In his last book “The Astonishing Hypothesis”, Francis Crick lays out his philosophical and scientific opinion on a wide range of matters regarding the brain. He mentions the importance of experiments many times, and he mentions some thoughtful observation:

“Most people do not object to an experimenter fixing electrodes to their scalp in order to study their brain waves. They do, however, object to having a portion of their skulls removed, even temporarily, so that electrodes can be stuck directly into the living brain tissues. Even if a person volunteered to have his head cut open – because he wished to further scientific discovery – no doctor would consent to perform the operation, saying either that it was against his Hippocratic oath or, more realistically, that somebody would be sure to sue him for doing it. In our society, you can volunteer for the armed forces and run the risk of being wounded or killed, but you may not volunteer to undergo dangerous experiments merely to obtain scientific knowledge.

A few brave researchers have done experiments on themselves – J.B.S. Haldane, the British biochemist and geneticist was a striking example. He even wrote an article about it, entitled “On Being One’s Own Rabbit”. There has also been a few heroic medical episodes, such as Sir Ronald Ross showing that malaria is carried by mosquitos, but beyond that people are either discouraged or forbidden to volunteer for experiments that might help to satisfy scientific curiosity” (Page 107-108, The Astonishing Hypothesis).