EDITORIAL. 
827 
nicotine from a wholesale drug firm in Detroit. Assisted by a 
Dr. Miller he poured a few drops of the poison into the mouth 
•of each of the cats before the assembled congregation, the ani¬ 
mals dying under convulsions in the pulpit, and the cruel act 
being applauded by the assembly. If we consider that at the 
present day there are some over-zealous humanitarians trying to 
have Congress pass a law to suppress animal experimentation in 
our scientific institutions in the District of Columbia, where re¬ 
searches are quietly conducted for the benefit of our domestic 
animals, and in places secluded from the gazing eyes of the 
uninformed layman—this case assumes an aggravated form. 
Homoeopathic physicians and ministers have been telling us for 
years that experiments on animals are not conclusive as to human 
kind, because in their belief the animal body is not analogous 
to the human body; yet one of their divine brethren adopts this 
same condemned method to demonstrate ad oculos a worn-out 
theory. It need hardly be stated here that as far as the value of 
the experiment is concerned it has none, but is clearly a fraud. 
Nicotine is a powerful alkaloid poison, whereas tobacco smoke 
contains no nicotine, or only a trace of it, the irritating effect 
being produced by several volatile bodies, chiefly pyridine com¬ 
pounds. Thus the minister is either a shallow-minded igno¬ 
ramus, or he is a fraudulent character who stops short of nothing 
to gain notoriety. At any rate, he has irreverently trampled un¬ 
der his feet the Christian doctrine of mercy and has besmeared 
his hands with the useless murder of two innocent creatures. 
This is a case for our humane societies. If there is one in Mich¬ 
igan the reverend gentleman should be arrested and prosecuted 
for cruelty to animals, and the testimony of any veterinarian 
would convict him. If this is not done, who can tell how long 
it may be before again sheep and oxen are offered on the altar of 
God by ministers of this kind ? O. S. 
A Veterinarian Triumph. —It has been seldom that a 
•contest for a professional position has caused the amount of 
feeling and dissension by legislative and executive officers, or 
