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J. Findley, W. Robinson, and W. Gilliam of the Johns Hopkins
University Medical School have reported on a restraining chair they
have developed for long-term studies on baboons. Noting that ``the
difficulties of restraint increase markedly with the use of electric
shock'' they ``anchor'' the baboons' arms so as not to allow the
animal to straighten them. At the same time they allow room for
``considerable growth'' to be expected in a long-term study. For the
delivery of electric shock the baboon is fitted with an electrode
around the waist, and other metal parts, including the seat itself,
serve as a second electrode for the delivery of electric current. The
report states that twenty-two baboons and rhesus monkeys have been
restrained in this manner for ``lengthy periods,'' - ``several'' of
them for one-and-a-half years of ``continuous experimentation''.

The same experimenters, joined by J. Brady, then carried out an
experiment in which two baboons were placed in the restraining chairs
and subjected to ``continuously programmed behavioural events''
twenty-four hours a day for over a year. The events included pressing
levers to obtain food and to avoid electric shock, as well as rest and
sleep periods. The baboons, in their chairs, lived in a soundproof
box, four feet by four feet by three feet, which served as an
``experimental chamber.'' For two periods of six hours each in every
twenty-four hours, a red light signalled the onset of electric shocks
every two and one half minutes. If a baboon learned to press a lever
150 times the red light and electric shock would be turned off for a
period of variable duration, averaging five minutes. Sometimes the
shocks would occur before the baboon could complete the lever
pressing, but eventually they learned to avoid ``all but a few
shocks'' every day. The experimenters concluded that the study showed
``the adequacy of the animal restraint ... system for continuous
long-term observation.'' They also measured increases in blood
pressure and heart rate which they said related to the fact that the
baboons had had to perform tasks involving ``aversive contingencies.''
(That is, electric shocks.) They noted that previous studies had been
done on the blood pressure and heartbeat of monkeys under stress.

[Citations: 
 Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour, 15 (1) p. 69 (Jan 1971)
 Communications in Behavioral Biology, 6, p. 49 (1971) ]

- from the book `Animal Liberation' by Peter Singer, pp 64-65.

Peter Singer has been a faculty member at the Philosophy Departments
of New York University and Oxford University.