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Darwin Correspondence Project

Vivisection: first sketch of the bill

Strictly Confidential

Mem: This print is only a first sketch. It is being now recast with a new & more simple form – but the substance of the proposed measure may be equally well seen in this draft.

R.B.L. | 2

586 Darwin and vivisection

EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS.

Sketch of Bill, No. 1

Arrangement of sections.

Preamble.

Section 1. —Authority to make experiments may be granted by Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home Department.

“ 2. —Mode of application for license.

“ 3. —Who shall give certificate.

“ 4. —Duration of license.

“ 5. —Professors not to make painful experiments for demonstration or illustration.

“ 6. —Licensed persons to use anasthetics in all painful experiments when possible.

“ 7. —Licensed persons to make painful experiments only for research.

“ 8. —Animals to be killed after painful experiments.

“ 9. —Unlicensed persons making painful experiments to be liable for penalties of Cruelty to Animals Act.

“ 10. —Penalty on licensed persons experimenting otherwise than according to Act.

“ 11. —Renewal of license.

“ 12. —Licensed persons experimenting to be not liable under Cruelty to Animals Act.

“ 13. —Title of Act.

Schedule: —

Form of Application.

Form of Certificate.

Form of License.

EXPERIMENTS ON ANIMALS

Preamble. Whereas it is for the public advantage that the sciences of medicine, surgery, anatomy, and physiology should be studied and prosecuted in the most effectual manner, and it is therefore expedient that duly qualified and responsible persons engaged in the prosecution of such sciences should, with a view to advancing and increasing the knowledge thereof, be permitted to perform, under certain restrictions, experiments upon living animals, notwithstanding that such experiments may cause pain to such animals, but it is also expedient to reduce to the smallest possible amount, consistently with the attainment of the above object, the suffering caused to animals by such experiments. Be it enacted as follows:— Authority to make experiments may be granted.

1.—It shall be lawful for Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department to grant to any person, who shall make such an application and produce such a certificate as hereinafter provided, a licence empowering him to make, under the conditions prescribed in this act, experiments on living animals.

Mode of application. 2.—Any person desiring to obtain such license shall make application for the same in the form shown in the Schedule to this Act, and shall duly sign the undertaking included in such application, and shall also produce a certificate in the form shown in the same Schedule. And provided always that, in case of an application by any person being a Professor or Lecturer of or in Physiology, Medicine, Anatomy, or Surgery, in any University in Great Britain, or in any college incorporated by Royal Charter, such a certificate shall not be required, but such application shall be countersigned by the Registrar, President, Principal, or Secretary of the University or College in which the person applying is a Professor or Lecturer.

Who shall sign certificate.

3.—The Certificate referred to in the foregoing Section shall be signed by two at least of the following persons, that is to say: The President of the Royal Society, the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, the President of the College of Physicians, and also by a Professor of Physiology, Medicine, or Anatomy in some University in Great Britain.

Duration of licence. 4.—No licence granted under this act shall remain in force for a longer time than five years from the date thereof, provided only that a licence granted to any such professor or lecturer as is mentioned in the 2nd section may be granted and remain in force for and during such time as he may continue to hold his professorship or lectureship, and to fulfil the duties thereof.

Professors not to make painful experiments for illustration.

5.—It shall not be lawful for any professor, lecturer, or teacher of medicine, surgery, anatomy, physiology, or any other subject, whether holding a licence under this Act or not, in the course of any lecture or lesson given by him, or an any other time, to subject an animal to an experiment of a nature to cause pain for the purpose of demonstration or illustration, unless such animal shall first have been made insensible by the administration of an anasthetic or otherwise, and shall continue to be insensible during the whole of such experiment.

Licences to use anasthetics in all painful experiments when possible.

6.—It shall not be lawful for any person holding a licence under this act to subject any animal to any experiment of a nature to cause pain, unless such animal shall first have been made insensible by the administration of an anasthetic or otherwise, and shall remain insensible during the whole continuance of the experiment, unless the nature of the experiment be such that insensibility cannot be produced without necessarily frustrating the object of the experiment.

Licencees to make painful experiments only for research.

7.—It shall not be lawful for any person holding a licence under this Act to subject any animal to a painful experiment for the purpose of illustrating any established fact, or the purpose of acquiring skill in operating, but such experiments shall be made by him only for the purpose of discovering and investigating the causes of facts which have not before been explained, and with a view to advancing the knowledge of Physiology, Medicine, Anatomy, or Surgery, or some one of such sciences.

Animals to be killed after painful experiments.

8.—Every animal subjected to an experiment, the nature whereof shall be such as to seriously injure the animal, or as to cause it to suffer after the conclusion of the experiment, shall be killed immediately on the conclusion of the experiment; and any person who shall perform an experiment of such nature as aforesaid, and who shall not cause the animal subjected thereto to be killed immediately on the conclusion thereof, shall be liable to the penalty specified in the 10th section.

Unlicensed persons making painful experiments to be liable to penalties of Cruelty to Animals Act.

9.—Any person not holding a licence under this Act who shall make an experiment on any animal in such manner as to cause to such animal pain or suffering, shall be deemed to have committed the offence of cruelly torturing and abusing such animal, and shall be liable to the same penalties as he would have incurred under the powers of the Act 12 & 13 Victoria, chapter 92, had he cruelly tortured and abused a domestic animal, and the procedure for prosecuting any person offending against the provisions of this Act shall be that which is provided by the said Act, of the 12th & 13th Victoria.

Penalty on licencees experimenting otherwise than according to this Act.

10.—Any person holding a licence under this Act who shall make any experiment upon a living animal otherwise than in acordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be subject to a penalty not exceeding L50 for the first offence, and for any subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding one month; and the procedure for the prosecution of any person so offending shall be the same as is provided by the Act 12 & 13 Vic., cap. 92, for the prosecution of offences under that Act.

Renewal of licence. 11.—It shall be lawful for the Secretary of State, upon receiving from any person holding a licence under this Act, an application for the renewal thereof, to grant such renewal, if he should see fit, with or without further enquiry as to the propriety of granting such renewal; and such renewal may be for a period of five years, and may be effected by an endorsement under the hand and seal of the said Secretary of State, declaring that the licence is renewed for a period of five years from the date of the making of the endorsement; and any further renewal of the same licence to the holder thereof may thereafter be granted in like manner.

Licencees experimenting to be not liable under Cruelty to Animals Act.

12.—No person holding a licence under this Act shall be liable to any prosecution in respect of any experiment made by him upon a living animal, unless, in making such experiment, he shall have infringed the provisions of this Act.

Title of Act. 13.—This Act may be cited for all purposes as “The Experiments on Animals Act, 1875.”

SCHEDULE.

Form of Application.

I, M.N., of

(Description and occupation, with particulars of any scientific academical or other like qualification.)

Do hereby declare that I am engaged in the study of the science of physiology, and especially in the making of researches, with the view of advancing physiological knowledge, and that I desire to obtain a licence, under the provisions of “The Experiments on Animals Act, 1875,” empowering me to make experiments on living animals; and I hereby undertake that in making any experiments under such licence, if granted, I will conform to the conditions and restrictions contained in sections numbered 8, 9, 10, 11, of the said act.

(Signed) M.N.

Dated 187.

(These sections to be printed on the back of the application.)

FORM OF CERTIFICATE.

We, A.B., President of the Royal Society, C.D., and E.F., hereby certify, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under the provisions of the Experiments on Animals Act, 1875, that the above-named M.N. is enaged in prosecuting such researches as are described in the above application, and that he is, in our opinion, a person qualified to carry on such investigations, and to have granted to him the licence for which he applies.

(Signed)

Names. Descriptions

A.B.

C.D.

E.F.

Dated this day , 187

FORM OF LICENCE.

I,

Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, having received from M.N., residing at (Description and Occupation.)

an application, under the provisions of the Experiments on Animals Act, 1875, accompanied by Certificate, such as is required by the same Act, of which Certificate and Application copies are appended hereto, do hereby, in exercise of the authority given to me by the said Act, license the said M.N. to make experiments on living animals, in the manner and subject to the conditions and restrictions set forth in the said Act, during the period of 5 years from the date hereof.

(Or, in the case of a Professor or Lecturer, under Section , “for so long as he may retain the duties of his office as such Professor or Lecturer aforesaid.”)

Dated this day of , 187 .

About this article

The manuscript of the first sketch of the bill is in Cambridge University Library, DAR 139.17: 22.

This transcription has been taken from 'Darwin and vivisection', F. Burkhardt et al. eds The correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 23 (1875), Appendix VI, pp. 585–90.  The volumes of the Correspondence are available from Cambridge University Press.