Excerpt from Experimentation on Living Animals: Hearing Before the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, First Session on S. 3737; A Bill Providing for an Investigation Into the Extent and Conditions of the Practice of Experimentation on Living Animals, June 19, 1916 Dr. Benedict. I feel personally that a-painful experiment is in most cases a foolish experiment, that the introduction of the element of ain would Vitiate the physiological results in most of the matters tch would ultimately come up as practical issues in medicine. Of course, that would not apply to experimentation simply with regard to sensation or the detection of pain but with regard to Visceral action in general the introduction of the element of pain would in most cases Vitiate the value of the experiment. The chairman. You mean they conduct these experiments now without using the known methods of preventing pain? Dr. Benedict. No, sir; I do not mean to imply that at all. I feel personally this way: In the first place, I believe we should have the truth, whatever it is. I would say that about anything, this or anything else, whichever side I take in the matter. I feel that a thorough. Investigation will Show the humane societies and the people generally and the legislatures throughout the country that for the most part in all institutions of a creditable nature every pre caution is taken to avoid pain and that very few of the experiments actually are painful. Only a small minority necessitate pain, and the allegations of cruelty are almost all with regard to what would be violations of the spirit of any reasonable legislation. That is, they involve clumsiness, experimentation even by high-school stu dents or minor students without proper supervision, or persons who have no right to make experiments at all; or they represent careless ness on the part of employees of institutions that none of these gen tlemen who will speak later would recognize as deserving support. I do feel that an investigation of this sort on a large scale, as in any other investigation, undoubtedly will Show certain cases in which improvement can be made. I have known of such cases myself. At the same time, I have done quite a number of didactic vivisections, probably a hundred or two, and assisted at one time in one of the colleges, and I do not know that I ever saw what I would call a cruel vivisection, and I know I never performed one. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.