Pacific and Atlantic
Not man alone, but animals also have benefited by experimental work. The best example of this is the conquest of hydrophobia.
The False Stand of the Antivivisectionists
We have seen that all these great advances in medicine and surgery have been made as the result of experiments on living mammals, and you will agree, I believe, that in all probability further advances in these fields must be brought about by the same means. This is the opinion of practically all eminent physicians and surgeons and veterinarians, and of all the great scientists and educators in other fields—in short, it is the opinion of all persons who have vast responsibilities for the health of men and of animals. The only persons who are opposed to these reasonable experiments are the antivivisectionists, who have no such responsibilities. Would any sane person think of going to the antivivisectionists for help if there were an epidemic of smallpox or diphtheria, or if there were an outbreak of hog cholera or of blackleg in cattle? We don’t go to them because they know nothing about such matters. Yet they boldly contradict all competent authorities and tell us that experiments on animals are useless, that they have never accomplished anything. The antivivisection societies are composed largely of well disposed but woefully misinformed persons. And those who are responsible for the misinformation are the leaders of the antivivisectionists. I have been studying these leaders for some years, and I may say, without any danger of my statements being disproved, that among them may be found many of the most dangerous of the criminal insane to be found in this country today—and I have recently visited some of our largest penitentiaries and asylums. I have found some of these leaders of the antivivisection movement to be guilty of falsehood, slander, libel, perjury, forgery, and attempted bribery. Under false pretenses they obtain money from weakminded and unthinking people and, with this money, they wilfully and perennially attempt not only to prevent the advance of medicine and surgery, but also to break down the bulwarks of preventive medicine by teaching contempt of vaccination and of the use of antitoxins.
Few of the criminals in our jails are responsible for the deaths of more than a small number of persons; few of them have attempted widespread destruction of life. But it is the opinion of eminent physicians that through the pernicious teachings of the antivivisection leaders we shall in a few years have epidemics that will destroy the lives of many thousands of children. Unless we wish for a return of the plagues and pestilences that once devastated wide areas on this world before the introduction of modern methods, we should use every means in our power to discourage these dangerous fanatics. I believe that it is the duty of all good citizens who belong to antivivisection societies to send in their resignations at once, and to stand with our government, our great physicians, surgeons, veterinarians, agriculturalists, educators, and divines in approving and supporting properly conducted animal experimentation and sane humane education generally.
After the presentation of this paper by Mr. Baynes before the American Society of Mammalogists, at its fifth annual meeting, May 15 to 17, 1923, in the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, the Society unanimously passed these resolutions:
Whereas, It is a fact known to all thinking people that most of the great advances in medicine and surgery have been made as a result of experiments on living animals, especially mammals, and
Whereas, It is the belief of our eminent physicians, surgeons, and veterinarians, and all others having great responsibility for the health of human beings and of animals, that future advances in these fields will be made chiefly as the result of similar experiments, and
Whereas, It is known that these experiments almost invariably are conducted humanely and with a minimum of discomfort to the animals used, and