i88o.] • The Present State of the Vivisection Question. 
50i 
III. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE VIVI- 
SECTION QUESTION.* 
'Mi HEN the Anti- Vivisection outcry had become so far 
successful that a Royal Commission was appointed 
^ to investigate the charges brought against medical 
men and experimental physiologists, and when a Bill for 
official interference was introduced under the auspices of the 
late Ministry, a professional contemporary expressed the 
amiable hope that the measure would not “ in any material 
way ” hinder the progress of research, and would “ calm the 
needless apprehension and put an end to the odious mis- 
representations which have been recently rife concerning 
this subject, and which have been in ignorance adopted by 
persons of consideration, who will probably in future take 
more pains to be correCtly informed.” We ventured at the 
time to express our fears that the result would be very 
different. t Our misgivings have been more than verified. 
Research has been impeded to a very serious degree. In 
proof we need only quote the instance narrated by Dr. Pye- 
Smith, F.R.S., in an Address delivered at the Sheffield 
Meeting of the British Association. It appears that “ two 
thoroughly qualified men were anxious to carry out an im- 
portant investigation on the treatment of snake-bites. 
They procured venomous snakes from a distance, and applied 
for the special certificates necessary. Considerable delay 
ensued ; various objections were raised and set at rest, and 
at last all the certificates were obtained ; but meantime the 
snakes had died !” Dr. OgleJ informs us that “ at a certain 
hospital experiments on a most important investigation had 
not been carried out, owing to the risk of bringing that 
hospital into public notoriety.” Thus between the law and 
Mrs. Grundy, research is interfered with in a most mate- 
rial way. 
Yet, although biological investigations requiring experi- 
ments upon living animals are now rendered all but impos- 
sible, it must not be thought that the agitation has decreased, 
* Ueber den Wissenschaftlichen Missbrauch der Viviseition. Von Fried- 
rich Zollner, Professor der Astrophysik an der Universitat Leipzig. 
Leipzig: L. Staackman. 
f Quarterly Journal of Science, vi. (1876), p. 333. 
+ Harveian Oration for 1&80, reported in Medical Press and Circular, June 
30, 1880. 
