RETURN showing the Number and Nature of EXPERIMENTS on LIVING ANIMALS during the Year 1924, under LICENCES granted under the Act 39 & 40 Vict. c. 77.

GREAT BRITAIN.

SIR,

1st June, 1925.

I HAVE the honour to submit the following Report on Experiments performed in Great Britain during the Year 1924, under the Act 39 & 40 Vict. c. 77, including

(a) The names of all persons who have held licences during any part of the year, together with a statement of the Special Certificates which were in force, and of the Registered Places at which the Licences were valid;

(b) The total number of experiments returned during 1924, classified and arranged according to their nature.

REPORT.

The names of all "registered places" are given in Table I. Twentysix new places were registered for the performance of experiments, and four places were removed from the register during the year. All licensees were restricted to the registered place or places specified on their licences, with the exception of those who were permitted to perform inoculation experiments in places other than a "registered place," with the object of studying outbreaks of disease occurring in remote districts or in circumstances which render it impracticable to perform the experiment in a "registered place."

The names of all those persons who held licences during 1924 are contained in Table II. The total number of licensees was 1,042. Reports have been furnished by (or, in a few exceptional cases, on behalf of) these licensees in the form required by the Secretary of State. The reports show that 239 licensees performed no experiments.

Table III. shows the number of experiments returned by each of the 803 licensees who performed experiments, specifying whether these experiments were done under the licence alone or under any special certificates. The Table is divided into two parts, A. and B., for the purpose of separating experiments which were performed without anæsthetics from experiments in which anæsthetics were used.

The total number of experiments included in Table III. (A.— experiments with anæsthetics) is 9,162.

Table III. (B.) is devoted entirely to inoculations, hypodermic injections, and some few other proceedings, performed without anæsthetics. It includes 168,653 experiments, whereof there were performed

In no case has a Certificate dispensing entirely with the use of anæsthetics been allowed for an operative proceeding more severe than subcutaneous venesection. Serious operations are always required to be performed under an anesthetic, and all such cases appear therefore in Table III. (A.).

The total number of experiments is 177,815, being 43,032 more than in 1923. The number of experiments included in Table III. (A.) shows a decrease of 893, and that in Table III. (B.) an increase of 43,925.

Of the 9,162 experiments included in Table III. (A.), 1,109, performed under Certificate B., are simple inoculations into the skin of guinea-pigs, which were anesthetised in order to keep the animals motionless during the introduction of a minute quantity of the fluid to be tested for the purpose of standardisation. Of the remaining 8,053 experiments in this table, comprising all the cases in which any serious operation is involved, 4,324 were performed under licence alone, or under Certificate C., and therefore come under the provision of the Act that the animal must be kept under an anesthetic during the whole of the experiment, and must, if the pain is likely to continue after the effect of the anaesthetic has ceased, or if any serious injury has been inflicted on the animal, be killed before it recovers from the influence of the anesthetic.

In experiments performed under Certificate B., or B. linked with EE. or F., the initial operations are performed under anæsthetics, from the influence of which the animals are allowed to recover. Except in a few cases, such as, for example, experiments which deal with the efficiency

* In experiments performed under licence alone, the animal must, during the whole of the experiment, be under the influence of some anæsthetic of sufficient power to prevent the animal feeling pain; and the animal must, if the pain is likely to continue after the effect of the anesthetic has ceased, or if any serious injury has been inflicted on the animal, be killed before it recovers from the influence of the anesthetic which has been administered.

Certificate C. allows experiments to be performed, under the foregoing provisions as to the use of anæsthetics, in illustration of lectures.

Certificate B. exempts the person performing the experiment from the obligation to cause the animal on which the experiment is performed to be killed before it recovers from the influence of the anaesthetic; and when the animal is a dog or a cat, Certificate EE. is also necessary.

Certificate A. allows experiments to be performed without anæsthetics; and when the animal on which the experiment is performed is a dog or a cat, Certificate E. is also necessary.

Certificate F. is required in all cases of experiments on a horse, ass, or mule. z (15)24557(22469) Wt 6686-C 283 750 8/25 (Item 10)

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of antiseptics, the operations are required to be performed antiseptically, so that the healing of the wounds shall, as far as possible, take place without pain. If the antiseptic precautions fail, and suppuration occurs, the animal is required to be killed. It is generally essential for the success of these experiments that the wounds should heal cleanly and the surrounding parts remain in a healthy condition. After the healing of the wounds the animals are not necessarily, or even generally, in pain, since experiments involving the removal of important organs, including portions of the brain, may be performed without giving rise to pain after the recovery from the operation; and after the section of a part of the nervous system, the resulting degenerative changes are painless.

In the event of a subsequent operation being necessary in an experiment performed under Certificate B., or B. linked with EE. or F., a condition is attached to the licence requiring all operative procedures to be carried out under anæsthetics of sufficient power to prevent the animal feeling pain; and no observations or stimulations of a character to cause pain are allowed to be made without the animals being anæsthetised.

In no case has a cutting operation more severe than a superficial venesection been allowed to be performed without anesthetics.

The experiments included in Table III. (B.), 168,653 in number, are all performed without anæsthetics. They are mostly inoculations, but some are feeding experiments, or the administration of various substances by the mouth or by inhalation, or by external application, or the abstraction of blood by puncture or simple venesection. In no instance has a certificate dispensing with the use of anæsthetics been allowed for an experiment involving a serious operation.

It will be seen that the operative procedures in experiments performed under Certificate A., without anæsthetics, are only such as are attended by no considerable, if appreciable, pain. The certificate is, in fact, not required to cover these proceedings, but to allow of the subsequent course of the experiment. The experiment lasts during the whole time from the administration of the drug, or injection, until the animal recovers from the effects, if any, or dies, or is killed, a period possibly extending over several days, or even weeks. The substance administered may give rise to poisoning, or set up a condition of disease, either of which may lead to a fatal termination. To administer to an animal such a poison as diphtheria toxin, for example, or to induce such a disease as tuberculosis, although it may not be accompanied by acute suffering, is held to be a proceeding "calculated to give pain," and therefore experiments of the kind referred to come within the scope of the Act 39 & 40 Vict. c. 77. The Act provides that, unless a special certificate be obtained, the animal must be kept under an anæsthetic during the whole of the experiment; and it is to allow the animal to be kept without an anesthetic during the time required for the development of the results of the administration that Certificate A. is given and allowed in these cases.

It must not be assumed that the animal is in pain during the whole of this time. In cases of prolonged action of an injected substance, even when ending fatally, the animal is generally apparently well, and takes its food as usual, until a short time before death. The state of illness may only last a very few hours, and in some cases it is not observed at all.

In a very large number of the experiments included in Table III. (B.) the results are negative, and the animals suffer no inconvenience whatever from the inoculation. These experiments are therefore entirely painless. The following "pain condition " is attached to the licence in respect of all experiments under either Certificate A. or Certificate B. :—

If an animal, after and by reason of any of the said experiments under the said Certificate is found to be suffering pain which is either severe or is likely to endure, and if the main result of the experiment has been attained, the animal shall forthwith be painlessly killed.

If an animal, after and by reason of any of the said experiments, is found to be suffering severe pain which is likely to endure, such animal shall forthwith be painlessly killed, whether the main result of the experiment has been attained or not.

If any animal appears to an Inspector to be suffering considerable pain, and if the Inspector directs such animal to be destroyed, it shall forthwith be painlessly killed.

The returns show that during the year 1924, 8,083 experiments were performed by twelve licensees in the course of cancer investigations. Of these 329 are in Table III. (A.) and 7,754 in Table III. (B.). The latter are almost entirely inoculations into mice, or exposure of animals to radiations.

A large number of experiments, almost wholly simple inoculations and similar proceedings contained in Table III. (B.), were performed either on behalf of official bodies, with a view to the preservation of the public health, or directly for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Several County Councils and Municipal Corporations have their own laboratories in which bacteriological investigations are carried on, including the necessary tests on living animals; and many others have arrangements by which similar observations are made on their behalf in the laboratories of Universities, Colleges, and other Institutions. A sewage farm is registered as a place in which experiments on living animals may be performed in order that the character of the effluent may be tested by its effects on the health of fish. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries have laboratories which are registered for the performance of experiments having for their object the detection, prevention and study of diseases of man and animals. In other places experiments have been performed on behalf of the Home Office, the Admiralty, the War Office, the Ministry of Pensions, the Chemical Warfare Committee, the Medical Research Council, the Naval Medical Service, the Army Medical Service, the Royal Air Force, the Army Veterinary Service, the Welsh National Memorial Association, and the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

One hundred and ninety-eight licensees report over 43,000 experiments which were performed for Government Departments, County Councils, Municipal Corporations, or other Public Health Authorities; and forty-four licensees performed over 76,000 experiments for the preparation and testing of antitoxic sera and vaccines, and for the testing and standardising of drugs.

During the year the several registered places have been frequently visited by the Inspectors, and a large number of experiments have been

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witnessed. For the most part visits have been made without previous notice. We have found the animals suitably lodged and well cared for, and the licensees generally attentive to the requirements of the Act and the conditions attached to their licences by the Secretary of State. The following irregularities have been reported :

1. In the course of a conjoint investigation two licensees holding Certificate B. performed an experiment on rabbits which was not specified in the certificate. The animals had made a good recovery and there was no reason to think they had suffered seriously. The licensees admitted carelessness in having overlooked the terms of their certificates and as there appeared to be no intention of committing an irregularity it was considered sufficient to admonish them.

2. A licensee holding Certificate A. for inoculations, applied a culture of the tubercle bacillus to the conjunctiva of an animal. He explained that he believed his certificate covered this procedure and that he had therefore acted under a misapprehension. He was admonished.

3. A licensee holding Certificate B. for the withdrawal of blood from the umbilical vessels, removed the foetus from the uterus. He explained that the irregularity had been committed inadvertently and he was admonished.

4. A licensee holding Certificate B. for a specified number of experiments, exceeded his allowance. He stated in his explanation that he acted under a misapprehension. He was admonished and as he had ceased to work at the place for which his licence was available, the licence was revoked and the certificate disallowed.

I have the honour to be,
Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

J. A. GILES,
Inspector.

To the Right Hon. Sir William Joynson-Hicks, Bart., M.P.,
Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Note. The Advisory Committee appointed by the Secretary of State to assist him with advice in the administration of the Act consisted ofThe Right Honourable the VISCOUNT CAVE, G.C.M.G. (Chairman-appointed 28th March 1924),

Sir JOHN ROSE BRADFORD, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.B.E., M.D., D.Sc.,
F.R.C.P., F.R.S.,

Sir ARCHIBALD E. GARROD, K.C.M.G., M.D., F.R.S. (appointed
4th October 1924),

Sir WILLIAM BATE HARDY, M.A., F.R.S.,

Sir D'ARCY POWER, K.B.E., F.R.C.S.,

Sir SEYMOUR JOHN SHARKEY, M.D., F.R.C.P., and

Sir CHARTERS JAMES SYMONDS, K.B.E., C.B., M.D., M.S.