§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) having regard to the allegations made by Dr. E. Berdoe relative to the use of curare in the practice of vivisection, and to the statement of the Home Office that the experiments referred to were performed under anæthetics and that curare, though used, was used when the animals could not suffer pain, will he state what anæsthetics were so used; (2) is he aware that it has been held on the highest authority (Professor Claude Bernard) that an animal stupefied with morphia is still conscious to suffering, and that an animal under the influence of curare becomes absolutely paralysed, but is still sensible to pain though unable to show it by sound or struggle; and (3) will he 304 state whether, in the experiments to which he refers, dogs were the animals experimented upon?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI informed the hon. Member, in my reply to his Question on Tuesday, that chloroform was the anesthetic used. The answer to the second paragraph of the Question is in the negative, and to the third in the affirmative.
§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of experiments in which curare was used in the practice of vivisection during last year, and the number of licencees by whom that drug was used; and, will he state the names of the licensed places where curare was used in the practice of vivisection during the year?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI cannot see that the returns for which the hon. Member asks would serve any good purpose and I do not propose therefore to call for them. Curare is prohibited by law from being used as an anesthetic and I am satisfied that it is not so used.