April 23, 2004

'Making Mice: Standardizing Animals for American Biomedical Research, 1900-1955'

By NINA C. AYOUB

Unkindly labeled vermin or pest, Mus musculus, the common mouse, has had PR problems throughout history. But one place mice are welcome, if involuntary, guests is in the scientific laboratory.

Before 1900, mice entering a lab were most likely scrounging for food or shelter, writes Karen Rader, a historian of science at Sarah Lawrence College. Decades later, they had become lab fixtures. Ask a biologist today "why mice?" she says, and you will get a rote set of murine attributes: tiny

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