610 
REVIEW. 
aid its efforts; should there be, we bid him hide his head and 
blush to own himself* a man. Mow often have we almost 
wished that the lex talionis could be applied to the vile mis- 
creant who unnecessarily tortures a poor brute struggling to 
do his duty, ill-fed and nearly worn out by age, as too fre- 
quently is the case. It is true that the business of large towns 
necessitates a call on the labour of animals, at times amounting 
to pressure on the physical powers, yet more would be obtained 
from them by kindness than unkindness. It was well remarked 
by the mover of the adoption of the Report, Sir J. Buller 
East, Bart., M.P., that “ there is no foundation whatever for 
the charge that kindness to animals betokens any unman- 
liness of character; on the contrary, it is the very essence of 
manliness, it being our bounden duty at all times to protect 
the weak against the strong.” 
It is gratifying to know that the agents of this institution, 
being now numerous, are ever on the alert, and that too when 
the cowardly offender perhaps little thinks he is observed by 
them ; further, that punishment follows detection almost to a 
certainty, and the result of this is, that the commission of acts 
of cruelty are less frequently than heretofore allowed to pass 
unnoticed. Still, from time to time instances do occur; and 
were the Society to slacken in its duties, again the like har- 
rowing scenes would be enacted that were once witnessed, 
and which escaped, if they did not defy, the strong arm of 
the law 7 . With such a staff of officers as it now possesses, 
there can be, how T ever, no fear entertained of this again taking 
place. 
Strongly have we denounced vivisection, and the perform- 
ance of cruel and uncalled for experiments on the lower 
animals, to settle some disputed physiological question, and 
not unfrequently to build up some fancied theory of the 
operator, which after years have proved to be false ; and it is 
exceedingly gratifying to us to read the following remarks by 
Professor Spooner, when seconding the reception of the 
Report : 
“ I have, during the greater part of my life, been intimately associated 
with the habits of the lower animals, and for many years past it has been 
