Chapter 8 VIVISECTION AND THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE

Let us now leave the opinions of anti-vivisectionists, and carry the problem on to higher ground. Let us see what are the rights of man in Nature, and what is the purpose of human life.

Amidst all the unsettled and contradictory theories accumulated by philosophers, thinkers and founders of religion, there remains scarcely any fixed and immutable theory save that of one dominating principle: The respect and love of our brothers in humanity. All else is contestable and contested. Though we are unable to demonstrate it formally, there is one universal moral law (the great Categorical Imperative of Kant) which commands us to be just and beneficent to our fellow-creatures. All the most subtle sophisms will never be able to persuade me that I ought not, above all things, to feel solicitude for the lives and happiness of men.

I willingly admit that beside man there is the animal, our inferior brother as it has been ingeniously called, so that we have also our duties towards these inferior brothers. But this must never be to the detriment of our real brothers. It seems to me insane to consider the life of a cat of more account than that of a man; the pain of a dog than that of a child. All the more so because living matter, if I may use that expression, possesses varying degrees of perfection; from the sea-weed up to man there are successive stages of living forms which constitute an uninterrupted chain ending in its final phase, which is man.

Man, by his power of thought, and consequently of suffering, by the conception which he is able to make of the non-self, by his faculties of abstraction and the notion of good and evil, is vastly superior to every other living being. So that, for respecting, defending and loving men, I have not only the reason that man is my brother, but also that this brother is superior to every other living thing.

That is why a moral code must be essentially human, having for its highest object the happiness of other men. Every other code of morals, having in view a different purpose supporting itself on metaphysical lucubrations or haunted by puerile anxieties, such as the adoration of beasts, appears to me to bear the stamp of fetishism. An unknown power has caused us to be born; we are entirely ignorant of our destinies, we know not why we were born, why we die, why, following in the wake of countless generations, we transmit the vital spark to countless succeeding generations. We know nothing of all that; but it matters little from the point of view of our duty. Duty is independent of all theory. No mere religion is necessary to constitute a moral code.

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto, or rather our moral code, will be the religion of humanity. It does not seem to me possible to conceive of any other.

And when we say humanity, we take that word in its largest acceptation. It is not a question of compatriots, nor of Europeans, nor even of humanity of to-day. It is also a question of the humanity of the future. We have our duties towards the man of to-day; but we have also our duties towards the man who will live in the centuries to come. We should prepare the way for a happier and better humanity. Our task is not limited to the present hour; it extends to all those human beings who will come after us. Inasmuch as we of to-day, at every moment of our lives, benefit from the accumulated services of our ancestors, so the men to come will profit by the benefits which we are endeavouring to prepare for them.

Assuredly, Humanity will not be eternal, and Science seems to prove that a time will come when the sun's heat will be insufficient to develop life on the surface of our puny planet. A time will come when the earth will have cooled down and become like our pale satellite, the moon, a dead star, where the debris of extinct multitudinous civilisations will disappear under the ice. But what matter! We have not to trouble ourselves about those far-off times. We have to think of the man of the coming centuries, and, at the same time, it goes without saying, of the man of to-day.

To lessen their misery, to make their existence less lamentable, to develop within them the sentiments of justice and brotherhood, to secure their moral welfare and their material welfare, that is our strict and sole duty. I recognise no other.

Now, there is but one way open to attain this noble goal: Science. We are plunged in an ocean of gloom. All is dark, unknown, disturbing. We have not yet understood anything of the blind forces surrounding us on all sides. We are but feeble beings cast into the midst of sovereign powers which overwhelm and bear us down. Now, to avoid being completely and definitely crushed out of existence, it is necessary to penetrate into the nature of these forces. Alas! we shall never penetrate into them, for it is madness to think that a particle of the whole can ever fully cognise the whole; but we may at least demonstrate some facts, fathom some phenomena, perhaps trace a few of the features of certain laws. That is enough to make us instantly the masters of matter and not its slaves.

Every new truth at once brings about an amelioration in human conditions. It may be said that our happiness is made up of truth. Let us suppose what is improbable, that is to say, that we have come to know all the laws of Nature, should we not immediately become all-powerful? Should we not be the sovereign masters of disease and pain, perhaps of old age and death?

Such, indeed, appears to be the conviction of the human societies which assign a preponderating r?le to Science. They have understood that there is no better future in store for the human being than that which Science will bring about for him.

To be able to appreciate the extent to which the man of to-day is materially and morally happier than the man of past ages, we have only to compare the present state of our civilisation with the state of past civilisations. We may say that an English labourer of to-day has a much easier existence than had an Italian prince of the fourteenth century. Everywhere, the progress achieved by Science has entered into the life of each individual. We find it in the book we read, in the electricity which gives us light, in the train or the steamer which carries us to the uttermost corners of the earth in little time and at little cost. It is the same thing also with medicaments, which are certainly able to lessen the pain of disease.

Moral progress has kept pace with material progress. At the same time that matter has been overcome, our customs have become gentler; individual liberty is a sacred thing; each citizen takes part in the decisions of his government; there is no longer either slavery or torture or tyranny of conscience. In a word, the man of to-day is happier and more powerful than the man of bygone days.

This happiness has not been acquired through any providential "miracles." No God came down from His Heaven to alleviate human misfortunes. It is man, and man alone, who, by his genius and his labours, has been able to make himself master of the forces which, even yesterday, held him in bondage. And we cannot be too grateful to our fathers for their immense and fruitful labours, by which they succeeded in constructing the society in the midst of which we live. It is still wretched enough, this society of ours, afflicted with crimes and horrors, the infamy of which we understand full well; but however wretched it may be, it is a thousand times less wretched than was society of yore.

Therefore, this formal conclusion may at once be deduced; we must do for our descendants what our fathers did for us. We would be without excuse if we rested content to benefit from the works of our predecessors without ourselves also creating something, without leaving, by means of our personal labours, a better lot to our descendants. The man who has not understood this supreme duty is truly unworthy of being a man.

Verily, every individual, when he has arrived at the end of his life, should examine his conscience and ask himself if in the humble sphere of his action, he has not, even he also, contributed a stone to the human edifice, if he has not done his share in promoting and increasing the forces of humanity.

Since matters stand thus, since the development of Science is the fundamental condition of the happiness of man, we must resolutely put Science at the basis of every civilisation. Alas! it has not been so up to the present; and if we study the development of human societies, we see that they are above all things attracted to war. Science has had only the leavings. But the time has come when man should no longer believe that the principle of morality is man's struggle against man. That was the history of bye-gone times. The history of to-day, and especially the history of to-morrow, is the struggle of man against matter, the subjection of natural forces to our intelligence. And there is no other way to subjugate these forces than by learning to know them.

Then Science will be put in the foreground. And without making any classification which distinguishes between the sciences, which are all useful, beautiful, and noble, for all contain a portion of truth, we shall be permitted to say that the Science of life is one of the most useful, the most noble, and the most beautiful.

Now, the Science of life is Physiology, taking physiology in its widest sense, that is to say, the study of normal beings and of diseased beings. It is proved by innumerable facts, facts which only bad faith and ignorance can call into question, that our physiological knowledge is due, in a very large measure, to experimentation. If in thought we suppressed the scientific results which experimentation has conquered, we should have but an inferior science, within the reach of the Brahmans may be, but unworthy of our present scientific standing. We should know nothing of the circulation of the blood, nor the function of the blood corpuscles, nor the formation of sugar, nor the innervation of the glands, nor the contagiousness of disease, nor the power of poisons; we should be reduced to the notions of Hippocrates, we should be less advanced than Galileo, the first ingenious experimenter who indicated, less by his writings than by his experiments, that the basis of physiology, and consequently of the whole of pathology, is experimentation on animals.

Those most sincere persons who wish to banish experimentation from Science are consequently, I do not fear to say it, standing in the position of direct contradiction to true morality. To refuse man the right to study living nature, is as though we declared that living nature ought not to be known. Alas! anti-vivisectionists will not listen. In vain do we tell them that we, physiologists, preserve man from disease; that we have alleviated the ills of our human brothers. They stop up their ears; they shut their eyes; they have no pity for the sufferings of human beings. It seems as though the tears of their brethren were profoundly indifferent to them. Is this a high morality? Is this a realisation of their duty as men? They cover with opprobrium the names of Harvey and Jenner, Bernard and Pasteur, Spallanzani and Helmholtz. What base ingratitude! It is these great men who have turned aside many excruciating sufferings from humanity; it is these grand men who have bestowed a better lot on so many human beings. When, therefore, they dare to calumniate the masters who have scattered over us so much beneficence, anti-vivisectionists seem to me to be not only the most ungrateful but even the cruellest of men.

Fortunately the conquering march of Science will not be hindered. We shall never return to those sinister times when our great Vesalius had to forfeit his life for having dared to dissect a human corpse. We shall continue to make Science advance towards its great aim, the good of man.

And this is the moment which has been chosen for striving to arrest the march of Science: when epidemic disease, such as the plague and cholera, is checked; tuberculosis half-conquered; diptheria rendered inoffensive; operations become almost harmless; cancer on the eve of being understood and subjugated! And are we to stop there? Are we not to seek to fathom the many problems still waiting to be solved, and on which depend the lives of so many human beings, and so much human happiness? Do you believe that Science has come to an end? Certainly we already know a great deal; but what we know is as nothing compared to what we do not know.

An immense domain of unknown truths lies open to our activity. And we are able to forsee what inexpressible benefits these new truths will scatter over suffering humanity. Consequently, everyone, every man enamoured of goodness and justice, should be filled with respect for Science, and set all his hopes on her.

At the same time, however great may be my adoration for Science, it must not be at the expense of human personalities, or, let us say it distinctly, at the expense of animal personalities, which although uncertain and indistinct, still merit a share, and a large share, of justice and of pity.

As for human personalities, without the slightest doubt, we have not the right to sacrifice an innocent creature for Science. Every human being ought to be treated with respect, and we have not the right to kill and martyrise a human being even if his death and his martyrdom might serve the cause of Science.

As for animal personalities, the question becomes much more doubtful. For inferior beings with indistinct consciousness, and, without a doubt powerless to perceive pain, no scruple should hold us back. But if it concerns beings nearer to ourselves, such as monkeys, cats, dogs, horses, all certainly capable of feeling pain, we must be chary of inflicting pain, and experiment only after having totally abolished in them all sensation of pain. But under penalty of falling into fetishism, we must not fear to use the life of these beings in order to prolong the life of man. Every time we propose to make an experiment, it is as though we put this question to ourselves: is this dog worth more than a man? or than a hundred men? or than the whole of humanity to come? Thus put, the problem bears only one solution: Avoid giving pain to the animal on condition that it is not at the cost of innumerable human pains. Moreover, it is the same here as in every question we may wish to investigate: Each of the two adversaries set out from a just principle, incontestably just. But each one pushes the just principle so far that he ends by transforming it into a colossal absurdity.

In the present case, the anti-vivisectionists say: pain is an evil, even the obscure pain of the lowest animal is an evil. Now, we should do no evil; therefore we should not at any price inflict any pain whatsoever, however light it may be, on even the lowest animal. That is their syllogism. It cannot be replied to, for it is perfectly correct.

We on our side say: The suffering of man is a sacred thing. Science casts aside suffering from man. Therefore we ought to sacrifice inferior beings to the cause of Science, that is to say to the happiness of man. There again lies an irreproachable syllogism.

But these two syllogisms, if driven up to their ultimate conclusions, would lead to nonsense on the one hand and cruelty on the other. If we were to listen only to the friends of animals, we should not have the right to bleed a horse in order to save the lives of 400 children; and this contention would be both foolish and cruel.

If we were to listen only to the friends of man, we should have the right, simply as dictated by our might and fancy, to cause suffering to dogs, cats, monkeys, all innocent and sensitive animals, under pretext that these tortures are capable of alleviating human pain. That also would be folly and cruelty.

Fortunately, wisdom avoids both extremes; it fears the brutality of hard and fast syllogisms, which are absurd even by their very severity. Yes, there are the rights of man; yes, there are the rights of animals; and all our efforts should consist in holding an even balance between these two sometimes antagonistic rights. Do not let us push our reasonings to their logical but absurd extremes. Pre-occupation for the welfare of future humanity and of Science does not authorise us to be wicked and unjust towards the men of to-day, even towards one single man. So that, notwithstanding my worship of Science, I would not sacrifice human lives to her. And, notwithstanding all my respect for animal pain, I would look upon the man as supremely ridiculous, even guilty, who would not innoculate a microbe into a rabbit to achieve a great discovery for humanity. Wisdom, therefore, consists precisely in this: to know where to stop in pushing a reasoning to extremes. This is what physiologists have sought and are seeking to do.

In any case, and as a last conclusion, Science ought not to be sacrificed. Now, the death-knell of science will have sounded when savants are prevented from pursuing their investigations on living beings. We who, in full confidence, hope for a happier and better humanity, will never resign ourselves to closing our laboratories, to burning our books. On the contrary, we are determined, every one of us, to continue our hard labours for the great good of the men of to-day and of the generations to come.

And when we speak of Science, we do not mean only the material benefits she scatters abroad; we think also of her power as a moral force. Material and moral conquests walk hand in hand. Science is the basis of the moral law. The universal consciousness of humanity grows greater by the acquisition of new truths. Each individual, by the very fact that he loves truth, has come to understand the moral ideal which should be ever before his eyes.

And then, in a just measure, full of pity for all suffering, but placing the suffering of man at a higher price than the suffering of the animal, we shall strive to make the respect of animal suffering accord with the search for the splendid and indispensable and divine TRUTH.

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POST SCRIPTUM

In the various works, notices, discourses, etc., which have been published upon Vivisection, generally against Vivisection, I find various erroneous assertions which it is important should be pointed out. I will do so briefly.

There is, however, one assertion which appears fairly just to me. This is that in treatises on physiology, sufficient mention is not made of Vivisection, of its limits and of its abuses. At the beginning of a treatise on physiology, the author should distinctly declare there is always cruelty in vivisection conducted without chloroform or chloralose; the author should indicate that these an?sthetics ought to be administered under such or such conditions. Before initiating medical students into the study of life, it is also well to teach them to have respect for animal suffering. I would that it might be thoroughly understood that it is a matter of absolute necessity to operate upon the animal; and that when the physiologist resigns himself to this necessity he ought to perform the operation with sufficient humanity to prevent the animal from suffering. I willingly recognise that the absence of this first moral precept is a great gap in most treatises on physiology.

This, however, is about all I can concede to anti-vivisectionists; for truly they indulge in such queer, extraordinary assertions that we are completely disconcerted. Some of these fanatics pretend, for example, that physiologists should practise vivisection upon themselves. To torture a dog is as criminal as to torture a child, according to them; and animal suffering is as much to be respected as human suffering! Truly such a paradox cannot be taken seriously; if it were admitted, evidently the question is settled. But it cannot be admitted, and the whole of our argument rests upon this principle, which appears quite evident, that living beings occupy different positions in the hierarchy of nature.

Let us take a besieged city reduced to famine: will anyone pretend that the soldiers must be sacrificed before the horses, the mules, etc. Yet the case is exactly the same. It is in order to avoid the death of human beings that mice and guinea-pigs are put to death.

To deny the difference in rank of living beings is to deny evidence. A frog is a nobler animal than a sea-urchin; a dog is a nobler animal than a frog; for there are degrees in the intelligence, and consequently, in the capacity to suffer, and in the quality of suffering among the four animal groups: the sea-urchin, the frog, the dog, and man.

Anti-vivisectionists do not admit reflex movements (which, moreover, they do not understand); and they bewail the dogs that Goltz and Ewald subjected to cerebral mutilations which took away all intellectual spontaneity and prevented them from eating spontaneously. But in those very dogs, precisely because there is no spontaneity, so there is no longer any consciousness of pain. They are, therefore, of all the beings in creation those which deserve the least commiseration; for they are protected against pain by that very ablation of the brain, the seat of pain.

We are told that it is through cowardice, through the fear of disease, that vivisection is practised. But fear of disease is not cowardice. I am neither poltroon nor coward, but I would be very sorry to be attacked by tuberculosis or cancer. I do not blush to confess that it would be very disagreeable for me to be hanged, though hanging is much less painful than tuberculosis or cancer. If it were necessary to have a hanged victim, I would much prefer that a rabbit were taken in preference to myself; and I would certainly not put my own neck in the cord to save a dog from torture.

The state of mind of anti-vivisectionists appears to me rather singular, since they are not at all afraid of disease as far as man is concerned, but they have great fear of it for animals. If pain is but an empty word, according to the celebrated phrase of Zeno, why not apply that fine maxim to the animal?

Sir James Thornton (The Principal Claims on behalf of Vivisection, London, 1907), has endeavoured to compile a list of the contradictions to be found in the treatises of physiology. He could have added considerably to the length of this chapter, for the contradictions are innumerable; which only proves, not that vivisection is useless, but that it is difficult. What would chemists say if it were maintained that chemical analysis was absurd because of the contradictions between chemists? They would, and rightly so, continue to make analyses; for they know that analysis is a necessary, though an imperfect, instrument. In the same manner, we shall continue to practise vivisection, though we know right well that vivisection is an imperfect, though a necessary, instrument.

In the course of a recent debate on vivisection, a voice was heard to call out that Lister was a brute. That "crowns" everything, and one would think that nothing more inept could be imagined.

Alas! something more inept still has been said, and I hand over this prodigious and audacious assertion to the judgment of every man of heart and common sense. It refers to bacteriology. The author, after having said that microbes are not the cause of disease, takes refuge behind the opinion of Lawson Tait (quoted by Mona Caird, The Inquisition of Science, p. 20).

"Such experiments never have succeeded, never can: and they have, as in the cases of Koch, Pasteur, and Lister, not only hindered true progress, but they have covered our profession with ridicule."

That is something which may well confound us, is it not? and I believe those great benefactors of humanity, Koch, Pasteur and Lister, may indeed murmur: "Forgive them; for they know not what they say."

To sum up: the objections of anti-vivisectionists are irrefutable if we admit, (1) that man has not the right to kill an animal either in self-defence or for nourishment; (2) that the suffering of an animal is as worthy of respect as the suffering of a man; and (3) that the misery of one individual is as sacred as the misery of a thousand individuals. No logical reply can be made to these three assertions, which, according to my reasoning, constitute an offence against the most elementary common sense. But I doubt very much if we shall ever arrive at demonstrating that it is better to allow one hundred children to die from diphtheria rather than draw a little blood from a horse; or that we should practise vivisection on man so as to alleviate the diseases of dogs.

Concerning the polemics of anti-vivisectionists as to the uselessness of physiology, and the contradictions of physiologists, they are nothing but a tissue of error and ignorance.

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APPENDIX A

We give herewith a table showing the absolute and relative mortality due to diphtheria in Paris from 1872 to 1905, out of a population of 2,500,000 inhabitants:-

Absolute. Per 100,000

Inhabitants.

1872 1135 61

1873 1164 62

1874 1008 52

1875 1328 68

1876 1572 79

1877 2393 117

1878 1995 95

1879 1783 83

1880 2048 94

1881 2211 99

1882 2244 100

1883 1781 79

1884 1928 86

1885 1655 74

1886 1512 67

1887 1585 70

1888 1729 74

1889 1706 72

1890 1668 70

1891 1361 56

1892 1403 58

1893 1266 52

1894 1009 41

1895 435 17

1896 444 17

1897 298 12

1898 259 10

1899 339 13

1900 294 11

1901 736 28

1902 709 26

1903 399 15

1904 260 10

1905 204 7

Let us divide this mortality due to diphtheria into three groups (in Paris per 100,000 inhabitants):-

A. Before the discovery of serotherapy, from 1872 to 1888.

B. During the period of experimentation with serotherapy, from 1889 to 1894.

C. After the generalisation of serotherapy, from 1895 to 1905.

We have then the following averages:-

Absolute. Per 100,000 Inhabitants.

Before serotherapy 1657 80

Intermediary period 1402 58

After serotherapy 398 15

And should these figures not seem sufficiently eloquent, let us set them forth in another form:-

Absolute Mortality.

Before the discovery of serotherapy, 1888 1729

1st year of serotherapy, 1889 1706

2nd " " 1890 1668

3rd " " 1891 1361

4th " " 1892 1463

5th " " 1893 1266

6th " " 1894 1009

At this moment the practice of serotherapy, thanks to Roux, became general in Paris.

1st year, 1895-435.

2nd " 1896-444.

During the next six years there were still hesitations and uncertainties as to the best method to be employed.

The mortality during these six years, 1897-1902-439.

Then the practice was definitely established.

The mortality for the three years, 1903-1905-288.

These figures are so eloquent, so striking, so precise, that it is not possible to misunderstand them. They cannot be ignored; and when once they have been set forth, ignorance is no longer permissible, and it is for that reason we have here given them.

In Berlin and in Vienna, it is the same thing. From 1894 the mortality due to diphtheria has diminished to the extent of 150 per cent.

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APPENDIX B

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Moquin Tandon. Rapport sur les Vivisections. (Bull. de l'ac. de Médecine de Paris, 1862, 948-960.)

Nagel (R.). Der Wissenschaftliche Unwerth der V in Allen ihren Arten. (8vo, Berlin, 1881.)

Novi (J.). Sulla V. (Boll. d. sc. med. di Bologne, 1893, 263, 421.)

Paget (Stephen). Experiments on Animals. (Murray).

Renault (E.). La Soc. protects. des Animaux et la Vivisection. (Rec. de Méd. vétérin., 1862, 231-247.)

Renooz (C). A Propos de la Vivisection. (Médecin, 1904, 178-179.)

Richet (Ch.). Man's Right Over Animals. (Pop. Sc. Monthly, 1884, xxv., 759-766.)

Smith (R. M.). Materia Medica and Vivisection. (Merck's Arch., 1900, 44-47.)

Smith (R. M.). Should Experiments on Animals be Restricted or Abolished? (Therap. Gaz., 1884, 497, 533.)

Smith (Pye). On Vivisection. (Brit. Med. Journ. (2), 1879, 349.)

Stuser (E.). Is Vivisection a Benefit to Animals and Man, and Justifiable? (Med. News, 1902, 108-111.)

Tait (Lawson.). The Uselessness of Vivisection upon Animals as a Method of Scientific Research. (London, 8vo, 1883 (?).)

Tuckermann. Abstract of the Report of the Committee on Vivisection. (Columb. Med. Journ., 1897, 237-243.)

Weber (E.). Les Chambres de Torture de la Science. (Paris, Leroux, 8vo, 1879.)

Wilberforce (C). Women, Clergymen and Doctors. (New Review, 1893, 85-95.)

Wilks. The Ethics of Vivisection. (Pop. Sc. Monthly, 1882, xxi., 344-350.)

Williams. A Few Personal Facts concerning Experiments on Animals opposed to the False Fancies of the Persecutors of Vivisectors. (Brit. Med. Journ., (2), 1876, 104.)

Wolff. Disputatio Philosophica de Moralitate Anatomes circa Animalia vica Occupatae. (Leipzig, 1709.)

Wood (H.). The Control of Vivisection. (Bost. Med. and Surg. Journ., 1895, 342.)

Z?llner (F.). Ueber der Wissenschaftlichen Missbrauch der V., mit Historischen Documenten über die V. von Menschen. (Leipzig, 8vo, 1880, 2nd ed., 1885.)

* * *

APPENDIX C

THE RESEARCH DEFENCE SOCIETY

In January 1908, a Society with the above name was formed in England, the aims and objects of which are clearly stated in the following letter from Lord Cromer, its President; this letter was published in the English newspapers on 24th April 1908:-

Sir,

A Society has been formed, with the name of the Research Defence Society, to make known the facts as to experiments on animals in this country; the immense importance to the welfare of mankind of such experiments; and the great saving of human life and health directly attributable to them.

The great advance that has been made during the last quarter of a century in our knowledge of the functions of the body, and of the causes of disease, would have been impossible without a combination of experiment and observation.

The use of antiseptics, and the modern treatment of wounds, is the direct outcome of the experiments of Pasteur and Lister. Pasteur's discovery of the microbial cause of puerperal fever has in itself enormously reduced the deaths of women in child-birth.

The nature of tuberculosis is now known, and its incidence has materially diminished.

We owe the invention of diphtheria antitoxin entirely to experiments on animals.

The causes of plague, cholera, typhoid, Mediterranean fever, and sleeping sickness, have been discovered solely by the experimental method.

Not only have a large number of drugs been placed at our disposal, but accurate knowledge has replaced the empirical use of many of those previously known.

The evidence before the Royal Commission has shown that these experiments are conducted with proper care; the small amount of pain or discomfort inflicted is insignificant compared with the great gain to knowledge and the direct advantage to humanity.

While acknowledging in general the utility of the experimental method, efforts have been made by a section of the public to throw discredit on all experiments involving the use of animals. The Research Defence Society will therefore endeavour to make it clear that medical and other scientific men who employ these methods are not less humane than the rest of their countrymen, who daily, though perhaps unconsciously, profit by them.

The Society proposes to give information to all enquirers, to publish précis, articles, and leaflets, to make arrangements for lectures, to send speakers, if required, to debates, and to assist all who desire to examine the arguments on behalf of experiments on animals. It hopes to establish branches in our chief cities, and thus to be in touch with all parts of the kingdom; and to be at the service of municipal bodies, hospitals, and other public institutions.

The Society was formed on 27th January of the present year, and already numbers more than 800 members.[9] It is not an association of men of science or of medical men alone; its membership has been drawn from all departments of public life, and includes representatives of every class of educated Englishmen and Englishwomen, including many who have taken an active part in the prevention of cruelty to animals. This fact is in itself a remarkable protest against the attacks which have been made on the researches that the Society has been formed to defend.

The annual subscription is five shillings to cover working expenses: but larger subscriptions, or donations, will be gladly received. The acting Hon. Treasurer, pro tem., is Mr J. Luard Pattisson, C.B. (of the Lister Institute),[10] and an account in the Society's name has been opened with Messrs Coutts & Co., 440 Strand. The Hon. Secretary is Mr Stephen Paget, 70 Harley Street, W., to whom all communications should be addressed.

Yours faithfully,

Cromer, President.

The following is a list of the pamphlets already issued by the Society:-

1. Letter from the President announcing the formation of the Society, April 24.

2. Report of the inaugural meeting.

3. Experiments on animals during 1907 in Great Britain and Ireland.

4. Some facts as to the administration of the Act.

5. The value of antitoxin in the treatment of diphtheria.

6. Evidence of Sir Frederick Treves.

7. Yellow fever and malaria.

8. Extinction of Malta fever.

9. Have experiments on animals advanced Therapeutics?

10. The work of the Research Defence Society.

11. Vivisection and medicine. Evidence of Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton before the Royal Commission.

All or any of these will be forwarded on application to the Hon. Secretary, Mr Stephen Paget, 70 Harley Street, London, W. Other pamphlets are in active preparation; arrangements are also being made for meetings, and for the organisation of Branch Societies in many parts of the kingdom; the Society is also concerned in the institution of a similar movement for the defence of research in America.

Space does not permit the publication of the full list of members of the Society. The following list of the President and Vice-Presidents, however, will show that those who have joined are representative not only of the leading men and women in the medical profession, but also of those who are pre-eminent in various other branches of science, in literature, politics, art, and theology.

President

THE EARL OF CROMER, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., O.M.

Vice-Presidents

His Grace the Duke of Abercorn, K.G.

Sir William Abney, K.C.B., F.R.S.

Sir T. Clifford Allbutt, K.C.B., F.R.S. (Regius Professor of Physic, University of Cambridge).

Sir L. Alma-Tadema, O.M., R.A.

Mrs Garrett Anderson, M.D.

Sir William Anson, Bt., D.C.L., M.P.

The Rt. Hon. Lord Avebury, F.R.S.

[A]Sir John Banks, K.C.B., M.D.

The Rt. Hon. Lord Barrymore.

The Marquis of Bath.

Lady Bliss.

Lady Buckley.

Lady Burdon-Sanderson.

Lord Blyth.

The Very Rev. the Dean of Canterbury, D.D.

Earl Cathcart.

Lord Robert Cecil, K.C., M.P.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester, D.D.

The Very Rev. the Dean of Chester, D.D.

Lord Cheylesmore, C.V.O. (Chairman, Middlesex Hospital).

The Very Rev. the Dean of Christ Church, D.D.

Sir James Crichton-Browne, F.R.S.

The Countess of Cromer.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Savile Crossley, Bt., M.V.O.

Sir Edmund Hay Currie.

Lord Curzon of Kedleston, G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., F.R.S.

The Rev. Dr Dallinger, F.R.S.

Francis Darwin, Esq., F.R.S.

Sir George H. Darwin, K.C.B., F.R.S.

Sir James Dewar, F.R.S.

Sir A. Conan Doyle, LL.D.

The Rev. Canon Duckworth, C.V.O.

The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Edinburgh, D.D.

Earl Egerton.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Exeter, D.D.

Lord Faber.

The Rev. A. M. Fairbairn, D.D., LL.D. (Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford).

Lord Farrer.

Sir Luke Fildes, R.A.

Lord Fortescue.

Sir Thomas Fraser, M.D., F.R.S. (Professor of Clinical Medicine, University of Edinburgh).

Sir David Gill, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.

The Earl of Glasgow, G.C.M.G.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Grantham, D.D.

Field-Marshal Lord Grenfell, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

The Hon. Walter Guinness, M.P.

The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Halsbury, K.B., F.R.S.

Lord Claud Hamilton.

H. A. Harben, Esq. (Chairman, St Mary's Hospital).

J. T. Helby, Esq. (Chairman, Metropolitan Asylums Board).

Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt.

The Hon. Sydney Holland (Chairman, London Hospital).

Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, G.C.S.I., F.R.S., O.M.

Sir William Huggins, K.C.B., F.R.S., O.M.

J. Hughlings Jackson, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.

Montague Rhodes James, Litt.D. (Provost of King's College, Cambridge).

Sir Alfred Jones, K.C.M.G.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Kingston.

The Earl of Kilmorey (Chairman, Charing Cross Hospital).

Lord Lamington, G.C.M.G.

Sir E. Ray Lankester, K.C.B., F.R.S.

R. F. C. Leith, M.Sc., (Professor of Pathology, Birmingham).

The Rt. Hon. Lord Lindley, LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S.

Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S.

The Rt. Hon. Walter Long, M.P.

Henry Lucas, Esq. (Chairman, University College Hospital).

Lord Ludlow.

The Hon. G. W. Spencer Lyttelton, C.B.

Frederick Macmillan, Esq. (Chairman, National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic).

The Rt. Hon. Sir Herbert E. Maxwell, Bt., F.R.S.

Lord Methuen, G.C.B., K.C.V.O.

Her Grace the Duchess of Montrose.

Lady Dorothy Nevill.

The Earl of Northbrook (President, Cancer Hospital).

Lord Northcliffe.

William Osler, M.D., F.R.S. (Regius Professor of Medicine, University of Oxford).

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Oxford, D.D.

Sir Gilbert Parker, D.C.L., M.P.

Eden Phillpotts, Esq.

Count Plunkett.

Sir Frederick Pollock, Bt., LL.D., D.C.L.

Sir John Dickson Poynder, Bt., M.P. (Chairman, Great Northern Hospital).

Lady Priestley.

The Rt. Rev. the Bishop of North Queensland, D.D.

Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Rangoon.

Sir James Reid, Bt., G.C.V.O.

Lady Russell Reynolds.

The Very Rev. Hon. the Dean of Ripon, D.D.

Briton Riviere, Esq., R.A., D.C.L.

Mrs Roget.

Mrs Romanes.

Sir Henry Roscoe, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.

[A]The Rt. Hon. the Earl of Rosse, K.P., LL.D., F.R.S. (Chancellor of the University of Dublin).

Lord Rothschild, G.C.V.O.

Sir Arthur Rücker, F.R.S.

The Very Rev. the Dean of Salisbury, D.D.

The Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Salisbury.

The Rt. Hon. the Marquis of Sligo.

Isabel Marchioness of Sligo.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Cecil Clementi Smith, G.C.M.G.

Sir Thomas Smith, Bt., K.C.V.O.

The Hon. W. F. D. Smith, M.P. (Chairman, Removal Fund, King's College Hospital).

The Hon. Sir Richard Solomon, K.C.B., K.C.M.G.

Sir Edgar Speyer, Bt. (President, Poplar Hospital).

The Rt. Hon. Lord Stalbridge.

Lord Stanley, K.C.V.O.

Lord Strathcona, G.C.M.G.

Lady Sutton.

Maj.-Gen. Sir Reginald Talbot, K.C.B.

Sir Frederick Treves, Bt., G.C.V.O.

Sir John Batty Tuke, M.P.

Sir William Turner, K.C.B., F.R.S. (Principal of the University of Edinburgh).

James G. Wainwright, Esq. (Chairman, St Thomas's Hospital).

Earl Waldegrave.

The Rt. Rev. Bishop Welldon.

His Grace the Duke of Wellington, K.G.

A. W. West, Esq. (Treasurer and Chairman, St George's Hospital).

Sir James Whitehead, Bt. (First President of the Lister Institute).

Mrs Robert Peel Wethered.

Sir Samuel Wilks, Bt., F.R.S.

The Rt. Hon. Sir Alfred Wills.

The Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester.

The Rev. H. G. Woods, D.D. (Master of the Temple).

[Note A: Since deceased.]

FOOTNOTES:

[9] 22nd October 1908. The number of members is now over 1530, of whom 160 are ladies.

[10] 27th May. Dr Sandwith, 31 Cavendish Square, London, W., is now Hon. Treasurer.

TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.