9. A little later, it was made by the National Canine Defence League,
in these words, "Each experiment may include any number of dogs. There
is no limit fixed by law." On January 11th, 1904, in the _Times_, the
leaflet containing this and other "grossly false and misleading
statements" was vehemently denounced by the National Society.
It would be hard to find a better instance of the spreading of a
false report. An experiment? Oh, it is any number of animals--20 of
them, 30 of them; 200, 300 of them; hecatombs, and triple hecatombs;
any young doctor can get leave to cut them up.
CERTIFICATES E AND EE
For all inoculations and similar proceedings, Certificate A is
necessary. For all experiments where the animal is allowed to recover
from the anæsthetic, Certificate B is necessary. But these
certificates do not extend to the dog, the cat, the horse, the mule,
or the ass. The three latter animals are also scheduled under
Certificate F; the dog and the cat under Certificates E and EE. That
is to say, to inoculate a dog, _e.g._ for the study of the preventive
treatment against distemper, it is necessary to hold a License, _plus_
Certificate A, _plus_ Certificate E; to operate on a dog, and let him
recover, it is necessary to hold a License, _plus_ Certificate B,
_plus_ Certificate EE.
And it is certain that the Home Office does enforce and emphasise here
the spirit of the Act; and that it does guard and restrict and tie up
Certificate EE with its own hands.
Now let us take an instance, which shows in a very unfavourable light
the methods of the National Canine Defence League. Three years ago,
certain experiments were made on dogs, for the purpose of finding the
best way of resuscitating persons apparently drowned. The Home
Secretary was asked whether he knew that certain of these experiments
were to be made without anæsthetics; and he answered, "In view of the
great importance of the subject in connection with the saving of
human life, and of the strong recommendations received in support of
the experiments, I have not felt justified in disallowing the
certificates."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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