An Ethical Problem Part 25

4. All experiments made upon men or women of ordinary intelligence who, having been fully informed of the nature of the investigation and of whatever distressing or dangerous consequences are obviously liable to result, acknowledge the receipt of satisfactory compensation for all risks, and give in writing their full and free consent.

5. All psychological experiments or tests which involve neither fear, fright, nor mental distress of any kind.

II. Unjustifiable Experimentation upon Human Beings.

Experiments upon human beings which would seem to be immoral, because obviously a violation of human rights, are as follows:

1. ALL EXPERIMENTS, TESTS OR OBSERVATIONS, LIABLE TO INVOLVE ANY DEGREE OF PAIN, DISCOMFORT, OR DISTRESS, MADE UPON DYING CHILDREN, OR CHILDREN APPARENTLY NEAR DEATH, FOR ANY PURPOSE OTHER THAN THEIR PRESENT PERSONAL RELIEF.

2. The use of new-born babes as material for research; the use as material for research of any other defenceless children, in orphanages, asylums, or in their own homes, for any purpose whatever other than the direct personal benefit of the child upon whom the experiment is made. Especially objectionable would seem to be experiments of this character made in connection with the study of syphilis, whether or not any obvious injury is the result.

3. All experiments liable to cause discomfort or distress, made without purpose of definite individual benefit upon the insane, the feeble-minded, the aged and infirm or upon other unfortunate human beings, who, for any reason, are incapable of giving an intelligent consent or of adequately comprehending what is done to them.

4. All experiments of any kin, upon other adults, whether patients or inmates of public inst.i.tutions or otherwise, if made without direct ameliorative purpose and the intelligent personal consent of the person who is the MATERIAL for the research.

5. The experimental exploitation without their free consent, of men, temporarily under command or control of an authority which they have been led to suppose they are not at liberty legally to disobey.

Let us repeat. THERE IS NO OBJECTION TO EXPERIMENTS UPON HUMAN BEINGS, WHEN THERE IS NO INVASION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. The medical student, who, out of zeal for Science, offers his body for any experimental test; the patient in the hosptial, who with adeuqate compensation for what he is asked to undergo, grants consent to some investigation which may help others, though not himself; the poor man who is satisfactorily compensated for all risks, and therefore willing to aid research,--such varieties of human experimentation do not necessarily offend the moral sense. It is the incurable injustice of experimentation upon infancy that can offer no protest but a cry; of experimentation upon the dying child, of experimentation upon the poor, the ignorant, the feeble-minded, the defenceless,--it is experimentation like this which surely deserves the condemnation of mankind.

What is the remedy for human vivisection? It lies in such legislation as shall protect those who, because of infancy, or by reason of ignorance cannot effectively protect themselves. By penalties so heavy that they cannot be safely ignored, the State must forbid the iniquitous exploitation of man by man. No such law need interfere in the slightest degree with the rights of the true physician to aid his fellow-beings; nor can we doubt that the medical profession will finally favour a reform that will indicate the broad line of demarcation separating the unquestioned privilege from the unjustifiable abuse.

CHAPTER XIX

CONCLUSION

In the preceding pages, the attempt has been made to throw light here and there, upon a great and perplexing problem. It has been seen that concerning the past history of experimentation upon living beings, much ignorance still exists; that too implicit and unquestioning trust in the statements of those favourable to unlimited experimentation has, unfortunately, not always conduced to the attainment of truth; that misstatements tinged with inaccuracy have too frequently found acceptance; and that growing out of the unrestricted use of animals in scientific inquiry, the extension of the method, by the use of human material, in certain hospitals has become an accepted procedure.

It is, indeed, an ethical problem, that confronts society, to-day. It would be no less a problem, if every claim of utility made in behalf of human and animal experimentation were proven beyond the possibility of a doubt. Even then, the ethical question would persist. The ultimate decision regarding it remains the personal duty of every man.

Attention has been called, in the preceding pages, to many statements, which a close examination would seem to prove to be misleading and inaccurate. But every discerning reader should recognize that inaccuracy or untruth does not imply the moral obliquity that pertains to intentional falsehood. An experimenter, for example, makes an a.s.sertion regarding the absolute painlessness of his vivisections.

Such statement may be demonstrated, let us say, to be exceedingly doubtful, if not quite untrue. That is as far as legitimate criticism can easily go. It is quite impossible to demonstrate a conscious intent to deceive. To interpret motives, to impute falsehood is to go beyond facts into regions where facts are not to be found, except in exceedingly exceptional cases. One of thet Royal Commissioners expressed this position very clearly. "While I feel bound," wrote Dr. George Wilson, "to accept the a.s.surances of all the expert witnesses who appeared before us, as a.s.surances of their honest conviction that vivisectional or cutting experiments can be, and are carried out without the infliction of pain from the moment the first wound is made, ... I can only accept them AS OPINIONS, to which the greatest weight should be attached, AND NOT AS STATEMENTS OF ABSOLUTE FACT so far as specific instances are concerned." This is exactly the att.i.tude for any critic of vivisection to take. A distinguished physician, testifying before the Commissioners, declared that it was entirely possible to keep a dog in a state of anaesthesia for a week, if necessary. Experimentation in this direction, in all probability would prove the a.s.sertion to be untrue, but although such demonstration would be proof of inaccuracy and carelessness, it could not justify, in any way, the charge of dishonourable motives. In no instance, therefore, in the ill.u.s.trations of inaccuracy given in the preceding pages, is there any imputation of perverse and intentional inveracity.

I have made sufficiently clear, I hope, my disagreement with the views of the extreme antivivisection party concerning all phases of biological experimentation. The weakest point in the antivivisection position has always seemed to me the condemnation of every kind of experimentation on animals, however painless. Yet how is it possible to expect public agreement with this position in every case? A few weeks ago, it was announced in the public press, that in one of the departments of Columbia University in New York, a series of experiments were being made to determine, if possible, the comparative food value of two articles in general use. If, for instance, a certain number of mice were fed from day to day upon pure b.u.t.ter, and an equal number upon the artificial product known as "oleo-margarine,"

would there be any perceptible difference in growth and general condition, and, if so, in favour of which group? This is an experiment upon animals; but it is one against which it would be difficult to bring forward any objection which the general public would very eagerly endorse. Distinctions must be made, between that which is cruel and that which is humane. "AGAINST PERFECTLY PAINLESS EXPERIMENT," said Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, "carried out for purely experimental and great objects by men who themselves regret the necessity or expediency, and who only act under a strict sense of duty, no reasonable mind can raise an objection."

On the other hand, let me reiterate acknowledgment of the vast indebtedness which the cause of humaneness owes to the opponents of all vivisection. Always and everywhere, the extremist helps in the progress of reform. But for a few hated and despised abolitionists, negro slavery might still be a recognized American inst.i.tution; it was not Henry Clay or Daniel Webster who did most to hasten its downfall.

That antivivisectionists have made mistakes, perhaps their most ardent advocate would be willing to concede. On the other hand, how great has been their service! But for extremists such as Frances Power Cobb of England and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps-Ward of America and a host of others whose hearts were aflame with indignation at cruelty and at the seeming duplicity which denied its existence, the whole question would have sunk into the abeyance in which in France or Germany, it to-day exists. They kept it alive. And what have not the antivivisectionists suffered by detraction, by ridicule, by misrepresentation and personal abuse! The most eloquent woman to whom I have ever listened, English only by adoption, faced without flinching some of the most skilled vivisectors and controversialists of Great Britain, who endeavoured in vain to weaken the force of her testimony; and the examination of Miss Lind-ap-Hageby by certain of the vivisecting members of the Royal Commission seems to me a more brilliant instance of the presentation of ideals under adverse circ.u.mstances than is afforded by any similar examination of man or woman in modern times. Personal disagreement with universal condemnation of all vital experimentation has been sufficiently stated; but one view of the antivivisectionists applies equally to the prohibition of painful experiments. "I believe," said Miss Lind, "that the abolution of vivisection will be accompanied by great changes and great developments in the whole science of medicine; that new methods of healing will come in, and higher methods, as we know that the coa.r.s.er medication and the coa.r.s.er drugging are going out of fas.h.i.+on."[1] The same view was expressed by Dr. Kenealy, another witness, regarding the prohibition of all animal experimentation. "I think it would give the finest possible impulse to medical science; that we are surrounded by all these problems of disease and degeneration and suffering in human kind; and that if we were to devote our attention to man, and to all the valuable human material surrounding us, instead of wasting valuable time and talent on dogs and guinea-pigs, we should make rapid and immense advance in the relief of human suffering."[2] Somewhat the same sentiment has been expressed by others not opposed to animal experimentation. "It may be admitted," said Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, whose scientific zeal, no one can question, "that whether painful experimentation be useful or useless, it has had one indifferent effect; it has diverted the minds of men too strongly from methods of research that not only lie open to the curious mind, but which lie temptingly open." And speaking of medical treatment for disease, he says: "Treatment at this time is a perfect Babel.... Two men scarcely ever write the same prescription for the same disease or the same symptom. I have watched the art of prescribing for fifty years, and I am quite sure that divergence of treatment is at this moment far greater than it ever was in the course of that long period. The multiplication of remedies, begotten of experiment, is the chief reason of so much disagreement...

... The modern student has before him a new duty. The experiment of experiment that lies before him therapeutically, is to learn what diseases will recover by mere attention to external conditions without any medicines, and what will not."[3]

[1] Evidence before Royal Commission, Q. 7,627 [2] Ibid., Q. 6,776 [3] "Biological Experimentation," by Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson, F.R.S. Pp. 73, 109.

The unpleasant accompaniment of all criticism is misunderstanding. A protest, a remonstrance of any kind can gain a hearing only after it has been repeated again and again, and even then it is quite as liable as otherwise to be wholly misconstrued. It has been with very great regret that for many years, I have found myself in disagreement with so large a number of medical writers, who have left behind them the conservatism of earlier opinions in the English-speaking world, to follow the newer lights of Continental freedom and irresponsibility.

The regret is the more poignant, because, speaking from the vantage of seventy years, I believe that the highest realization of human hopes for the welfare of our race, must come through medical science. It is, however, to preventive medicine that the world must learn to look, not to the conquest of disease by new drugs or new serums. There are ailments, which every year in England and America are responsible for thousands of preventable deaths. That fifty years hence, these scourges of humanity will be curable by the administration of any remedy, to be hereafter discovered by experimentation on animals,--in the Rockefeller Inst.i.tute, for instance,--I have not the slightest faith. It is not through the torment of living creatures, not through the limitless sacrifice of laboratory victims, not through the utilization of babes as "material" for research, that medical science will yet achieve for humanity its greatest boon,--the prevention of disease. I venture with confidence, to make that forecast of the future, leaving recognition of its truth to those who shall come after us, when all now living shall have pa.s.sed away.

APPENDIXES

SECOND EDITION

APPENDIX I

"ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION AND MEDICAL PROGRESS"--A REVIEW

By a curious coincidence, two books relating to vivisection were published in America at almost the same time. One, under the above t.i.tle, was a collection of essays and contributions to various periodicals from the pen of Dr. William W. Keen, which have appeared during the past thirty years. The other was the first edition of the present work.

The volume to which the reader's attention is called is chiefly an exposition of the author's views on the scientific value of biological experimentation. With some of his conclusions, there will be little or no dispute among members of the medical profession. But in defending the moethods of physiological experiment, has he been scrupulously accurate and uniformly fair? Is there to be discerned any tendency to exaggeration, to over-statement or to suppression of vital facts? Eager as he is to charge inaccuracy upon others, has he been always accurate himself? Has any authority cited been "garbled," so that quotation conveys an impression inconsistent with the general tenor of a writer's views? What cruelties of past experimentation has this author emphatically condemned? What experimenters upon human kind has he held up to the reprobation of the public? In the entire volume, can one find a single instance wherein a cruel experiment has been censured, or a cruel experimenter been condemned by name? Except in a volume, it would be impossible to indicate all points to which attention should be given; it must suffice here, to direct attention only to a few.

I.

A personal criticism of the writer by Dr. Keen makes necessary a record of the facts. Referring to a certain experiment of a German vivisector, Goltz, Dr. Keen says:

"In 1901 Professor Bowditch called Dr. Leffingwell's attention to the fact that no such operation was ever done. In Dr. Leffingwell's collected essays, ent.i.tled "The Vivisection Question," on p. 169 of the second revised edition (1907), there is, in a footnote a correction admitting that no such operation was ever done(!), but on p. 67 of the same edition, A DESCRIPTION OF THIS SAME OPERATION still remains uncorrected, six years after Bowditch's letter had been received and the misstatement acknowledged."[1]

[1] Keen's "Animal Experimentation," p. 271.

Truth and untruth are sadly intermingled in this paragraph. Let us attempt to disentangle them.

On March 7, 1901, while the collection of essays, known as "The Vivisection Question" was in the printer's hands and on the eve of publication, a note was received from Professor Bowditch of Harvard Medical School, courteously asking the authority for one particular procedure in the long account of the Goltz experiment--the ablation of the breast. In reply to Professor Bowditch, the name of Dr. Edward Berdoe of London was given as the authority upon which the author of "The Vivisection Question" had confidently relied. A letter was at once sent to Dr. Berdoe--a well-known English physician--telling him that one procedure mentioned in the description of the Goltz experiment had been questioned, and asking him for an immediate and careful study of the case. Dr. Berdoe's investigation made it evident that a mistake had been made by the translator upon whose accuracy he had relied; and in the next edition of "The Vivisection Question" at p. 169--(the only page to which Dr. Bowditch had invited attention)-- an acknowledgment was inserted. That it had even the briefest reference elsewhere, was not recalled by the author of the book, for he had not seen it for years.

Nor was this all. To the London Zoophilist and to the Journal of Zoophily in this country, a communication was at once sent. In the latter periodical, the following letter appeared in its issue for July, 1901:

To the Editor of the Journal of Zoophily

MADAM,--A German vivisector, Dr. Goltz of Strasburg, reporting certain experiments he had made upon a dog, declared that it was "marvellous and astonis.h.i.+ng" to find maternal instinct manifested after various severe mutilations. One of these operations was reported to have been excision of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s, so that it could no longer nurse its young, and to this phase of the experiment I have referred in some of my writings.

Recently, Dr. Bowditch of Harvard University has called my attention to this particular mutlation, questioning its occurrence; and on referring the matter ot Dr. Berdoe of London, who was my authority, he finds, after a most painstaking and careful examination at the College of Surgeons, that a mistake in comprehending a phrase was actually made by the translator, upon whose accuracy and acquaintance with the German language dependence seemed secure.

All the details of this Goltz experiment are too horrible to quote; this is not a case where a single experiment has been magnified into a great cruelty; the truth itself is bad enough.[1] It is a fact, however, that one particular mutilation ascribed to Goltz--the ablation of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s--did not in this instance occur.

It has always seemed to me of the utmost importance that in all criticism of vivisection our facts should be absolutely reliable, and that whenever inaccuracies occur, they should be corrected. All that we want is the truth, without concealment of abuse on the one hand, or misstatement on the other. In this case, I am especially glad to make correction. For many years I have been acquainted with the writings of Dr. Berdoe, and I have never found therein the slightest overstatement or exaggeration of any kind. In the twenty-one years I have written in advocacy of some measure of reform in regard to vivisection, this, too, IS THE FIRST INSTANCE IN WHICH AN INACCURACY OF ANY STATEMENT OF MINE REGARDING ANY EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT.

ALBERT LEFFINGWELL.

BROOKLYN, May 31, 1901.

[1] No advocate of unrestricted experimentation, so far as known, has ever dared to print the full details of this Goltz experiment.

In the only essay to which Professor Bowditch has called attention, the statement had been corrected; the fact that an allusion of five or six words in an earlier essay gave an erroneous suggestion, was quite overlooked. But Dr. Keen will have it that there was a "REVISED"

edition, and that in this "A DESCRIPTION OF THIS SAME OPERATION" was given.

There are here two misstatements. There is not the slightest reason for calling it a "revised" edition. Was there a "description given"?