aboutthem.ThatiswhyIhavenotattemptedtotonedownor
glossoversomeofthethingsthataredonetoanimals.Atthe
sametimeIhavenottriedtomakethesethingsworsethan
theyreally are.Thereports thatfollow arealldrawnfrom
accounts written by the experimenters themselves and
published by them in the scientific journals in which
experimenters communicate with one another.
Such accounts are inevitably more favorable to the
experimentersthanreportsbyanoutsideobserverwouldbe.
Therearetworeasonsforthis.Oneisthattheexperimenters
willnotemphasizethesufferingtheyhaveinflictedunlessit
isnecessarytodosoinordertocommunicatetheresultsof
theexperiment, and this is rarelythe case.Mostsuffering
therefore goes unreported. Experimenters may consider it
unnecessarytoincludeintheirreportsanymentionofwhat
happenswhenelectric shockdevicesareleftonwhenthey
should have been turned off, when animals recover
consciousness in themidst of an operation because of an
improperly administered anesthetic, or when unattended
animalssickenanddieovertheweekend.Thesecondreason
scientificjournalsareasourcefavorabletoexperimentersis
that they include only those experiments that the
experimentersandeditorsofthejournalsconsidersignificant.
ABritishgovernmentcommitteefoundthatonly aboutone
quarterofexperimentsonanimalseverfoundtheirwayinto
print.^27 Thereisnoreasontobelievethataccountsofahigher
proportionofexperimentsarepublishedintheUnitedStates;
indeedsincetheproportionofminorcollegeswithresearchers
oflessertalentsismuchhigherintheUnitedStatesthanin
Britain,itseemsprobablethatanevensmallerproportionof
experiments yield results of any significance at all.