1876.] 



President's Address, 



343 



Before dismissing this subject I feel it to be incumbent on me to 

 express our obligations to His Grace the Duke of E-iehmoncl and to Lord 

 Sandon, for tlie active interest they took in proAddiug the grant, and for 

 the liberal manner in which they entered into the views of the Council 

 in respect of its appropriation. 



Two of the provisions of the Vivisection Bill called forth an earnest 

 remonstrance from your Council, which was communicated by the Presi- 

 dent to the Prime Minister in June last. These provisions w^ere the 

 limitation of experiments, even under anaesthetics, to such only as can 

 be shown to contribute directly to the prolongation of human life and 

 the alleviation of human suffering ; and the prohibition of experiments 

 upon dogs. It was pointed out, in the communication to the Minister 

 that, as regards both these limitations, the Bill went beyond the recom- 

 mendations of the Eoyal Commissioners upon Vivisection for scientific 

 purposes ; and, in respect of the first of them, it was represented that 

 the history of physical science shows that all ^the great discoveries which 

 have contributed to the welfare of mankind have resulted from investi- 

 gations pursued in the interests of pure science, without reference to 

 their practical application, and that to this rule physiology forms no 

 exception, since all the physiological truths which constitute the foun- 

 dation of the rational practice of medicine have been ascertained by 

 experiments upon living animals, conducted by persons actuated by that 

 desire for the advancement of natural kno\\iedge which the Eoyal Society 

 was instituted to foster ; and it went on to say : — " Profoundly convinced 

 of the mutual dependence of all branches of physical science, the Presi- 

 dent and Council feel that any legislation which arrests the development 

 of one is an injury to all, and they would lament the admission into the 

 Statute-book of a principle which is essentially antagonistic to the pro- 

 gress of all Natural Knowledge." 



With respect to the second provision it was urged that, while the Bill 

 professed to regulate experiments only, it prohibited them in the case of 

 dogs, although the constitution of the dog is such as to render it indis- 

 pensable for some of the most important physiological problems. 



The receipt of this letter was followed by Lord Beaconsfield's com- 

 municating with me on the subject, when I had the opportunity of 

 representing the views of the Council as being unalterable as to the 

 necessity of modifying, if not of rescinding, these two provisions. The 

 Prime Minister promised and gave full and, as it has proved, favourable 

 consideration to the Council's representations ; for, before the third 

 reading of the Bill, its provisions were so modified as to place no 

 obstacle in the way of experiments on all animals for purely scientific 

 purposes by properly qualified persons. 



On a subsequent occasion, when time did not allow of my communi- 

 cating previously with the Council, I ventured, in the name of the 



