"In an elaborate discussion of the vexed question of vivisection, Dr. Leffingwell tries to take a mediating position. He is strong in showing that there has been a vast amount of needless and useless suffering to animals caused by vivisection…. Some of his quotations are amazing in showing the indifference and even cold-blooded cruelty of some surgeons."—New York Watchman.
"One of the most thorough books on vivisection yet published is by Dr. Albert Leffingwell, entitled `An Ethical Problem.' It is not the book of an extremist or a crank. Dr. Leffingwell admits the necessity of vivisection in certain circumstances and for certain purposes. His endeavour is not so much to get rid of vivisection as to prove that the problem connected with it is an ethical one; that the practice should be regulated and guided by public authority. His book is thorough, ingenious, and, for the most part, very temperate in expression."—The New York Evening Mail.
"Readers of Dr. Leffingwell's earlier books will expect to find this one written in the same quiet tone, with the same care and accuracy, and they will not be disappointed. The book begins with a history of vivisection in which the reader's chief suprise will be in finding that medical opinion a generation ago was much more humane than now. The humane protests of the last generation seem incredible to-day, when the profession almost to a man stands for the secvret and unlimited exploitation of animals."—S. N. Cleghorn, in Journal of Zoophily.
"This book is devoted to a study and discussion of medical experimentation upon both man and animals. The writer is forced in his literary style, and has long commanded special attention on this particular subject. In a skilful and scholarly manner he treats of the historical development of the agitation in favour of restricted and regulated experimentation. The book should be read by every person interested in the discussion, whether in favour of restriction or not…. All who desire to be placed in touch with the latest word in regard to this important humanitarian question should secure a copy of Dr. Leffingwell's scholarly book."—National Humane Review.
"Dr. Leffingwell analyzes the results of vivisection in America in a masterly way. Many methods of experimentation he finds not only extremely cruel, but valueless. For instance, the raising of the blood-pressure of a dog by scorching its paws, one after the other, so that the blood-pressure might be maintained for twenty minutes. `Of what possible value was such an experiment?' he asks. `Does anyone believe than in a human being, blood-pressure will ever be maintained by slowly scorching the hands and feet of the patient?' … The matter is clearly presented, and is interesting to the layman as well as to the student of physiology."—Hartford Post.
"The ethical problem of which Dr. Leffingwell writes in his interesting and instructive book, is that which arises from the prevailing practice of experimentation for scientific purposes upon animals and human beings…. The book discusses what vivisection is, and what have been the mistakes and abuses done in its name, as well as the present unhappy conditions which surround the practice. The author demonstrates that much of all this vivisection work is not only unnecessary, but absolutely valueless to science. The book is to be commended to all who would know something of what vivisection is, what it does, and what is being done and should still be done to prevent its present useless cruelty."—The Christian Register.
"Perhaps no other man in America has so good a right to speak on vivisection, from the standpoint of an expert, as Dr. Leffingwell. To our mind, he has here gathered in a forceful way the last sane word to be said on this sensitive question. In these nineteen chapters he has discussed almost every phase of the problem. Dr. Leffingwell has occupied a difficult position, standing as he does midway between the contending parties…. He discovers the law of cruelty, and applies it mercilessly. He also discovers the law of sacrifice, and would apply it humanely. In short, this book may well be taken as an encyclopaedia on vivisection, looked at from the standpoint of the moralist and the physician. There are illminating appendices giving technical information, and the chapters are characterized by vigorous England, and a lively sense of a physician's obligations." —Chicago Unity
"If nothing else in the book were to be remembered, it would be valuable that all earnest people should consider the careful analysis of the various positions which have been taken in regard to this position, and the critical definition with which Dr. Leffingwell has striven to replace the varied and unsatisfactory definitions which have been given for the term `vivisection.' … The stand taken by Dr. Leffingwell represents the best-founded position of those interested in protecting animals from needless pain. He contends that vivisection should be restricted rather than abolished. There should be no effort made to prevent those experiments which involve no suffering for animals, and all animal experimentation should be brought under the direct supervision and control of the State. `The practice, whether in public or private, should be restricted by law to certain definite objects, and surrounded by every possible safeguard against license and abuse.' That this is not an aim impossible of attainment has been attested by so famous a scientist as Herbert Spencer, and by a large number of prominent American and English physicians and scientists."—Boston Transcript.
"It is greatly to be regretted that the general public is not more intelligent on the subject of vivisection. It is charged that to-day, in American physiological laboratories and in medical schools as well, helpless animals are subjected to torture…. The testimony to this seems irrefutable; and one is more disposed to give it credence when he knows of the atrocities that have been perpetrated in other countries, and learns that the practice of vivisection is unregulated here….
"It is fortunate that there is available such a book as that just issued by Dr. Albert Leffingwell, a veteran advocate of legal regulation, not prohibition, of vivisection. Persons who would be conversant with a question that ought to receive much more general consideration than it does should read `An Ethical Problem.'