§ MR. J. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the inspectors appointed for the purpose of securing a compliance with the provisions of 39 and 40 Vict., c. 77, to visit places licensed for the practice of vivisection, have hitherto been persons who either 1181 have practised vivisection in the past, or shown the strongest sympathy with the practice of vivisection; are there any of those inspectors who are opposed to the practice of vivisection; and whether he will consider the advisability of not confining the inspection of licensed places for vivisection to inspectors who are advocates of the system?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYThe inspectors have been appointed by my predecessors without regard to their advocacy of, or opposition to, the system established by statute, under which experiments may be performed on living animals. If occasion arises, I shall pursue the same policy. The scientific knowledge required in an inspector implies a knowledge of experiments on animals; and I am satisfied that the inspection is carried out with the strictest regard to the law, and to considerations of humanity.
§ MR. MACNEILLWill the right hon. Gentleman tell me whether all these inspectors are advocates of vivisection? I am told they are. Will he answer the question, yes or no?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI have said they are all acquainted with the method of conducting these experiments, but I am not able to say whether they are advocates of the law as it stands, or desire any change in it. I am persuaded that you cannot possibly examine and test whether operations are conducted according to law unless you employ professional gentlemen who know something about the matter.
§ MR. MACNEILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether his attention has been directed to the account in the Press of asoirée to which 400 guests were invited in honour of the completion of the new Laboratories in connection with St. George's Hospital Medical School, the report stating that in the physiological laboratory were displayed illustrations of new methods employed in the serum diagnosis of cholera and diphtheria; and whether St. George's Hospital has a licensed laboratory for the performance of experiments on the bodies of living animals; and, if so, why has not this hospital been included in the last return of places licensed for vivisection?
§ SIR MATTHEW WHITE RIDLEYI have seen a newspaper account of the reception referred to, but do not gather from it that anything illegal took place. There is no licensed laboratory at St. George's Hospital.