§ MR. MACNEILL, referring to the subject of vivisection, said the Act of 1876 had not reduced the horrors of former times. He contended that that Act had been entirely nugatory. The inspections of the vivisection laboratories were absolutely worthless. The Home Secretary had refused to give a return showing the number of times the inspectors visited the laboratories and describing what they saw, and the right hon. Gentleman had admitted that even if the inspectors saw the most cruel tortures they could not raise a hand in protest. The number of experiments were said to be about 7,000. One would imagine that only 7,000 animals were experimented upon, but it was well known in scientific circles that in an experiment several animals were experimented upon in order to arrive at a scientific result. Experiments were put down as painless which had been carried on under antiseptics. Undoubtedly at the beginning the experiments were painless, but there came the awakening with all its prolonged agonies. What he wanted the public to know was that the cruelties of vivisection were not prevented under the Act of 1876.
§ COLONEL LOCKWOOD (Essex, Epping)said that though he was a determined opponent of vivisection, he must acknowledge that the system initiated by the Home Office had alleviated the sufferings of the animals experimented upon. ["Hear, hear!"] He firmly believed his right hon. Friend the Home Secretary was keeping a strict eye on vivisection experiments, but that until they could induce the public to hold the same views the hon. Member for Donegal and he held, it was useless to raise the question on an occasion like this.
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYsaid it was not his business to express an opinion upon vivisection; his business was to carry out the Act of 1876 to the best of his ability, and he asserted most positively that, not only during the time he had been at the Home Office, but also during the reign of his predecessors, the greatest possible care had been taken 374 that licences should only be given to the proper persons, and that the Act should be carried out in the spirit as well as in the letter. ["Hear, hear!"] He believed it was not possible to secure better inspection than was secured at present. Nearly all the visits paid to the laboratories were surprise visits. Many places were visited six and eight times a year, and every one of them more than once. As to the mitigation of the suffering of the animals experimented upon, it must be admitted that what happened formerly was not possible now. The hon. Member for Donegal was opposed to the use of animals under any circumstances, even for the benefit of humanity. The hon. Gentleman was not supported by the majority of the people of the country, who were honestly persuaded that animals might, under proper conditions, be used as a means of discovering the most beneficial modes of alleviating human suffering.