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 DEFENCE OF VIVISECTION. 
 
 Resolutions Adopted by the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation, May 6th, 1896. 
 
 Whekeas, the members of the American Medical Associa- 
 tion recognize the fact that the development of scientific 
 medicine has resulted largely from experiments upon the 
 lower animals ; and 
 
 Whereas, anaesthetics are habitually administered to ani- 
 mals subjected to painful experiments ; and 
 
 Whereas, restrictive legislation is, in our opinion, unnec- 
 essary and opposed to the continued progress of medical sci- 
 ence ; and 
 
 Whereas, it is an unjust reflection upon the humanity of 
 those engaged in animal experimentation to enact laws re- 
 quiring them to use anaesthetics and appointing inspectors 
 to see that they do so; and 
 
 Whereas, far more unnecessary pain is constantly being 
 inflicted upon the lower animals for sport and for gain than 
 in biological and pathological laboratories ; and 
 
 Whereas, no evidence has been presented by those who 
 advocate restrictive legislation showing that abuses exist in 
 the District of Columbia; and 
 
 Whereas, results of great practical importance have been 
 obtained by experiments on the lower animals made in the 
 Government laboratories in the District of Columbia : 
 
 Therefore^ he it resolved, That the American Medical As- 
 sociation earnestly protests against the passage of Senate bill 
 No. 1552, entitled "A bill for the further prevention of cru- 
 elty to animals in the District of Columbia," or any modifi- 
 cation of this bill, unless it shall first be shown by an impar- 
 tial investigation that cruel and unnecessary experiments are 
 
2 
 
 being performed in the District of Columbia, and that exist- 
 ing laws do not provide suitable punishment for cruelty to 
 the domestic animals. 
 
 Resolved, That copies of these resolutions, attested by the 
 signatures of the President of the American Medical Asso- 
 ciation and of its committee appointed to draft these resolu- 
 tions, be sent to the chairmen of the Committees on the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia of the House of Representatives and Sen- 
 ate of the United States. 
 
 (Signed) Beverly Cole, M. D. (San Francisco), 
 
 President, American Medical Association. 
 " Nicholas Senn, M. D. (Chicago), 
 
 President-elect, American Medical Association . 
 Wm. Osler, M. D. (Baltimore). 
 " J. McFadden Gaston, M. D. (Atlanta). 
 
 Geo. M. Gould, M. D. (Philadelphia). 
 " Donald McLean, M. D. (Detroit). 
 
 Philadelphia, May V6th, 1896. 
 The undersigned, members of the Association of Military 
 Surgeons of the United States, now holding its sixth annual 
 meeting in the city of Philadelphia, respectfully join in the 
 protest of the American Medical Association as set forth in 
 the accompanying resolutions adopted by that representative 
 body of American physicians and surgeons at their recent 
 meeting in the city of Atlanta. 
 
 Among the names attached to this memorial are the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Colonel Louis Read, Surgeon-General of Pennsylvania, 
 President Ass'n of Militar}' Surgeons, U. S. 
 
 A. L. Gihon, M. D., Medical Director, U. S. N. (retired), 
 President-elect Ass'n of Military Surgeons, U. S. 
 
 Colonel Charles H. Alden, Ass't Surgeon-General, U. S. 
 A., Vice-President Ass'n of Military Surgeons, U. S. 
 
 Colonel Nicholas Senn, Surgeon-General of Illinois, ex- 
 President Ass'n of Military Surgeons, U. S. 
 
General F. C. Thayer, Surgeon-General of Maine. 
 
 General E. J. Forster, Surgeon-General of Massachusetts. 
 
 General Geo. A. Bowen, Surgeon-General of Connecticut. 
 
 General John F. Fulton, Surgeon-General of Minnesota. 
 
 Major George Henderson, Surgeon-General D. C. National 
 Guard. 
 
 General F. W. Byers, Surgeon-General of Wisconsin. 
 
 General James L. Priestley, Surgeon-General of Iowa. 
 
 Lieut. Col. Chas. M. Woodward, Surgeon-General of 
 Michigan (retired). 
 
 Lieut. Col. Leonard B. Aliny, Medical Director Connecti- 
 cut National Guard. 
 
 Memorial of the National Academy of Sciences. 
 
 ( Washington, D. C, Aj^ril 24, 1896. 
 
 To the Honorable Jacob H. Gallinger, 
 
 Chairman of the sub- Committee, etc. : 
 
 Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a 
 letter addressed to you by D. E. Salmon, the Chief of the 
 Bureau of Animal Industry, J. E. Tryon, Surgeon-General 
 IT. S. Navy, George M. Sternberg, Surgeon-General L^. S. 
 Army, and Walter Wyman, Surgeon-General U. S. Marine 
 Hospital Service, asking that the National Academy of 
 Sciences be called upon to express an opinion as to the 
 scientific value of experiments upon lower animals and as to 
 the probable effect of restrictive legislation upon the advance- 
 ment of biological science. The letter of these gentlemen is 
 supplemented by an expression of your desire that the Na- 
 tional Academy of Sciences should report or make sugges- 
 tions upon the subject. In accordance with your request 
 I have the honor to submit to you the following report as 
 the unanimous expression of the opinion of the National 
 Academy of Sciences. 
 
 Biology is the science of living organisms and tissues, and 
 must therefore advance by means of observations and exper- 
 
iinents made on living beings. One of its most important 
 branches, viz., physiology, or the science which deals with 
 all the phenomena of life, from the activity of bacteria to 
 that of the brain-cell of man, forms the foundation upon 
 which the science and practice of medicine are built up, since 
 a knowledge of the bodily functions in their normal state is 
 essential for the understanding and treatment of those de- 
 rangements of function which constitute disease. 
 
 The fact that the pursuit of physiology consists chiefly 
 in the study of physical and chemical phenomena, as mani- 
 fested by living beings, makes it necessary that physiology 
 should be studied by experimental methods. \ The physiol- 
 ogist, no less than the physicist and chemist, can expect ad- 
 vancement of his science only as the result of carefully 
 planned laboratory work. If this work is interfered with, 
 medical science will continue to advance as heretofore, by 
 means of experiment, for no legislation can aflfect the posi- 
 tion of physiology as an experimental science ; but there will 
 be this important difference : that the experimenters will 
 be medical practitioners, and the victims human beings. 
 
 That animals must suffer and die for the benefit of man- 
 kind is a law of nature from which we cannot escape if we 
 would, and as long as man claims dominion over the brute 
 creation and asserts his right to kill and mutilate animals in 
 order to obtain food and clothing, and even for purposes of 
 amusement and adornment, it is surely unreasonable to wage 
 a humanitarian warfare against the only kind of pain-giving 
 practice that has for its object the relief of pain. 
 
 The death of an animal in a physiological laboratory is 
 usually attended with less suffering than is associated with 
 so-called natural death, for the discovery of anjiesthetics has 
 extended its beneficent influence over the lower animals as 
 well as over the human race, and in modern laboratories 
 annesthetics are always employed except when the operation 
 involves less suffering to the animal than the administration 
 of the anjTBsthetic (as in the case of inoculation), or in those 
 
instances in which the anaesthetic would interfere with the 
 object of the experiment. 
 
 The suiiering incident to biological investigations is there- 
 fore trifling in amount, and far less than that Avhich is asso- 
 ciated with most other uses which man makes of the lower 
 animals for purposes of business or pleasure. 
 
 As an offset to this trifling amount of animal suffering are 
 to be placed incalculable benefits to the human race. From 
 the time when Aristotle first discovered the insensibility of 
 the brain to the time when the latest experiments in the use 
 of antitoxine have largely robbed diphtheria of its terrors, 
 almost every important advance in the science of medicine 
 has been the direct or the indirect result of knowledge ac- 
 quired through animal experimentation. 
 
 It is, of course, conceivable that persons whose occupa- 
 tions lead them to sacrifice animal life for scientific pur- 
 poses may at times pay too little regard to the suffering which 
 they inflict, but the academy understands that even those 
 who advocate restrictive legislation by Congress do not claim 
 that such abuses exist in the District of Columbia, and until 
 evidence of this sort is presented it would seem to be the 
 part of wisdom to leave the regulation of research in the 
 hands of the governing bodies of the institutions in which 
 the work is going on. The men engaged in this work are 
 actuated by motives no less humane than those which guide 
 the persons who desire to restrict their action, while of the 
 value of any given experiment and the amount of suffering 
 which it involves they are, owing to their special training, 
 much better able to judge. When the men to whom the 
 Government has entrusted the care of its higher institutions 
 of research shall show themselves incapable of administer- 
 ing them in the interest of science and humanity, then, and 
 not till then, will it be necessary to invoke the authority of 
 the national legislature. 
 
 I have the honor to be, sir. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 (Signed) "^WOLCOTT GIBBS, 
 President Natwnal Academy of Sciences. 
 
6 
 
 Resolutions of the Association of American Medical 
 
 Colleges. 
 
 In view of the proposed legislation now before the Con- 
 gress of the United States, the Association of American 
 Medical Colleges, representing the colleges of the country, 
 passed the following resolutions : 
 
 "Association of American Medical Colleges, 
 
 "Atlanta, Ga., May 4, 1896 : 
 
 " Whereas, There is a bill at present pending before the 
 Congress of the United States entitled 'An act to prevent 
 cruelty to animals in the District of Columbia,' which prac- 
 tically curtails experimentation upon animals, and would 
 eventually put a stop to medical research ; and, 
 
 " Whereas, Such legislation would be used to influence 
 similar legislation in the States which would prevent the ad- 
 vancement of medical science and medical education ; and, 
 
 " Whereas, Such legislation would be very injurious and 
 detrimental, and is not called for by any existing facts of 
 cruel experiment, as the advocates of the bill themselves 
 concede so far as the District of Columbia is concerned : 
 be it 
 
 " Resolved, That the Association of American Medical 
 Colleges, now in session at Atlanta, presents these resolutions 
 as a memorial to Congress to be made a matter of official 
 record and protest against the enactment of such legislation, 
 declaring it to be needless and injurious. 
 
 " Resolved further, That a copy of these resolutions be 
 sent to The Journal of the American Medical Association 
 and printed and reported to the different medical colleges of 
 the United States, with the request that they adopt suitable 
 measures which will tend to prevent any legislation by Con- 
 gress that would interfere with animal experimentation." 
 
Memorial of the Association of American Physicians. 
 
 The Association of American Physicians, assembled in 
 annnal session at Washington, D. C, May 2, 1896, by 
 unanimous vote and b}' the appended signatures of its 
 officers and members, hereby records its most earnest pro- 
 test against such legislation as that proposed by the bill 
 entitled "A bill for the further prevention of cruelty to 
 animals in the District of Columbia" — Senate Bill 1552 — 
 in so far as this legislation embodies measures intended to 
 control and restrict experimentation upon animals con- 
 ducted in the Government laboratories, the medical schools 
 and other institutions of the higher learning in the District 
 of Columbia. In making this protest the Association begs 
 to present to the members of Congress the following con- 
 siderations : 
 
 Experimentation upon animals is an absolutely indis- 
 pensable and the most important method of investigation 
 of the properties of living organisms, and of the influences 
 which modify these properties. The science and the art 
 of medicine are based upon the knowledge of the structure 
 and the functions of living matter, and consequently in 
 large part upon knowledge which has been obtained by 
 experiments upon animals and which could have been 
 gained in no other way. 
 
 The benefits to mankind of the knowledge thus acquired 
 are of inestimable value. To mention only a few of the 
 results obtained wuthin recent years by animal experimen- 
 tation, attention is called to the discoveries which have 
 revolutionized surgical practice by the introduction of 
 antiseptic methods of treatment, which have rendered in- 
 frequent the occurrence of childbed fever, which have 
 made it possible to prevent the development of hydrophobia 
 after the bite of rabid animals, which have furnished an 
 efficacious method of cure of the otherwise incurable dis- 
 
8 
 
 ease, myxoedema, and which, by the antitoxin treatment, 
 have greatly lessened the fatality of diphtheria. By these 
 and similar discoveries derived from experiments upon 
 animals, untold thousands of human lives have been 
 rescued which would otherwise surely have perished. 
 
 The saving of animal life itself and the consequent 
 commercial profits resulting from knowledge gained by 
 experiments upon animals have been enormous. The 
 benefits derived from experiments upon animals largely go 
 to the improvement of the public health and the preven- 
 tion of infectious diseases. Their immediate value is often 
 not recognizable by the individual, unless he has informed 
 himself upon subjects which are in large measure of a 
 technical nature and belong to the study of scientific 
 experts. 
 
 It would require a volume to set forth adequately the 
 results, beneficial to mankind and to animals, of knowledge 
 derived from experiments on animals. The assertion of 
 many opponents of vivisection, that knowledge obtained 
 from animal experimentation and which could be obtained 
 in no other way has been of little or no benefit to man- 
 kind, can be referred only to ignorance or to wilful mis- 
 representation. 
 
 Never was there a time in which experimental medicine 
 gave promise of results so important for the welfare of 
 mankind as those which we may reasonably expect in the 
 near future, and never was there so little justification as at 
 present to hamper in any way the work of those engaged 
 in searching by the experimental method for means of 
 preventing and curing disease. 
 
 Obvious as are such beneficial results of animal experi- 
 mentation as those specified, — and many other similar 
 instances might have been cited by way of illustration, — it 
 should be borne in mind that the full significance of the 
 importance of the results of experimentation upon ani- 
 
mals for the biological and the medical sciences can be 
 adequately appreciated only by those who possess special 
 knowledge of these sciences, and that it is only those who 
 are thus informed who can fully realize the injury which 
 would be inflicted upon these sciences and upon medicine 
 by such legislation as that contemplated in this bill. Upon 
 this matter it is the voice of science and of medicine, which 
 is likewise the voice of true philanthropy, which should 
 be heard and which should control legislative action, and 
 not that of those who, however worthy their impulses, 
 however high their social position, however great their 
 knowledge in other departments, do not possess that 
 special knowledge v.diich renders them competent to judge 
 of the merits of this question. 
 
 The voice of science and of medicine, so far as it receives 
 authoritative utterance, is overwhelmingh- opposed to legis- 
 lation of any kind which would take in any measure the 
 direction of experimental medicine and physiology out of 
 the hands of those who on account of their special fitness 
 have been chosen by the authorities of our higher institu- 
 tions of learning and of research to convey instruction and 
 to conduct investigations in these departments. Uilneces- 
 sary and offensive in the highest degree would it be by any 
 system of official inspection, such as that proposed in this 
 bill and which might readily be used as a system of out- 
 rageous espionage, or 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 and the institutions of the higher 
 learning experiments shall be made. The decision as to 
 these matters should be left whollv to those in charg-e of 
 these institutions, who are the ones most competent to 
 judge of them. 
 
 Those engaged in <:he Government laboratories, in the 
 medical schools and the universities of this country, in 
 
10 
 
 teaching and in investigations which require experimenta- 
 tion upon animals, can be safely intrusted with this function. 
 To say the least, they are not less humane than are those 
 who advocate legislation to control and restrict animal 
 experimentation in these institutions. The assertion which 
 has been made by anti-vivisectionists, that experimenta- 
 tion on animals brutalizes those who witness and practice 
 it, is an insult, without shadow of foundation, to a class of 
 scientific workers devoted to the investigation of problems 
 of the highest importance to the welfare of mankind. 
 Their efforts are to secure the desired knowledge by in- 
 fliction of the least possible needless pain upon animals 
 used for experimentation, and we do not hesitate to assert 
 that this solicitude to avoid the infliction of unnecessary 
 pain renders them more susceptible than the average man 
 to actual cruelty to animals. 
 
 We have been unable to learn that there has been a 
 single instance in which abuse has been made of the prac- 
 tice of animal experimentation in the Government labora- 
 tories, the medical schools or the universities of the District 
 of Columbia. Any legislation which proposes in any way 
 to control, restrict, or interfere with animal experimenta- 
 tion in these institutions is, therefore, unnecessary, as well 
 as offensive to those who are engaged in the scientific in- 
 vestigations conducted therein. 
 
 If there be any doubt as to the opposition of the great 
 body of scientific men and of physicians to such legislation 
 as that proposed in this bill, we beg that Congress will not 
 take action favorable to this bill or to any similar one 
 until sufficient time has been given for a full expression of 
 opinion from scientific and medical associations through- 
 out this country, for the matter is one not merely of local 
 interest, but may concern the future progress of the 
 biological and medical sciences, and of preventive and 
 curative medicine throughout this country. 
 
11 
 
 A. Jacobi, jNI. D., President^ 
 
 NEW YORK CITY. 
 
 Henry Hun, M. D., Secretary^ 
 
 ALBANY, N. Y. 
 
 William W. Johnston, M. D., Treasurer^ Officers 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY. ' -^ 
 
 G. Baumgarten, M. D., Councillor^ 
 
 ST. LOUIS, MO. 
 
 J. H. Graham, M. D., Councillor^ 
 
 TORONTO, CANADA. 
 
 William H. Welch, M. D., "j 
 
 BALTIMORE, MD. 
 
 William Pepper, M. D., 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, PA. 
 
 Victor C. Vaughn, M. D., . Com^nittee. 
 
 ANN ARBOR, MICH. ' 
 
 Robert T. Edes, M. D., 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. . 
 
 Theobald Smith, M. D., 
 
 BOSTON, MASS. 
 
 Names of Members Omitted. 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 Adopted by the Medical Society of the District of Co- 
 lumbia at a meeting held on Wednesday evening, April 
 22, 1896. 
 
 To the Congress of the United States : 
 
 Having been informed that an effort is being made by cer- 
 tain citizens of this District to secure the passage of a bill 
 to prevent experiments upon living animals — Senate Bill 
 1552 — we respectfully submit for jouv consideration the fol- 
 lowing facts and arguments in opposition to this bill : 
 
 First. We do not hesitate to assert that without such ex- 
 periments there could be no scientific biology, and medicine 
 would have no scientific basis. Our knowledge of physiology, 
 
V2 
 
 of toxicology, and of the action of many important medici- 
 nal agents has been largely gained in this way. Our pre- 
 cise knowledge of the etiology of a considerable number of 
 the infectious diseases has been obtained by inoculating 
 susceptible animals Avith pure cultures of the various patho- 
 genic bacteria, and could have been obtained in no other 
 way. By such experiments the demonstration has been 
 made of the specific pathogenic power of the anthrax 
 bacillus, the spirillum of relapsing fever, the tubercle 
 bacillus, the glanders bacillus, the diphtheria bacillus, the 
 streptococcus of erysipelas and of puerperal fever, the 
 micrococcus of pneumonia, etc. The prevention of hydro- 
 phobia by Pasteur's method, the treatment of diphtheria by 
 the antitoxine, the production of bovine vaccine virus, and 
 other practical applications of the knowledge already ob- 
 tained would be impossible if those Avho are urging anti- 
 vivisection legislation could have their way. We cannot 
 stop to enumerate the various important practical benefits 
 which surger}' has derived from animal experimentation ; 
 but the experience gained in this way as regards the com- 
 parative value of difi:erent methods of ligating arteries, of 
 closing wounds of the intestines, etc., has resulted in great 
 improvements in surgical technique and in the saving of 
 numerous valuable lives. 
 
 Yet there are those who maintain that no valuable results 
 have been obtained by experiments upon the lower animals, 
 and the anti-vivisection literature, together with mucli sen- 
 sational nonsense, contains quotations from the writings of 
 certain physicians which ajDpear to support this view. No 
 doubt these quotations, to a certain extent, are garbled, 
 and in their proper connection would not give such pos- 
 itive testimony as to the ignorance of the physicians to 
 whom they are credited. For to deny the importance and 
 value of the results which have been obtained by experi- 
 ments upon the lower animals is to give evidence of lament- 
 able ignorance as regards the present position of the bio- 
 
13 
 
 logical sciences, and especially of scientific medicine. But 
 the argument that no results of importance have been at- 
 tained, in view of the unimpeachable evidence to the con- 
 trary, is no longer given a very prominent place in anti- vivi- 
 section literature. This seeks rather to carry on the propa- 
 ganda, which had its origin in England more than twenty 
 years ago, by exaggerated accounts of the cruelty of the 
 experiments performed ; and the susceptibilities of many 
 well-meaning and estimable members of the community have 
 been aroused by the harrowing details of experiments which 
 they are led to believe are frequently repeated in biological 
 and pathological laboratories, but which few of those who 
 devote their lives to research work in such laboratories have 
 ever witnessed. 
 
 Second. So far as we know, no evidence has been adduced 
 that cruel and unnecessary experiments are being performed 
 in this District; and, in our judgment, the proposed legisla- 
 tion is not only unnecessary, but would seriously interfere 
 with the progress of scientific investigations now being car- 
 ried on in the various Government laboratories in this city, 
 and in general with the advancement of scientific medicine. 
 
 Third. That physicians and others engaged in investiga- 
 tions, having for their object the promotion of human knowl- 
 edge and the prevention and mitigation of human suffering, 
 are less humane than the members of the societies which have 
 been organized for the prevention of cruelty to animals, we 
 do not believe. To pass laws subjecting them to penalties 
 and to espionage by persons ignorant of the nature and ob- 
 jects of their experiments, as is proposed, would not only 
 seriously hamper research work in all lines of biological in- 
 vestigation, but would be an uncalled-for reflection upon the 
 humanity of those members of the medical 'profession and 
 others who are engaged in investigations of this nature. As 
 a matter of fact, anaesthetics are habitually administered in 
 experiments which involve an amount of pain worthy of con- 
 sideration ; but they are not considered necessary in trifling 
 
14 
 
 operations, such as the administration of a hypodermatic in- 
 jection or the vaccination of a calf for the purpose of propa- 
 gating vaccine virus. 
 
 Fourth. It is difficult to understand why these mischievous 
 attempts should be made to secure legislation the effect of 
 which would be to restrict scientific investigation, when there 
 is such a broad field in other directions in which the crusade 
 might be carried on with greater propriety. The trapping 
 of animals for their furs is going on in all parts of the 
 world, and the victims are held for hours, and even days, in 
 the sharp jaws of the trap before they are finally dispatched. 
 The huntsman leaves his uncaptured wounded game to a 
 lingering death. If he is a humane man, he quickly kills 
 the wounded bird or animal when captured, and it has not 
 been thought necessary to pass laws requiring him to do so. 
 The fisherman plays the bass or salmon with a sharp hook 
 in its mouth for an hour or more, and no one protests, but 
 the teacher of biology is to be prevented by act of Congress 
 from exhibiting the circulation of blood in the blood-vessels 
 of the mesentery of a curarized frog. The farmer, by a cut- 
 ting or crushing operation, castrates his colts, calves, sheep, 
 and pigs, and capons are made by a painful cutting opera- 
 tion, but no one proposes legislation requiring the use of 
 anaesthetics in the performance of these operations. Under 
 these circumstances the proposition to subject those engaged 
 in scientific research work which calls for the performance 
 of experiments upon the lower animals to espionage and 
 penalties, as is proposed in the bill referred to, appears to 
 us to be an unjust discrimination against a class of men who 
 are entitled to the highest consideration. We therefore 
 respectfully protest against the enactment of any such legis- 
 lation. 
 
 SAMUEL C. BUSEY, M. D., 
 President Medical Society, D. C. 
 
 S. S. ADAMS, M. D., 
 
 Recording Secretary. 
 
15 
 
 The Joint Commission of the Scientific Societies 
 
 OF WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 Office of the Secretary, 1318 Mass. Avenue. 
 EXECUTIVE committee: 
 
 OFFICERS. 
 
 President, Gardiner G. Hdbbakd. Secretary, J. Stanley-Brown. 
 
 Vice-President, G. Brown Goode. Treasurer, P. B. Pierce. 
 
 MEMBERS AT LARGE. 
 
 L. F. Ward (Anthropological). W. H. Ashmead (Entomological). 
 
 Geo. M. Sternberg i Biological). S. F. Emmons (Geological). 
 
 E. A. de Schweinitz (Chemical). G. K. Gilbert (National Geographic). 
 
 F. W. Clarke (Philosophical). 
 
 Resolved, That the Joint Commission of the Scientific 
 Societies of Washington, composed of the officers of the 
 several scientific societies of the city, most earnestly opposes 
 the legislation proposed by Senate bill 1552, entitled "A 
 bill for the further prevention of cruelty to animals in the 
 District of Columbia." 
 
 Itesolved, That in the opinion of this Commission the pro- 
 posed legislation is unnecessary and would seriously inter- 
 fere with the advancement of biological science in this 
 District ; that it would be especially harmful in its restric- 
 tion of experiments relating to the cause, prevention, and 
 €ure of the infectious diseases of man and of the lower 
 animals ; that the researches made in this department of 
 biological and medical science have been of immense benefit 
 to the human race ; and that, in general, our knowledge of 
 physiology, of toxicology, and of pathology, forming the 
 basis of scientific medicine, has been largely obtained by 
 experiments upon living animals, and could have been ob- 
 tained in no other way. 
 
 Resolved, That physicians and others who are engaged in 
 research work having for its object the extension of human 
 knowledge and the prevention and cure of disease are the 
 best judges of the character of the experiments required and 
 of the necessity for using anaesthetics, and that in our judg- 
 
16 
 
 ment they may be trusted to conduct such experiments in a 
 humane manner, and to give anaesthetics when required to 
 prevent pain. To subject them to penalties and to espionage, 
 as is proposed by the bill under consideration, would, we 
 think, be an unjust and unmerited reflection upon a class of 
 men avIio are entitled to our highest consideration. 
 
 Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be sent to each 
 member of the Committee on the District of Columbia in 
 the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United 
 States, and to the District Commissioners. 
 
 I certify that the foregoing is a correct copy of resolutions 
 passed by the Joint Commission of the Scientific Societies 
 of Washington at the meeting held on February 19, 1896. 
 
 J. STANLEY-BEOWN, 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 Resolutions Adopted by the American Academy of 
 Medicine, May 4th, 1896. 
 
 " The American Academy of Medicine desires to express 
 its opinion that no legislation is required or desirable in the 
 United States in regard to the so-called practice or subject 
 of ' vivisection,' and for the following reasons : 
 
 " 1. Because only by careful discrimination and collection 
 of facts can public and legislative opinion be truthfully 
 formed. To illustrate but a single of many popular errors 
 upon this subject, the dissection or use of live animals by 
 scientific men is termed ' vivisection,' when the same pro- 
 ceeding carried out by the butcher, the hunter, restaurant 
 keeper, cooks, etc., does not enter into the consideration, 
 neither do the cruelties in the use and keeping of domestic 
 animals, nor those in the death of animals for purposes other 
 than those of experimental medicine. 
 
 " 2. While admitting and deploring the facts of abuses in 
 the past and in European countries — to a very limited extent 
 also in America — it is the conscientious belief of the mem- 
 bers of the academy that at present with us such abuses do 
 not exist, nor are they in danger of occurring to a degree jus- 
 tifying or calling for legislation, and, under the circumstances. 
 
17 
 
 the evils that would inevitably result from such legislation 
 would greatly exceed the benefits to be obtained by it. The 
 charge implied or openly made that physicians, either in 
 theory or practice, are more cruel than other classes of the 
 community is a fancy or prejudice of ignorance which can- 
 not be proved, and which we strenuously deny. 
 
 " 3. Legislation upon the subject of cruelty to animals 
 should be so framed as to include consideration of cruelties 
 infinitely greater and more extensive in many other fields of 
 human activity at present not actively objected to by those 
 who urge legislation as regards experimental medicine. Not 
 only this, but legislation concerning the matters should be 
 broadened out in order to prevent the destruction of species 
 of birds and other animals by the votaries of fashion, by the 
 hunters, etc., to prevent derangement of the delicate balance 
 of animal and vegetable life, upon which civilization ulti- 
 mately and largely rests, to prevent deforestation of the head- • 
 waters of our streams, to establish sanctuaries or resorts for 
 animals, and many such biologic requisites ; as also to estab- 
 lish such arrangements with other nations as will insure their 
 permanent and extensive effectualizatiou. 
 
 " 4. Legislation upon such a subject of vital importance 
 to a peculiarl}" technical branch of science should be framed 
 under the guidance and by the aid of those who by educa- 
 tion and experience are alone fitted and capable of forming 
 and expressing sound judgments upon it, i. e., the experts in 
 the special subjects. It would be as absurd to have legisla- 
 tion as to vaccination inspired and shaped by laymen who 
 were anti-vaccinationists, without weighing the opinion of 
 the medical profession, as to allow legislation upon the ques- 
 tion of vivisection by la\mien who are anti-vivisectionists, and 
 even inexpert in any branch of inductive science. 
 
 " 5. The American Academy of Medicine, therefore, urges 
 the members and physicians generally to write to their rep- 
 resentatives in Congress (or wherever legislation of the kind 
 in question is proposed), and otherwise seek to influence 
 public and ofhcial opinion against the passage of a particu- 
 larly ill-advised bill before Congress, to wit : Senate bill No. 
 1552, introduced by Mr. McMillan, entitled 'A bill for the 
 further prevention of cruelty to animals in the District of 
 Columbia.' In the opinion of the academy, the passage of 
 the bill would be harmful to the true interests of medical 
 and social science and to the public health." 
 
18 
 
 These resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Amer- 
 ican Academy of Medicine, and in the minds of unprejudiced 
 persons will no doubt outweigh the garbled extracts, which 
 have been circulated by the opponents of animal experimen- 
 tation, from the presidential address of a former president 
 of the academy — Dr. Theophilus Parvin, of Philadelphia. 
 
 In this connection we would invite attention to the follow- 
 ing quotation from the same address. With reference to re- 
 strictive legislation Dr. Parvin says : 
 
 " Should the law restrict the performance of vivisection ? 
 I think it ought, chiefly as an expression of public sentiment 
 and for the moral effect ; for violations of its provisions 
 could usually only be discovered by a system of espionage, 
 by the employment of detectives, of spies and informers, ut- 
 terly alien to our system of government, and who are, as a 
 rule, abominable." 
 
 Protest of the Biological Society of Washington, 
 Signed by the Members of the Society and Trans- 
 mitted to the Congress of the United States. 
 
 We, the undersigned, members of the Biological Society 
 of Washington, do hereby respectfully protest against the 
 passage of the bill entitled "A bill for the further prevention 
 of cruelty to animals in the District of Columbia," S. 1552, 
 or the substitute which is now proposed, because such legis- 
 lation is, in our opinion, entirely uncalled for, and because 
 on account of the numerous restrictions and unduly severe 
 penalties, it is calculated to bring law into contempt. 
 
 It has not, to our knowledge, even been alleged that 
 there is any abuse of the practice of vivisection in the 
 District of Columbia. 
 Specificall}-, we object to it on the following grounds : 
 That it prevents the verification of discoveries or of alleged 
 discoveries in biological sciences. 
 
 Important curative properties are often ascribed to 
 substances, or methods of procedure advised, which no 
 one should adopt without careful verification. 
 
19 
 
 That it unjustly restricts licenses to perform experiments 
 on living animals to persons over 25 3'ears of age unless they 
 are graduates of some medical college and duly authorized 
 to practice in the District. 
 
 This would prevent all experiments, however neces- 
 sary, by students, and some of the most important 
 physiological Avork has been done by undergraduates in 
 the preparation of theses. 
 That by its wording the bill would permit the proposed 
 inspectors to interrupt or interfere with any delicate or 
 dangerous experiments which might be in progress at the 
 time of their visit to any laboratory. 
 
 Such interference might prevent the successful ending 
 of a long series of experiments, or might even endanger 
 the life of the operator. 
 That nothing is said as to the fitness or proper qualified" 
 tions of the proposed inspectors. 
 
 B}' the wording of the bill, any person, no matter 
 how ignorant, incompetent, or biased in judgment, may 
 be appointed an inspector, and the views expressed by 
 the advocates of this legislation justify the apprehen- 
 sion that unfriendly and intolerant persons will be urged 
 for these positions. 
 
 Memorial of the Washington Chemical Society. 
 
 Washington, D. C, 3fay Ui/i, 1896. 
 In view of the proposed legislation now before the Sen- 
 ate in the form of a bill entitled "An act for the further pre- 
 vention of cruelty to animals in the District of Columbia," 
 which, however, is practically an act to limit, and eventually 
 stop, all experiments upon animals in the District of Colum- 
 bia, the Chemical Society of Washington, including among 
 its members a number of the most prominent chemists in 
 the countr}', desires to present to the Senate of the United 
 States a formal and positive protest against the enactment 
 of any legislation upon the subject of vivisection. 
 
20 
 
 The laws at present on the statute books of the District 
 of Columbia, if properly carried out, will apply to all cases 
 of cruelty to animals which exist in this District. 
 
 The proposed bill is objectionable for very many reasons. 
 The penalties prescribed for the infraction of the law are 
 preposterous. An expert who did not happen to possess a 
 permit from the District Commissioners for the performance 
 of experiments upon animals might suddenly have placed in 
 his hands material the dangerous character of which could 
 only be determined by an immediate experiment upon an 
 animal. Should such a test be made without a license, 
 though possibly the lives of hundreds of people were involved, 
 the experimenter would be subject to an enormous tine and 
 imprisonment for having, in the interests of humanity, inoc- 
 ulated a guinea-pig or a rabbit or some other animal without 
 a formal permit from the District Commissioners. 
 
 While the majority of the members of our society are not 
 directly engaged in experiments in which animals are used, 
 we know that in certain lines of work — toxicology, materia 
 medica, biochemistry, and the like — animal experimentation 
 is absolutely necessary for the advancement of knowledge. 
 
 The agitators of the proposed legislation have not been 
 able to show a single instance of cruel experiments conducted 
 in the District of Columbia, either in any of the laboratories 
 or medical colleges or public schools, consequently there is 
 no need for any law on the subject. Furthermore, Wash- 
 ington is becoming the centre of education for the entire 
 United States. Four large universities are located here ; 
 several more are in prospect, and the proposed legislation 
 would hamper and eventually destroy all possibility for ad- 
 vanced post-graduate work in the biological sciences, and 
 indirectly in all allied branches. 
 
 We therefore, collectively as a society, and individually 
 as members, desire to protest strenuously against any legis- 
 lation on the subject of vivisection, deeming it to be unwise, 
 unnecessary, and in direct opposition to the spirit which has 
 
21 
 
 for a number of years actuated the United States Govern- 
 ment in encouraging the advancement of science. We hold 
 further that sucli legislation would be a direct contradiction 
 of the well-known practical results that have already been 
 obtained by scientific investigations conducted under the 
 Government, which have made possible the saving of many 
 thousands of dollars' worth of property and many human 
 lives. 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 (Signed) E. A. de Schweinitz, Ph. D., M. D., 
 
 President, Washijigtoii Cheinical Society. 
 A. C. Peale, M. D., Secretary. 
 W. D. BiGELOW, Ph. D., 
 W. G. Bkown, Ph. D., 
 
 Vice-Presidents. 
 Charles E. Munroe, Ph. D., 
 W. P. Cutler, B. S., 
 H. N. Stokes, Ph. D., 
 Y. K. Chesnut, B. S., 
 F. P. Dewey, Ph. B., 
 Mendjers of the Executive Committee. 
 
 Memorial of the Entomological Society of 
 Washington. 
 
 Washington, May 7, 1896. 
 
 To the Honorable the Senate and House of Pepresentatives 
 of the Zhiited States : 
 
 The Entomological Society of Washington respectfully but 
 most urgently protests against the proposed legislation em- 
 bodied in Senate bill 1552, and in the proposed substitute 
 bill recently presented to the Senate Committee on the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia. 
 
 The protest against the original bill, Avhile directed against 
 many of the provisions-preserved in the proposed substitute, 
 
22 
 
 is based chiefly upon the ground that said bill would effectu- 
 ally prohibit all investigation in economic entomology into 
 the best methods of meeting and destroying the numerous 
 insect pests which cause so much damage to the agricultural 
 interests of the country. 
 
 Although the insertion of the v/ord " veriedrnie'' in the 
 proposed substitute bill completely frees us in our entomo- 
 logical investigations from the pernicious legislation which 
 threatens our colleagues in vertebrate zoology and medicine, 
 we still respectfully but urgently protest against the passage 
 of the bill upon the following grounds : 
 
 Firat. While not directly affected by the provisions of the 
 bill, we as well as the rest of the community would be indi- 
 rectly afl'ected. 
 
 Secondly. As scientific men, accustomed to the conditions 
 governing scientific research work, we see provisions in said 
 substitute which will greatly hamper specialists in vertebrate 
 zoology and medicine in their investigations. 
 
 Thirdly. Personal acquaintance with our colleagues, and 
 personal knowledge of the class of work they are doing and 
 of the dangers to which they are often subjected in their ex- 
 periments, convince us that the proposed legislation is un- 
 called for, unjust, and only calculated to bring law into con- 
 tempt. 
 
 Foitrtlily. Accepting the expression " cruel experiments " 
 as meaning experiments upon animals in which there is an 
 unjustifiable infliction of pain, we declare that we know of 
 no cruel experiments which have ever been performed in 
 the District of Columbia by any of our colleagues. 
 
 Fifthly. We are firml}- of the conviction that if any " cruel 
 experiments " should be performed by any men, the re- 
 bukes and contempt which such men would justly earn 
 and receive from their own colleagues would be much more 
 effectual in preventing a repetition of such experiments than 
 any system of espionage, fine, or imprisonment. 
 
 Sixthly. We see no difference in principle between the 
 
23 
 
 system of espionage proposed iu the bill and a proposition 
 to institute an inspection of the amphitheatres of hospitals 
 during critical surgical operations, or an inspection of the 
 private sick room during professional calls by family physi- 
 cians. 
 
 Seventhly. We see no more necessity for passing a law 
 that experimenters shall administer anaesthetics whenever 
 possible than a law compelling surgeons to use anresthetics 
 in operations. In both fields of work occasions arise when 
 chloroform or ether cannot be used ; in both fields of Avork 
 the common sense of humanity Avould naturally lead the 
 operator to use anaesthetics if possible, even if the question 
 of utility were set entirely aside. 
 
 Eighthly. The bill prevents the confirmation in the Dis- 
 trict of alleged scientific discoveries made elsewhere, a pro- 
 vision which can result only in prolonging agony and caus- 
 ing death in many cases. 
 
 Ttnthly. As zoologists, we fail to see why a cat, a disease- 
 spreading dog, a horse, ass, or kicking mule, is any more 
 worthy of the special attention, deliberation, and consider- 
 ation of the United States Congress than .t<s the cow, hog, 
 rabbit, or chicken. 
 
 Eleventhly. The reports to be made by investigators, as 
 provided for in the bill, would lead to the premature disclos- 
 ure of conclusions only half established. 
 
 Memorial of the Philosophical Society of Washington. 
 
 Washington, D. C, May 14, 1896. 
 
 The Philosophical Society of Washington, through its 
 committee appointed for that purpose, respectfully protests 
 against the legislation proposed for the restriction of animal 
 experimentation in the District of Columbia, for the follow- 
 ing reasons : 
 
 First. No satisfactoi-y evidence has been presented show- 
 ing that abuses exist in this District calling for the legisla- 
 tive action of the Congress of the United States. 
 
24 
 
 Second. We recognize the fact that the progress of science 
 in all departments of l)iological research, and especially the 
 advancement of scientific medicine, depends upon experi- 
 ments made upon living animals. 
 
 Third. We believe that those engaged in scientific inves- 
 tigations are the best judges of the necessity for experiments 
 made by them, of the animals upon which such experiments 
 should be made, of the methods to be employed, etc. 
 
 Fourth. We regard the proposed legislation not only as 
 unnecessary and unwise, but as an unjust reflection upon the 
 humanit)^ of those who resort to animal experimentation 
 for the solution of the numerous and important biological 
 problems which remain undetermined. 
 
 (Signed) F. W. Clarke, 
 
 President Philoso2)hieal Society. 
 (Signed) Bernard E. Green, 
 
 Secretary Philosojyhical Society. 
 (Signed) W. C. Winlock, 
 
 Secretary Philosophical Society. 
 
 Baltimore, May 121/-, 1896. 
 At a meeting of the Medical Board of the Johns Hopkins 
 Hospital the following resolution was unanimously adopted : 
 
 '■'■Resolved, That the Medical Staff of the Johns Hopkins 
 Hospital hereby enter their protest against the passage of 
 the bill by Congress intended to control and restrict experi- 
 mentation upon animals in the Government laboratories, 
 the medical schools, and other institutions of the higher 
 learning in the District of Columbia, and they desire to ex- 
 press their approval of the memorials and resolutions re- 
 lating to the subject adopted by the National Academy of 
 Sciences, the Association of American Physicians, and the 
 American Medical Association." 
 
 (Signed) HENKY M. HURD, 
 
 Chairman of Medical Board. 
 
 The following quotation is from a recent number of the 
 leading medical journal of the world — The London Lancet : 
 
25 
 
 " It is even said now that the very successes of vivisection 
 constitute the present danger, and that it specially behooves 
 us to be on our guard lest we blind ourselves to the moral 
 objections to a practice which holds out such dazzling entice- 
 ments. We leave the anti-vivisectionists to reconcile, if they 
 can, their present with their past attitude on the subject. 
 Logical consistency is not their strong point, and we have 
 no doubt they will again shift the issue if such a course 
 should appear to be demanded by the exigencies of their 
 position. 
 
 " The real contention just now is this : Vivisection has con- 
 ferred benefits on humanity and oflfers the prospect of further 
 and probably even greater benefits in the future ; but we 
 have no right to purchase those benefits at the cost of suf- 
 fering to the lower animals, and if we do so our moral nature 
 suffers in the process, and in the long run the loss to humanity 
 will be greater than the gain. This is a perfectl}^ intelligible 
 argument and one which we regard with unfeigned respect. 
 
 " Cruelty to the lower animals is one of the basest and 
 meanest of vices, and, as Charles Darwin said upon a memor- 
 able occasion, is 'worthy of detestation and contempt.' The 
 real question turns upon what is meant by cruelty. The al- 
 most universal practice of humanity permits the killing of 
 animals for food. It is idle to contend that this does not in- 
 volve immense suffering. The modes of slaughter employed 
 are not, and perhaps cannot be, easy and painless. Even if 
 they were, the mere deprivation of healthful and joyous ex- 
 istence — such as that of the young lamb upon the hillside — 
 must be reckoned cruelty, if we are to be strict in our defi- 
 nition of the term. But we have grown accustomed to these 
 things, and we eat our dinners without any qualms regarding 
 our moral right to our beefsteak or our leg of mutton. 
 Further, the methods of preparing animals for slaughter and 
 for the table are often such as involve great and unnecessary 
 sufiering, but our moralists are silent upon the subject of 
 jpate defoie gras and crimped salmon. Stronger still is the 
 case of sport. Hunting, fishing, and shooting are all pur- 
 sued at the expense of much suffering on the part of the 
 lower animals, and the argument is, of necessity, in many 
 cases at least, wholly inapplicable. We are not disposed to 
 assail sport, in defence of which much may be said, but we 
 are deliberately of opinion that there is more suffering in- 
 
26 
 
 flicted on the English and Scotch moors during a single week 
 in September than in all the biological laboratories of Europe 
 in a year. Can vivisection be condemned and sport exoner- 
 ated ? We hold that the case in favor of the former is in- 
 comparably stronger than that in favor of the latter. The 
 advancement of knowledge, the mitigation of human misery, 
 the prevention of disease — surely these are infinitely higher 
 and nobler motives for the infliction of pain than mere health- 
 ful exercise and transient enjoyment. We confess to feel- 
 ings of wonder and indignation when we see the biological 
 investigator assailed with opprobrium while the sportsman is 
 exonerated or applauded, and we regard such an attitude as 
 worthy only of those days when it was a crime to examine a 
 corpse, and when Vesalius ran the gauntlet of sharp per- 
 sonal peril in laying the foundations of the science of an- 
 atomy. Our duty to the lower animals is too large a subject 
 for us to consider here. We repeat that unnecessary cruelty 
 is odious and loathsome, but life is difficult, disease and suf- 
 fering are terrible realities, and we have no doubt in our 
 minds that the most enlightened humanity will continue to 
 countenance as necessary and unavoidable the infliction of 
 a measure of pain upon the lower animals for the benefit of 
 mankind." 
 
 YlVISECTION IN THE PuBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 The following is a copy of a letter from the Superintendent 
 of Public Schools in the District of Columbia : 
 
 Office of Superintendent of Public Schools, 
 Franklin School, 
 Washington, D. C, April "lUh, 1896. 
 Dear Sir : In answer to your favor of the 16th inst. I 
 beg to say as follows : 
 
 First. Vivisection does not take place in any form in any 
 of the public schools of the District of Columbia by au- 
 thority. 
 
 Second. Vivisection has never been practised in the schools 
 of the District of Columbia so far as I have been able to 
 ascertain after the most diligent inquiry. 
 
27 
 
 Third. No legislation is necessary on this subject, because 
 the authorities of the schools are radically opposed to vivi- 
 section except by experts for scientific purposes, and will 
 do everything in their power, without legislation, to prevent 
 its occurrence in the public schools. 
 
 I suspect that if it has been thought by any one that vivi- 
 section is practised the impression has come from the fact 
 that much dissection is practised in the teaching of physiol- 
 ogy, as our method of teaching is objective whenever it can 
 be made so. Every school, therefore, draws heavily upon 
 the neighboring markets for specimens of eyes, lungs, brains, 
 joints, sections of bone and muscle, etc. 
 I am, 
 
 Yours very respectfully 
 
 (Signed) W. B. POWELL, 
 
 Supt. 
 Dr. Ch. Wardell Stiles. 
 
 Vivisection and Dissection in the Public Schools.* — In 
 its March number. Our Animal Friends, which is the 
 organ of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty 
 to Animals, justly deprecates the enactment of a law " to 
 prohibit the (sic) vivisection and dissection in the public 
 schools of this State " (New York), as a bill is entitled that 
 was before the legislature recently. Our contemporary 
 says : 
 
 "During the long experience of our society it has been 
 found that nothing obstructs our work more surely than at- 
 tempted needless special legislation, and it rarely happens 
 that a session of the legislature passes without the intro- 
 duction of some well-meant bill, the only certain effect of 
 which would be to Aveaken, and not to strengthen, the 
 present excellent laws for the protection of animals. The 
 bill above quoted is distinctly of that class ; and we shall 
 now proceed to show (1) that the evil which it is intended 
 
 *From the New York Medical Journal of March 21. 1896. 
 
28 
 
 to correct does not exist in this State ; (2) that the existing 
 law is amply sufficient to prohibit its introduction and to 
 suppress it if it should be introduced ; and (3) that the bill, 
 if it should be enacted, would have no other eti'ect than to 
 weaken the provisions of the present law in this very matter 
 of vivisection. 
 
 " Since November last we have had repeated statements 
 made to us that vivisection has been practised in three of 
 the public schools of the State. These three are the only 
 schools against which the charge has been brought. 
 In one of them the evidence is so absurdly self-con- 
 tradictory as to prove the whole story to be a mere 
 canard, and an investigation into the other two has 
 proved the charge to be equally unfounded. The prin- 
 cipal of one of the schools writes in the following explicit 
 terms : ' Vivisection never has been and never is likely to be 
 practised in our school ; ' and the principal of the other 
 writes, not less explicitly : ' No demonstrations or experi- 
 ments upon living animals have ever been performed here.' 
 As these are the only schools in which so much as a rumor 
 of the practice of vivisection has reached us, and as we be- 
 lieve it would not be possible for that practice to be intro- 
 duced into any part of this State without some report of it 
 reaching the office of our society, we feel ourselves at liberty 
 to affirm with confidence that vivisection is not practised in 
 the public schools of the State of New York. It follows, as 
 a matter of course, that no law is required for the suppres- 
 sion of a practice Avhicli does not in fact exist. * * * 
 
 " For these reasons — because the nefarious practice of 
 vivisection in the public schools does not exist in the State 
 of New York ; because the present law is amply sufficient 
 for its suppression if it did, or should exist ; and because 
 the only effect of the proposed law, so far as vivisection is 
 concerned, would be to bring the present law into doubt, and 
 so to weaken its efficiency — therefore, we are constrained, 
 with entire respect for the promoters of the measure, to hope 
 that it may not be passed by the legislature." 
 
 BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 
 Dr. Daniel E. Salmon, Chief. 
 The following brief statement of investigations by the 
 Bureau of Animal Industry, though not complete, is suffi- 
 
29 
 
 cient to set forth the vahie of animal experimentation to 
 the agricultural and commercial interests of the country : 
 
 DIVISION OF ANIMAL PATHOLOGY. (1884-1896.) 
 Present Chief, Dr. V. A. Mooke. Former Chief, De. Theobold Smith. 
 
 The discovery of the power to produce immunity with ster- 
 ilized cultures. 
 
 Investigations into the various methods of protecting swine 
 against swine plague and hog-cholera by inoculations. 
 
 Investigations to determine if the disease of cattle existing 
 in the United States in 1884 was identical with the contagious 
 pleuro-pneumonia of Europe. 
 
 The discovery of the bacillus of swine plague. The de- 
 termination of its power to resist disinfectants, and the meth- 
 ods for preventing the spread of the disease. 
 
 Investigation to determine if the vaccine for the disease 
 known as roxiget of swine could be used to prevent hog- 
 cholera. 
 
 The determination of several varieties of hog-cholera and 
 swine plague. 
 
 The discovery of the specific cause of Texas fever, the 
 way it is transmitted from the southern to northern cat- 
 tle, and consequently the development of methods by which 
 cattle from the infected districts in the South may be shipped 
 to the Northern markets without spreading the disease. 
 
 The discovery of the cause of a destructive disease in tur- 
 keys and the method by which the disease is trausmittted. 
 
 Experiments which have shown that a disease of cattle 
 known as the cornstalk disease is not a contagious disease. 
 
 The determination of rabies in outbreaks of cattle disease, 
 the nature of which was heretofore not understood. 
 
 The diagnosis of rabies in a large number of dogs in the 
 District of Columbia and vicinity. 
 
 Many investigations which have shed much light upon the 
 variability of infectious diseases, and upon the efficiency of 
 attenuated, filtered, and heated cultures, blood serum from 
 
30 
 
 immune and healthy animals in producing immunity against 
 infectious diseases of animals, such as hog-cholera and swine 
 plague. 
 
 The discovery of pathogenic bacteria resembling the swine- 
 plague bacillus iu the air passages of a large percentage of 
 the domesticated animals. This is important in explaining 
 the cause of sporadic pneumonia. 
 
 Investigations into the pathology of diphtheria in poultry. 
 
 Investigations into the pathologj of sporadic pneumonia 
 which have been of great value commercially, as it has fre- 
 quently been diagnosed contagious pleuro-pneumonia. 
 
 Many investigations into the nature of glanders, anthrax, 
 symptomatic anthrax and tuberculosis, which have been of 
 great value in enabling a positive diagnosis to be made and 
 means afforded for preventing their spread to other animals, 
 and possibly man. 
 
 BIOCHEMIC LABOKATORY. (1890-189G.) 
 Dr. E. A. DE ScHWEiNiTZ, Chief. 
 
 Isolation of the poisons of the hog-cholera germ and 
 their relation to immunity from this disease. 
 
 Isolation of the poisons of the swine-plague germ and 
 their relation to immunity. 
 
 Further study of the poisons of the glanders bacilli and 
 their relation to immunity and the practical use of mallein. 
 
 Further study of the poisons of the tuberculosis bacillus 
 and the practical value and use of tuberculin. 
 
 The isolation and study of the attenviated tuberculosis 
 bacillus and its relation to immunity. 
 
 The isolation and study of an attenuated diphtheria 
 bacillus. 
 
 The possibility of the transmission of disease by oleomar- 
 garine, etc. 
 
 The immunizing property of the blood serum of animals 
 immune to the hog-cholera and swine-plague germs. 
 
 The immunizing property of the serum of animals ren- 
 dered resistant to tuberculosis. 
 
31 
 
 ZOOLOGICAL LABOEATORY. (1891-1896.) 
 Dr. Ch. Waedell Stiles. 
 
 Experiments upon the life history of various animal par- 
 asites, as : 
 
 Determination of the life history and American interme- 
 diate host of the giant thorn-headed worm {Echinorhyndms 
 gigns). 
 
 Refutation of the supposed direct development of the 
 adult cestodes {^axiicwl-Avly Moniezia exjjansa and 31. pia- 
 nissimo) of cattle, sheep, and allied animals. 
 
 Demonstration of the non-transmissibility of Tcenia sagi- 
 nata to sheep, thus excluding mutton as source of infection. 
 
 Numerous experiments on the transmissibility and non- 
 transmissibility of various scab insects from one animal to 
 another. 
 
 Studies on the life history of the large American Fluke 
 {Fasciola magna). 
 
 Numerous experiments upon trichinosis in order to de- 
 termine the duration of " pickling " necessary to render 
 trichinous pork wholesome. 
 
 Experiments in the determination of doses of certain 
 anthelmintics. 
 
 Experiments upon the vitality of the eggs of certain par- 
 asites. 
 
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