"In order that painful vivisection may be as nearly as possible suppressed, not only by public opinion, but by law, IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT PUBLIC OPINION SHOULD BE FREQUENTLY INFORMED OF WHAT IT IS AND MAY BE. Here lies the work of the antivivisectionist. Further, every laboratory ought to be open to some supervising legal authority competent to determine that it is conducted from roof to cellar on the humanest principles, in default of which it should be, as slavery has been, uncompromisingly prohibited wherever law can accomplish this result." Is the cruelty of unrestricted and unregulated vivisection a reality or a myth? Of his own views on this question we can have no doubt. He says: "A TORTURE OF HELPLESS ANIMALS--MORE TERRIBLE BY REASON OF ITS REFINEMENT AND THE EFFORT TO PROLONG IT THAN BURNING AT THE STAKE, WHICH IS BRIEF--IS NOW BEING CARRIED ON IN ALL CIVILIZED NATIONS, NOT IN THE NAME OF RELIGION, BUT OF SCIENCE." ------------------- "The law should interfere. There can be no doubt that in this relation there exists a case of cruelty to animals far transcending in its refinement and in its horror anything that has been known in the history of Nations. "There will come a time when the world will look back to modern vivisection in the name of Science, as they do now to burning at the stake in the name of Religion." Concerning vivisection, then, the views of one of the most eminent surgeons that America has produced may be summed up as follows: FIRST. He is not favourable to antivivisection, but to restriction. "There is no objection to vivisection except the physical pain." SECOND. The cruelties which pertain to certain vivisections and vivisectors are not myth, but realities. For a description of these cruelties, Dr. Bigelow expressly refers to the literature of protest. THIRD. In defence of vivisection or of unrestricted experimentation, he says that UNTRUTHFUL CLAIMS OF UTILITY have been made. FOURTH. The reasons for inflicting prolonged torment upon animals are wholly inadequate for its justification. FIFTH. Vivisection has a hardening tendency upon its practitioners. The more eminent the vivisector, the more indifferent he may become to the infliction of torment. SIXTH. There is ample reason for the interference of the law. Every laboratory should be legally supervised. Public opinion should be frequently informed concerning vivisection, its objects, and its methods.