NOTES 3" 



is engaged in collecting information with regard to the transport of raw materials 

 to farms and agricultural products from them, to the power required for this 

 purpose, and for seasonal operations on the land, with a view to comparing the 

 relative advantages and costs of steam or internal combustion engines and 

 electrically operated machines. It is dealing also with the possibility of co- 

 operation in repairs and skilled labour, and is considering the various types of 

 tractor most suitable to large and chiefly arable farms and to moderate-sized 

 mixed farms, having regard to the different local circumstances and requirements. 



A sub-committee was nominated to report on what is at present being done 

 to ascertain the amount and distribution of water-power in the British Empire. 



A complete report of the first year's work of the Board will be published in 

 due course. 



The British Science Guild and Experiments on Animals 



We print a letter from the Science Guild to the Home Office on the subject 

 of experiments on animals and the reply of the latter. It is doubtful whether 

 the reply covers quite satisfactorily all the points raised in the letter ; but we are 

 glad to see that the mere abstraction of small quantities of blood from animals 

 for examination is not regarded as an experiment within the meaning of the Act — 

 a point which not everyone knows. Many workers have complained of the delay 

 which occurs in the granting of licences and allowing certificates ; and the reply 

 of the Home Offiee seems scarcely sufficient, as such delay used to occur long 

 before the war. In our opinion no impediment, however small, should be placed 

 in the way of men who are endeavouring to find the secrets of those diseases 

 which destroy millions of human beings and animals ; and we regret only that 

 the whole of the Cruelty to Animals Act (whose very name is an insult to men 

 of science) cannot be entirely reformed by our legislature. 



British Science Guild, 199, Piccadilly, 2%th Feb. 1917. 



Sir, — I am directed by the British Science Guild to inform you that the Guild 

 has recently addressed a circular letter to a large number of teachers and in- 

 vestigators on Zoology, Physiology, and Pathology, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 whether the Cruelty to Animals Act imposes any difficulties upon investigators 

 in those branches of science. The replies received show in general that the 

 difficulties which exist are principally minor ones, and the following suggestions 

 for amendments have been put before the Guild : 



{a) Removal of necessity for obtaining various signatures when applying for 

 additional certificates for use in conjunction with existing licences. 



(b) Power to employ an unqualified assistant in carrying out minor operations, 

 under reasonable restrictions. 



(c) Removal of frequent delay in granting licences and certificates. 



\d) Comprehensive certificates, comprising all certificates now granted, to be 

 given to workers of experience and status. 



(e) The system of returning all licences and certificates, which has been 

 abandoned during the war, might be abandoned altogether. 



(/) The simple abstraction of blood from an animal for examination should not 

 be considered an experiment within the meaning of the Act. 



{g) Special powers to perform trivial operations such as injections, inoculations, 

 and venesections, without anaesthetics, might be granted. 



(h) The heads of laboratories might be allowed permanent certificates on 

 condition that they make returns as usual. 



(0 A qualification in medicine should carry with it the qualification to perform 

 biological experiments. 



(J) Pathological experiments on animals should be allowed in all military 

 hospitals without special application. 



