§ MR. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state how 191 many animals were inoculated with the rabies virus in the performance of the two experiments carried out by Mr. R. M. Buchanan, at the Veterinary College, Glasgow, under The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876, referred to in the Government Inspector's Report for 1903; and will he state the number of animals used for the purpose of vivisection under the above Act for the years 1903 and 1904.
§ *THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. AKERS-DOUGLAS,) Kent, St. Augustine'sIn the two experiments in question two rabbits were inoculated, not with rabies virus but with emulsion of the brain of a dog which had been killed by the police on suspicion that it was rabid. The experiments were carried out at the Glasgow Public Health Laboratory, not at the Veterinary College. In answer to the second part of the Question, I have to say that the Returns for 1904 are not yet complete. In 1903 the number of experiments performed was 19,084, of which nearly 17,000 were inoculation or feeding experiments. The number of animals used for the purpose of these experiments cannot be precisely stated, but it is slightly less than the total number of experiments.