What is the opinion of the law held by men engaged in teaching in the medical schols of England? Do they demand its repeal?
Dr. Pembrey, the Lecturer on Physiology at Guy's Hospital, London, does not like many of the restrictions; yet, being asked if he advocated the abolition of the Vivisection Act, replied: "No, I would not do that…. I think only people interested and people who are competent should be allowed to make vivisection experiments." The professor of physiology in the University of Cambridge, Dr. J. N. Langley, told the Commissioners: "I WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE THE ACT THAN NO ACT. I think it would not be fair to the animals to allow anyone to experiment upon them without control." Dr. Francis Gotch, professor of physiology in the University of Oxford, being asked whether the law had restricted scientific research in experiments upon warm-blooded animals, answered: "No, I do not think it restricts it. I THINK IT HAS OPERATED WELL." Dr. Lorrain Smith, professor of pathology in the Univesity of Manchester, when asked if he had any objection to the present restrictions placed by law upon operations on living animals, answered, "No." Dr. E. H. Starling, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and professor of physiology at University College, London, declared that at the present time, the physiological school in England occupied a very high place in the world, "not inferior to that of any other nation"—surely a strange fact for a country suffering from what the American editor calls "the calamitous measure of 1876"!
Everywhere we find substantially the same testimony. Sir James Russell, being asked whether the law had operated in way of preventing legitimate research, replied in the negative, giving it as his opinion that "the Act has worked with substantial smoothness." Sir Victor Horsley, widely known as an experimenter and as a surgeon, criticized many of the details of the law, yet when asked whether or not he was opposed to the Act altogether, answered: "Oh, no. I look upon the Act as necessary in view of public opinion…. To the purpose of the Act, that experiments should only be done in registered places and only by persons who hold a licence from the Home Secretary, there can be no objection whatever; at least, I cannot see any." Sir John Rose Bradford, professor of medicine at University College Hospital in London, being asked if it might not be better if the Act were abolished altogether, replied: "No; I think experiments on animals should be regulated by an Act." Whether there were any alterations that might be valuable, was a subject to which he had given no thought during recent yeaars. Dr. Dixon, a professor in King's College, declared that in his opinion "THE MEDICAL PROFESSION WOULD BE STRONGLY AGAINST THE ACT BEING REPEALED NOW." Dr. Thane, one of the Government inspectors, admits that science has not suffered materially by any restrictions, and has no recommendations to make. And Dr. Martin, a director of the Lister Institute, being asked if English scientific men "are less advanced than their brethren on the Continent in consequence" of the regulation of vivisection, answered very promptly, "No."
It is impossible here to quote the evidence in full; to do that would require a volume. No one of these experts claimed that the law was perfect; each representative of English science was doubtless able to indicate some detail capable of improvement and pertaining to the better working of the law. But when it came to repealing the law altogether, not one of the distinguished men here quoted was in favour of it. The principle of State regulation, against the adoption of which in America every art of prevarication has been employed, that principle is fully accepted by the English medical profession to-day. Was it fair for the editor of a leading journal to misstate so obvious a fact? Can one imagine that the leading representatives of medical science in England, the leading teachers and professors in medical colleges and schools, would have given the evidence just quoted if for thirty years the "doctors of England" had been flying to the Continent to escape the stringency of the law of 1876? Should we not have found some witness before the Royal Commission of 1906 making allusion to this flight of the doctors of England? It is quite possible that when the law went into operation, over thirty-five years ago, its working was less satisfactory than it is to-day. Was it fair to make these early criticisms annul the evidence given by a large body of representative men before this Commission of the twentieth century in favour of the regulation of vivisection by law? Of course such an editorial tended to strengthen prejudice against legal regulation in America. It did its work. But can success so achieved ever be worth of admiration?[1]
[1] The reader may ask why correction of so inaccurate a statement concerning the English law was not sent to the journal in question. This was done. A synopsis of all the medical opinions here given and taken from the evidence given before the Royal Commission was sent to the editor of the periodical. So fafr as seen, it did not appear.
An editorial in a morning paper would hardly seem worth noticing. Upon the opinions of its readers it makes its impress, and is quickly forgotten. But the same untrue assertions will be made again more than once in order to create prejudice against any legal regulation of vivisection in America. It has seemed worth while, therefore, to set forth the evidence of the absolute untruth of such statements, regarding the English law.[1]
[1] In demonstrating that the English law for the regulation of vivisection is not there regarded with the disapprobation alleged by certain writers in this country, I must not be taken as claiming that the law from a humane standpoint is satisfactory. Until amended as advised by Dr. Wilson, a member of the Royal Commission, it cannot adequately protect animals liable to experimentation from hte possibility of abuse.
The extent to which an untruth concerning vivisection may be worked to create prejudice against reform is afforded by a curious legend concerning the late Lord Lister, one of the most eminent men of the last century.
So far as I have been able to discover, the first appearance of the story was in an address delivered before the Women's Medical College, and reprinted in the Popular Science Monthly of May, 1885, nearly thirty years ago. It thus appears:
"Lister himself, no tyro, but the great master, is still searching for further improvements. But when, lately, he desired to make some experiments on animals, still further to perfect our practice, so many obstructions were thrown in his way in England that HE WAS DRIVEN TO TOULOUSE to pursue his humane researches."