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 accumulation 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.
Assuming 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 institutions 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 sex, 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 assistance 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.