10 criticisc and censure, bat by
their persistent and deliberate misrop-
reseutations and ncorriCible mendac-
ity. Some remarkable but by no means
/ exceptional illustrations showing how
difficult il is 20 deal with such zeaio 3
I'm a reasonable spirit are cited by DR..
Keen M the chapter entitled "The In
/ fuencc Of Anti-Nivisection on Charac-
ter" There may be critics VIII. viii
, think IL unjust IN the author to dis
play over q who'll page a fac-simile OF
an anonymous letter from one who
writes:
hope your mother, If she is lIv-
ing. VIII die iu the most terrible
torture. ard if she is dead that her
soul viii never know rest for hay
ing given life to such vile mon
stcr as you.
+ 10 may be oontcudcd that this out
burst, occasioued by "A paper pointing
out some of the benefits derived from
experiments on animals. rs altogether
exceptional. and that, being an anony-
nous attack, IT Is unworthy OF CIRCUS
attention No one, however, "ho has
/ had any experience of the ways Of anti
/ vivisectionists can be ignorant OF the
part that anonymity plays In their
propaganda. nor would it be difficult to
discover many similar examples OF
fanaticism in the writings of those who
are doubtless counted among the re
sponSible agents of the cause. There
are examples enough in the same chap
ter. yet DR.. Keen might hav chosen
OF .ers still more shocking Thus he
takes Mr. Stephen Coleridge TO account
for saying that "the Pastcur Institutes
~ Paris and elsewhere have entirely
failed 90 prevent people dying Of by
drophObia." Nearer home he might
have found the monstrous allegation
that the Institutes I'M question are
making fortunes by prctendirf 20
Il disease that Pasteur himself
spread. or he might have quoted late
secretary of the New York Anti-NIyi-
section Society who did not scruple TO
dcnouncc that great bencfactor as a
"murderer.'
IL is inevitable that popular book
ON thi. theme should bee given over
largely TO a refutatIon of tho false
hoods and representations OF The
anti-vivisectionists the more so since II
is made up Of occasional pap~rs many
OF which were designed as answers 90
current Ibels. II must not be under
stood however. that 10 is altogether
controversial. ior more than hal o.
the papers deal with the progress made
;n medicine and surgery by means OF
experiments on animals. Dr. Keen, esq
laining that his chapters are put 10
chronological order. remarks That there
is a good deal OF repetition, and Tears
that this is SERIOUS objection 90
rcpriutinC them al length. The repct-
tons are wholly mobjectloaable. low
ever: they serve. ndeca. to impress
important truths on the mind OF tre
reader, and though il cannot Doe hoped
that they will have the least influence
on the Slaudc 3 whose repeated mis-
statements made them necessary, 20
may reasonably be expected that they