t was
simply an attempt to get at the real facts concerning the practice as
now carried on. If it be assumed that no objectionable practices
exist, it would seem difficult to oppose such inquiry upon any
reasonable grounds. It might possibly have been expected that the
Laboratory would welcome the opportunity to demonstrate to the general
public that nothing deserving censure could be found to exist.

For reasons not difficult to understand, the proposal to investigate
the laboratory and its methods has been resisted quite as strongly as
if it had been an attempt to prohibit experiments altogether. To
justify rejection of inquiry would not appear to be an easy task. To
create a sentiment of approval of the policy of secrecy it doubtless
seemed necessary to make an appeal to the general public by editorial
utterances, in journals supposed to be impartial and of high standing
in other directions. In a New York daily paper which claims to be
conducted with special regard for respectability and avoidance of
unseemly sensationalism, there appeared, therefore, an editorial
opposing all inquiry on the part of the legislature into the methods
of animal experimentation. It is worth while to see how matters of
history were placed before its readers by one of the most reputable of
New York journals:

"... An outcry was raised against the English doctors in the early
seventies, and it was decided to investigate their laboratories. A
Royal Commission was appointed in 1875 by Queen Victoria. The
Commission took elaborate testimony, and found no material abuse; but
owing to the inflamed state of the public mind, and the attitude of
many members of the medical profession, who at that early date did not
appreciate the importance of the experimental method, a restrictive
law was recommended, which resulted in the calamitous measure of 1876.

"Far from allaying the British agitation, as was expected, the
investigation only served to stimulate it.... A demand was made in
1906 for a second full investigation of laboratory methods. Again a
Royal Commission was created, which took testimony for a year and
half. Its report, submitted in March last year, overwhelmingly
disproved the charges that the medical experiments upon animals are
immoral and unjustifiable.... THE DOCTORS OF ENGLAND HAVE FOR A
GENERATION HAD TO FLEE TO THE CONTINENT to prosecture their necessary
labours. Is the experience of Great Britain to be repeated in t