An Ethical Problem Part 17

"WILLIAM JAMES.

"Cambridge, Ma.s.s., "May 5 (1909)."

[1] "Unnecessary and offensive in the highest degree would it be, ... by legislation of any kind, to attempt to dictate or control how, and by whom, and for what purposes, and under what conditions and upon what animals in the laboratories, ... experiments should be made. The decision in these matters SHOULD BE LEFT WHOLLY TO THOSE IN CHARGE OF THESE INSt.i.tUTIONS."--From a memorial of Dr. Simon Flexner, Dr. W. T. Councilman, Dr. H. C. Ernst, and other members of the a.s.sociation of American Physicians against Senate Bill regulating vivisection in the District of Columbia, May 4, 1896.

This is a very strong indictment. If he misunderstood the antivivisectionists, we must remember that Henry Clay in 1851 could see nothing good in William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition party.

But James knew precisely what the vivisection of animals meant, for he had taught physiology, and had been engaged in experimentation for more than a quarter of a century. When he speaks of the power of "club opinion to quell independence of mind," he explains a situation which otherwise might remain obscure. When he a.s.serts that certain groups "cannot be trusted to be truthful or moral," we have the explanation of a philosopher who was not given to over-statement.

Do we not find in this letter an outline of what Professor James would suggest as steps toward vivisection reform? In perfunctory inspection of laboratories or supervision by State inspectors, he has no confidence; such inspection would probably degenerate into a sham. A well-known experimentor once said to the rwiter: "Your inspectors of laboratories must be either well-educated and competent men, or else officials of the grade of the average policemen. If the belong to the first cla.s.s, do you think they will become detectives and spies? If, on the other hand, they earn the salary of the average policeman, will they be intelligent enough to discover abuses, and invariably of such rect.i.tude that a ten-dollar bill will not induce official blindness?"

It would seem that this objection to State inspection cannot be lightly considered. For the prevention of cruelty it may be right to permit certain persons always to have the right to enter any laboratory whatever without previous notice; the fact that they may come at any time const.i.tutes the safeguard to a limited degree. But such men must be persons unpaid by the State, of intelligence sufficient to comprehend all peculiarities of experimentation, and of a probity that no bribe can disturb. It would be far better to allow things to go on as they are than to have cruelty protected by public confidence in a legal supervision that did not sufficiently supervise and restrian.

It appears to me, as I have said elsewhere, that first of all public opinion should be aroused, not so much to condemn all experimentation upon animals, as to know with certainty the facts about it. Of the vivisection of animals in England and America carried on in secret, the general public, even of the more intelligent cla.s.s, has no more accurate inforumation than two centuries ago it had of the methods of the Spanish Inquisition in the dungeons of Madrid or Seville. How did it happen that an inst.i.tution so execrated and so universally condemned to-day, managed for centuries almost unchallenged, to exist?

Precisely as the closed laboratory manges to exist among us, becauseof the secrecy in which it was surrounded, and the general confidence which it claimed as its due. Reform canot make headway so long as the dungeon is dark and the laboratory is locked. The strongest line of defence is the maintenance of ignorance, even though we have the curious anomaly, existing nowhere else, of Science covering herself with darkness and hiding behind ignorance. It was one of the ablest advocates for vivisection that America has produced, who, in an address before the American Academy of Medicine, condemned the secrecy of the physiological laboratory as "a grave and profound mistake,"

adding that "if there be necessary secrecy, there is wrong." No more significant condemntation of present-day methods has ever been uttered.

An eminent London physician, Dr. Greville Macdonald, wrote not long ago in favour of that publicity of vivisection, or rather of that knowledge of its methods which should precede any attempt at legislation. The question of interference is one that the State must decide, though the dangers and advantages of vivisection can only be arrayed in intelligible order by one who understands the subject. "But the public, HAVING HEARD THE EVIDENCE, must decide whether or no the State shall more willingly sanction cruelty in the secret laboratory than in the highway.... I most reluctantly admit, it is almost impossible to get evidence upon such points, and for the reason THAT THE THINGS WHICH WE FEAR ARE PRACTISED IN SECRET PLACES.

Nevertheless, it is just because of this secrecy that the public have a right to make trouble. But for John Howard's crusade against the horrors of the prisons, the public had never known the truth, their infamies had never been remedied; and the public have now as much right to question the physiologist's repudiations as they had then to doubt the denials of the gaolers. The evidence is sufficient to justify, in my own mind, a large measure of sympathy with the antivivisectionists, though I am not of them."

What lines of procedure in the direction of reform would Dr. Macdonald advocate? He admits that "to prohibit vivisection altogether would be to invite its performance in such secrecy as no system of espionage could unearth. Legislation can seldom do more than compromise, because it cannot essay the impossible." He admits that "no Act of Parliament can eradicate the spirit that makes cruelty possible." But there are some things that may be done, and upon four points Dr. Macdonald believes legislation is desireable. "The first is that vivisection ought to be prohibited for the purposes of teaching, because it is often misleading and always demoralizing. The second is that the inspection of the physiological laboratories should be carried out more systematically and always unexpectedly, and that the inspectors should largely be increased in number. Thirdly, I would prohibit all dissections, with or without anaesthetics, upon live horses and dogs. Fourthly, I would make the administration of curare for purposes of experiments a criminal act."

One method of obtaining information concering the practice in America is through a Legislative commission. Guided intelligently, such a Commission should be able to present in its final report a large acc.u.mulation of important facts. It is evident, however, that if such disclosures are likely to tell against present methods of research, the appointment of any such Commission will be strenuously opposed by everyone connected with the laboratories. The strange thing is that precisely this opposition has been evinced in the State of New York, as elsewhere shown. The powers that control prefer the present darkness, and for the time being have been able to secure it. But this very opposition is so significant that no effort should be relaxed to bring every phase of the practice of vivisection into the light of day.

That altogether too much reliance may be placed upon Government inspection of laboratories seems unquestionable. If one could be sure that it would always be conducted by intelligent and educated men, with due appreciation of scientific aims, yet in thorough sympathy with humane motives and objects, it would undoubtedly be of use. But no such reliance can be ours. The experience of England should convey a lesson in this respect.

Suppose, therefore, that in place of demanding the State inspection of laboratories, or any present interference with the conduct of the vivisector, we endeavor first of all to learn the facts through the experimenters themselves. Of course they will not volunteer any information that may seem to tell against the practice; we must expect the laboratory to put forward ever obstacle that might hinder the facts from becoming public if there is anything wrong to hide. But unless the claim be soberly put forth--and I am not sure that this may not be the case--that the vivisector has a right to work in complete secrecy, and to hide his methods from the world, he cannot complain at being the reporter of his own activities.

a.s.suming then, that our object be solely the acquisition of knowledge without interference until necessity be shown, what can be done by legislation in America to attain the end desired?

1. THE REGISTRATION OF LABORATORIES.--Every place where experiments upon animals are to be legally made should be licensed by the State.

It has been suggested that such regulation should recognize the occasional necessity for experiments upon animals relating to the transmission of diseases at other places than laboratories, as, for example, on farms. A liberal recognition of all genuine exceptions might easily be made; the only object of such regulation is to insure that all experimentation whatever comes upon the record. So long as this is accomplished, every exceptional case of such investigation outside a laboratory may easily be permitted without injury to the principle involved.

2. REGISTRATION OF EXPERIMENTERS.--Every man who desires to perform experiments upon animals should be required to obtain a licence from the State granting such privilege for a definite time. This could work no injury to science in America, for in England it has been a rule in force for many years. When one remembers that a physician or surgeon, even though possessed of the greatest skill, cannot practise unless licensed by the State, it is difficult to see why a practice so liable to abuse and crulety should be without this simple recognition of the experimenter's ability, humaneness, and skill.

3. REPORTS OF EXPERIMENTS.--We are sometimes told that if there is any secrecy in vivisection, it is only that which scientific men everywhere demand for scientific work. The dissecting-room has its enforced privacy; the chemist must have his period of uninterrupted attention, and to the observatory of the astronomer it is not easy to obtain admittance at any and all times. Suppose Society to grant the privacy for a time, asking in return from every registered laboratory and from every experimenter, the completest reports of all experiments upon animals. What objection can be raised if there is nothing to conceal? The Savings Bank, the Insurance Company, even the National Treasury, are all required to give at regular intervals information concerning the disposition of funds. Let us place the creatures liable to vivisection and taken into a laboratory on a plane of equal importance with bags of silver coin taken into a banking-house. From greta financial inst.i.tutions we require detailed information and reports attested by oath concerning the disposition made of money taken into its treasury. No cashier would dream of objecting to such reports; they are the tribute which conscious integrity unhesitataingly pays to secure public confidence and trust. Now, in the interests of science--which means always truth demonstrated, not truth concealed--and in the interests of humanity as well, let us ask for ever material fact pertaining to the creatures entering a laboratory for vivisection, whether it be the dog, "stolen, to begin with" (to use the phrase of the London Lancet), or animals more legitimately acquired, so long as their lives are to be exploited in the professed interests of mankind.

In every registered laboratory, therefore, the law should require that a register be kept concerning every animal of the higher species brought upon the premises for purposes of experimentation. The species of every such animal, its s.e.x, colour, condition, and apparent age; from whom it was acquired and the price paid for it; and to whom for experimentation it was finally delivered--all these facts should be a part of the permanent record of every laboratory. It ought not to be difficult to devise a register, which at the outset would probably meet the suggested requirements.[1]

[1] See Appendix, pp. 340-343.

One advantage of such a register as this would be the a.s.sistance it would render in all attempts to trace animals which are stolen or lost, and which find their way to the laboratory. Every animal which may possibly have been a pet should be kept for redemption for two to three weeks, and no animal should be purchased unless the purchaser is able to have a record of the address of the seller. Anyone can distinguish between a homeless vagabond of the street and an animal which must have been well treated in a good home, and I believe that experimentation upon a pet animal under any conditions should be forbidden by law.

The gain arising from such registration is obvious. It would mark the entrance within the laboratory of every creature intended for experimentation of any kind. It makes possible to an extent the tracing of pet animals, lost or stolen, which now find themselves devoted to vivisection. The inspection of such a register should be permitted to any person whatever endeavouring to trace a lost or stolen pet. A summary should be regularly furnished for publication, attested by oath, precisely as the cashier of a national bank periodically attests the accuracy of his reports. Such a report is but a promulgation of facts which ought to be within the reach of the public. By no stretch of the imagination can one honestly declare that such knowledge will const.i.tute an impediment to justifiable research. Yet no one acquainted with this subject can doubt that every resource of the laboratory will be brought forward to resist to the uttermost even the giving of so little information as this.

But we must go beyond this. To trace animals to the door of the laboratory, and there to drop them, leaves the curtain unlifted; they enter the darkness, and that darkness must be dispelled. It must be the privilege of the public to know as completely as possible EXACTLY WHAT IS DONE AFTER THEY Pa.s.s THE DOOR. How is this to be accomplished? How may we know what is done to the animals thus traced to the door of every laboratory without being charged with impeding the legitimate researches of science? For reasons stated, inspection will not accomplish it. As carried out in England, it certainly has accomplished but little for the protection of animals. The published reports of experiments made in that country under one or another "certificate," are practically of no value whatever except to show the constant increase of such experiments every year. The plummet must sink to deeper depths. If Society is to grant to the physiological laboratory that isolation and freedom from interference which it craves, THEN SOCIETY HAS THE RIGHT TO ASK IN RETURN THE COMPLETEST DISCLOSURE THAT CAN BE GIVEN OF METHODS AND RESULTS.

It has the right. Unfortunately it cannot persuade or compel. That is the province of Legislation.

Vivisection, we must always remember, is an exceedingly complex practice. It is a means of demonstrating well-known facts; it is also a method of original research. How many animals in any given laboratory are used in each of these phases of experimentation? No one can tell us. If the laboratory keeps no account, it is unlikely that the information could be given by anybody else. A strong impression exists that "original research" for any object of conceivable utility to mankind is vastly more infrequent than vivisection for the repet.i.tion--painful or otherwise--of facts perfectly well known. We need to have the question settled with an accuracy upon which as much reliance may be placed as upon the oath of the cashier of a bank.

"Every laboratory," said Dr. George M. Guld, in an address before the American Academy of Medicine, "should publish an annual statement setting forth plainly the number and kind of experiments, the objects aimed at, and, most definitely, the methods of conducting them." This wise suggestion, however, bore no fruit. No such "annual statemnet"

has ever been issued by any American laboratory, so far as I am aware. Even if thus issued it would not go far enough. Such reports should be attested under oath by each individual experimenter, exactly as the officers of a bank are required by law to make reports regarding its financial standing. Every experimenter should therefore be required to state what he has done during the three preceding months; to give the number of animals of each species which have been delivered to him, the object of each experiment, and the cases in which curare was employed. Especially should a careful distinction be drawn between original investigations made in private and experiments made before students or by students themselves, solely for the ill.u.s.tration of well-known facts. An outline of a report that would cover these facts will be found in the appendix.

And yet this is hardly enough. It is not sufficient to have the results of individual experience; we should have a summary of all experimental work made upon the higher animals in each laboratory given us by the responsible head of that inst.i.tution. An outline of a report that would give us the information desired is not difficult to devise.[1]

[1] See Appendix.

There is little doubt but that violent objection will be made to any such reports. But in the opinion of very many persons the truth about a vivisection laboratory is quite as desirable as the truth about a country bank. Verification in either case implies the same. It would mean that the statement was not made carelessly, but with a due appreciation of the solemnity of an oath. Any gross misstatement on the part of a bank cashier would almost certainly subject him to a rigid examination, and to the penalty of dismissal. It should be the same with a laboratory. If gross missatements should be made with apparent design to hide something that should have been made known, it seems to me that those who thus offend should have their licences suspended or revoked. We cannot forget that Society is here dealing with a peculiar inst.i.tution, where secrecy is regarded as a virtue.

If one could imagine a bank or an insurance company, where every official or employee, from the president down to the scrub-woman, was seeking in every way to keep its affairs hidden from the general public, we should in one respect have the counterpart of the physiological laboratory of to-day.

On the other hand, when the law asks for the truth, whether it be of a bank or a laboratory, under penalties for concealment that cannot be easily disregarded, we may be very certain that in the vast majorty of instances compliance will be accorded to its demands. Instances of attempted concealment will, of course, occur; the cashier who has speculated with the funds of the bank will endeavour to conceal his crime, and the vivisector who has carried his private experiments or his demonstrations before students to cruel and unwarrantable lengths will seek by all possible means to prevent revelation of his transgression. In both cases there will be occasional success. But as regards vivisection, it cannot be questioned that whenever in future the law makes a demand for such reports as are here outlined, a vast amount of information, now carefully concealed from the possibility of public judgment, will become known. We shall obtain it, too, withut crossing the threshold of a single laboratory, without hindering in any way whatever the least important investigation of a single scientific inquirer.

Ought we not to go beyond this and require reports to state the facts regarding anaesthetics? Eventually such information should undoubtedly be required. So far as the immediate present is concerned, it would seem perhaps the wiser course not to complicate the inquiry in this way. There are vivisectors who would declare that "anaesthetics are always used" when ether or chloroform has been given in quant.i.ty and in time absolutely insufficient to secure for the vivisected animal immunity from pain. Sometimes we shall ask how many animals and of what species are subjected to mutilations and observations that last for days and weeks, and how many, if any, have had "nerves torn out by the roots," as one American physiologist connected with a medical school tells us he has repeatedly done. Into the thousand and one phases of experimentation Society must one day make inquiry. But may it not be best to wait till some knowledge of the leading facts are secured? A report regarding anaesthesia might be utterly useless, except to keep hidden the very facts we wish to know. What some of these facts are may be indicated hereafter, but it would seem best not to include them in any present demand.

What may we conceive will be the att.i.tude of the laboratory interests toward any attempt to secure information concerning the practice, not by State inspection, but by and through reports made by themselves? If the popular conceoption of physiological investigation were true, should we not be sure of the hearty approval of all physiologists regarding any measure so calculated to remove misunderstanding and distrust? Here would be the wished-for opportunity to demonstrate the vast importance of the problems pursued, and the wonderful results attained compared with the small cost of animal life, the humane and ever-present solicitude of the experimenter, the immunity from suffering. Here, too, we should have that "organized, systematic, and absolute frankness" in regard to the practice of vivisection, for which one of its greatest American defenders once appealed. But, on the other hand, suppose that the laboratory in England and America dare not permit the whole truth to be known? Suppose that it would not willingly permit the general public to know even the number of animals which are now sacrificed in the demonstration of well-known facts?

Then a.s.suredly the laboratory interests will unite to prevent any legislation that could tend to destroy the secrecy that now exists, or to bring the facts of vivisection to the light of day. Which hypothesis is the true one, some day will reveal. We shall then discover whether the laboratory will yield to a demand for publicity, or whether, contending for continued secrecy, faithless to Science, it will resist every attempt to make known the whole truth, and cling to the ideals and traditions of the Spanish Inquisition of three hundred years ago.

CHAPTER XIV

THE WORK OF REFORM SOCIETIES

It is necessary to make a distinction between societies aiming to destroy animal experimentation, root and branch, and those which hope only to prevent abuses and cruelties. Antivivisection societies have been organized in different States. Of their activities it is not necessary here to speak. But another kind of organization has made its appearance, societies aiming solely at the prevention of abuse and the restriction of the practice within limits compatible with humane ideals.

The first society in America organized for the express purpose of prevention of cruelty in animal experimentation appears to have been the American Antivivisection Society, founded at Philadelphia in 1883. The object of the society, as defined by its first charter, was "the restriction of the practice of vivisection within proper limits, and the prevention of the injudicious and needless infliction of suffering upon animals under the pretence of medical or scientific research." To Mrs. Caroline Earle White of Philadelphia, more than to any other, was due the credit of bringing this first society of protest into being over thirty years ago.

It was believed by the founders of this society that the medical profession--so many members of which had recognized the reality of the abuses and the necessity of reform--would join in some common endeavor to restrict and to regulate the practice. But attempts in direction of any legislation met with decided opposition from the princ.i.p.al laboratories in the State, and although a few physicians of eminence lent their influence to the promotion of reform, the great body of medical pract.i.tioners stood aloof. And gradually the founders of the society came to believe that their position was wrong; that the policy of concession and compromise ought to be abandoned, and that instead of asking that any experimentation be legalized, the society should demand the total abolition of all experiments upon living animals.

At a meeting held in 1887 a resolution was brought forward favouring the change of the name of the society and the aim which hitherto they had had in view. Opposition merely to experiments of a painful character was not sufficient; from that time forward every phase of experimentation was equally to be condemned. The resolution was carried. And now for more than a quarter of a century the society has striven to influence public sentiment in favour of its ideal, the total suppression of all scientific experiment upon living animals, whether painful or otherwise. It is needless to say that they have done this in the face of innumerable obstacles, and doubtless with a recognition of the impossiblity of present success. Three times they have introduced into the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania a Bill for some restriction of animal experimentation, and always without avail.

Other antivivisection societies in different parts of the country, adopting the same ideal, were organized shortly afterward. So far as legislation is concerned, their efforts have met with uniform failure. They have succeeded, however, in keeping the subject before the world in making known the abuses of the practice and voicing a condemnation of its cruelties wherever discerned. I have elsewhere expressed the opinion that, even if their ideals are beyond present possibility of attainment, the constant, persistent, and unwearied protest of these societies against the cruelties and abuses of vivisection have helped, more than anything else, to keep the question a living issue.

In 1896 was organized the first society having for its object solely the repression of abuse, the American Society for the Regulation of Vivisection. Its object was distinctly stated in its t.i.tle, and its work was confined almost entirely to the publication of literature.

In 1903 the Vivisection Reform Society, organized to advance the same moderate views, was incorporated under United States laws, and the earlier society became merged therein. The president was Dr. David H. Cochran of Brooklyn, a distinguished educator, and the secretary, upon whose shoulders fell nearly all the work of the organization, was Sydney Richmond Taber, Esq., a member of the legal profession. Among its supporters were Cardinal Gibbons, Professor Goldwin Smith, Senator Gallinger, Professor John Bascom, ex-President of the University of Wisconsin, Professor William James of Harvard University, and men of standing and influence in the medical and legal professions. For several years its work was carried on with efficiency and enthusiasm, chiefly by the propaganda of the press. It has always seemed to me that the name of the society was especially felicitous, for it expressed tersely the object of the organization, not the abolition of all scientific utilization of animal life, but the repression and elimination of abuse. A year or two later there was incorporated at Washington the National Society for the Humane Regulation of Vivisection, the objects of which were identical with those of the earlier societies. For many reasons it did not appear expedient to keep in activity two societies with precisel the same objects, and into the new organization the Vivisection Reform Society was finally merged.

Another American society which has done particularly good work is the Vivisection Investigation League of New York. The object of this a.s.sociation is fairly expressed by its name; it seeks to investigate the practice, so far as inquiry is practicable, and to make known from the writings of experimenters themselves exactly what is done in the name of scientific research. In this direction the League has already done work of exceptional value and interest.

An organization which more than any other has distinguished itself for persistent, unwearied, and vigorous attempts to secure reform by legal enactment is the Society for the Prevention of Abuse in Animal Experimentation, organized in Brooklyn, New York, in 1907.[1] From the first it repudiated the suggestion that it was opposed to scientific experimentation upon animals under all circ.u.mstances; it has never denied that some benefits have accrued through animal experimentation, even though such benefits have been exaggerated, but it has bent all its energies toward securing such legislation in the State of New York as should limit the practice to competent men, place it under such legal control, render its abuse a misdemeanour, and all unnecessary and wanton cruelty a legal offence. Bills were therefore introduced for the appointment of a Commission of inquiry regarding the extent and nature of the practice at each annual session of the Legislature.

Some of these Bills were reported out of the Committee, and one reached debate in the Senate. But investigation of the practice was precisely what the supporters of the modern laboratory do not seem to desire. They were strong enough to influence the Legislature against such inquiry, and their attempts to open the laboratory have so far failed. Will it be possible for ever to maintain this secrecy? That is the question for the future.

[1] To the discriminating and energetic work of Frederic P. Bellamy, Esq., the counsel of the society, and of Mrs. William Vanamee, the secretary, the success of this society is particularly indebted. In the public journals, on many occasions, they have definitely and comprehensively outlined the aims of the organization, and in this respect there has been no excuse whatever for any misunderstanding or misstatement.

In its early efforts to secure investigation an attempt was made by this society to secure the co-operation of members of the medical profession, and in union with a large number of persons belonging to various professions over seven hundred physicians in the State of New York signed a pet.i.tion in 1907-08 in favour of a measure that would have tended to elicit the facts. As soon as the Medical Society of the State of New York became aware of this endors.e.m.e.nt, it sent out to each of these physicians a request that he would withdraw his name.

What Dr. William James called "the power of club influence to quell independence of mind" could hardly have been more significantly exercised, yet less than forty signers were willing to accede to such demand. Upon the files of the society are now the signatures of over six hundred physicians in the State who have favoured legislation restricting the practice of vivisection to competent men, and providing against cruelty and abuse.

In the fall of 1911 the Society circulated a pet.i.tion throughout the State. It asked the Legislature of the State of New York to provide--

"an immediate and impartial investigation by a non-partisan commission into the practice of animal experimentation as conducted in this State. In view of the inherent possibility of cruelty in the practice, and the obvious inadequacy of the existing laws to prevent such cruelty, we deem the existing status of vivisection in this State to be a menace to the community, which calls for legislative investigation."

To this pet.i.tion more than twelve thousand signatures were obtained.