The 1876 British Cruelty to Animals Act introduced an unprecedented administrative system to supervise any experiment “calculated to give pain” to a living animal. The act, which was in force for a hundred years, established a tight system of control over animal experimentation, including a small, but vigorous, inspectorate. This article explores the relations between bureaucracy and the production of knowledge through the correspondences, memos, and notes taken by two principal inspectors under the act. The inspectors belonged to the worlds of both law and science. Coming from within the scientific profession, their close ties to medical social circles not only evoked critique but also helped them fulfill their tasks and gain access to research laboratories. Archival records examined here for the first time show that, although the inspectors downplayed animals’ pain in physiological laboratories, the inspectorate played an important role in shaping the experimental space and practice, thus facilitating the production of “ethical scientific facts.” The inspectors’ work modeled the new legal regime of animal experimentation regulation, making them indispensable agents in the act’s coproduction of knowledge and public order.

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法律与实验室：1890 年代的英国活体解剖检查局

1876 年的英国《虐待动物法》引入了前所未有的管理制度，以监督任何“被计算为给活体动物带来痛苦”的实验。该法案实施了一百年，建立了对动物实验的严格控制系统，包括一个规模虽小但充满活力的检查机构。本文通过两名主要检查员根据该法案记录的信件、备忘录和笔记，探讨了官僚主义与知识生产之间的关系。检查员属于法律和科学领域。他们来自科学界，与医学界的密切联系不仅引起了批评，还帮助他们完成了任务并获得了进入研究实验室的机会。首次在这里审查的档案记录表明，尽管检查员在生理实验室中淡化了动物的痛苦，但检查员在塑造实验空间和实践方面发挥了重要作用，从而促进了“伦理科学事实”的产生。检查员的工作模仿了动物实验监管的新法律制度，使他们成为该法案共同生产知识和公共秩序的不可或缺的代理人。