63 



arsenical poisoning, and arsenic was fonnd in the stomach. The 

 mother was tried for mnrder. She pleaded that she had merely 

 applied arsenic to the head for ring-worm. The question was, 

 could this explain the case. No one could tell. "Was a murder 

 to go unavenged, or an innocent woman to be sacrificed, or was 

 a rabbit to be killed ? I am glad to say the last course was 

 adopted, and the woman's statement was justified. 



Murder was brought home to Dr. Pritchard of Glasgow, and 

 more recently to Lampson, by experiments on animals. 



In another department, Pasteur has recently shown that 

 the poisons of chicken cholera and splenic fever may be so dealt 

 with that a so-called " vaccine " can be produced, which has the 

 power of rendering animals impervious to those diseases. The 

 importance of this discovery can be estimated from the fact that 

 France loses every year by Splenic Fever animals to the value of 

 of not less than a million sterling. Obviously the discovery 

 could not have been made without the sacrifice of a few animals. 



Much time has been wasted in trying to show that in some 

 discoveries vivisection has not been our sole source of information. 

 We often pass from ignorance to knowledge by bridges constructed 

 of many arches, but the absence of any one of these would render 

 the passage impossible. 



Surely if it is justifiable to kill animals in large numbers for 

 the mere pleasure of killing, or to obtain ornaments for the person, 

 or even for food, and if it is justifiable to mutilate them for our 

 mere caprice, surely it cannot be wrong to sacrifice a few when the 

 problem to be solved is the saving of lite or the prevention of 

 disease. Gentlemen, picture yourselves by the sick bed of a 

 loving wife or child, dearer to you perhaps than your own 

 existence. The question of hfe or death turns upon the correct 

 appreciation of some Pathological fact or the proper employment 

 of a potent drug. Would you think it too much to sacrifice a 

 mouse, a rabbit or two, or even all the horses in your stable, to 

 acquire the information ? It is too late now. These experiments 

 must be carefully conceived and skilfully executed in the cool 

 leisure of the laboi-atory, and then they are available, not for one 

 but for all; and I have the highest authority for saying that 

 " Ye are of more value than many sparrows." 



