42

was not prosecutor as well as judge. Do not thesecases suggest that the withdrawals of members of theGeneral Medical Council who are merely ordinarymembers of a defence society concerned in the casebefore them are unnecessarily scrupulous ? The

practitioner against whom the complaint is madecould presumably waive any objection to members ofthe tribunal but he cannot be pressed to do so. In

any event, the Council is not so strictly judicial abody as a court of law and the legal requirements ofcompetence are less rigid than in the case of judgesand magistrates.There the matter remains. Meanwhile the members

who are directed to withdraw must often feel thattheir exclusion is something of a slur upon their

impartiality. If they know nothing about the caseuntil it comes before them at the Council, they maywell feel inclined to stay and perform their quasi-judicial duty rather than to walk outside. There isan ancient legal dictum that " favour shall not bepresumed in a judge." Members of the GeneralMedical Council are as much entitled to the benefitof the doubt as any other judges.

EXPERIMENTS ON LIVING ANIMALSTHE NEW GERMAN LAW

THE law for the protection of animals (Tierschutz-gesetz), which came into force on Nov. 24th, 1933,in the German Reich, contains in Section III. regula-tions for the conduct of experiments on living animals. 1In general all experiments which are associated withconsiderable pain or injury are forbidden on livinganimals for experimental purposes unless they areexpressly permitted under the three following clauses :

(1) The Home Secretary may at the suggestion ofthe proper authorities give permission to certainscientific institutes or laboratories to undertakescientific experiments on living animals in so far asthe scientific director possesses the necessary technical

equipment and standing, the proper arrangementsare available for the experiments, and guarantee isgiven for good attendance on the animals. *The HomeSecretary may delegate the granting of the permissionto other high authorities. Permission can at anytime be withdrawn without compensation.

(2) In carrying out the experiments the followingregulations are to be observed : (i) The experimentsmay only be made under the full responsibility ofthe scientific director or of someone expresslynominated by him as deputy. (ii) The experimentsmay only be carried out by persons scientificallytrained for them or under their direction, and onlywith avoidance of any pain not essential for the

particular purpose. (iii) Experiments for research

purposes are only to be undertaken if they giveexpectation of a definite result not yet establishedby science, or so far as they serve to clear upquestions as yet unsolved. (iv) Unless in the judgmentof the scientific director the object of the experimentpositively excludes anaesthesia, or unless the painassociated with the operation is less than thediscomfort entailed in the narcosis of the animal,experiments are only to be undertaken under narcosis.On the same unnarcotised animal no more than onesevere operation or painful bloodless experiment isto be done. Animals which have to suffer any con-

1 It will be seen from the text of these regulations, for whichwe are indebted to the Deutsche medizinische Wochenschrift ofDec. 22nd, 1933, that the restrictions imposed follow ratherclosely those in force in this country.

siderable pain after completion of severe experiment,especially one which involves an operation, are to bepainlessly killed at once so far as in the judgmentof the scientific director this is consistent with the

object of the experiment. (v) Experiments on horses,dogs, cats, or apes may only be carried out when theobject cannot be reached by experiments on otheranimals. (vi) No more animals may be used thanare necessary for clearing up the particular question.(vii) Animal experiments for teaching purposes areonly allowed if other teaching material-e.g., picture,model, preparation, film-is insufficient. (viii) Recordis to be made of the animals employed, the object,the method, and the result of the experiments.

(3) These regulations are not applicable to animalexperiments for determining the ends of justice, orfor the inoculations and venesections of living animalsfor the purpose of determining disease in man oranimals, or for obtaining or testing serums or vaccinesaccording to processes already approved or officiallyrecognised ; but these animals also are to be painlesslykilled at once if they have to suffer considerable painand their despatch is consistent with the object ofthe experiment.

POLAND

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT)

POLAND lies between the Baltic and the Black Sea,between eastern and central Europe. Revived in1918 as a Sovereign State, it has an area of some389,000 sq. kilometres and a population of more than32 millions-82-7 to the sq. kilometre. Agricultureand allied occupations are the livelihood of nearlytwo-thirds of the people. But although the countryis not conspicuously rich in mineral resources,there are supplies enough for considerable develop-ment of its economic life. The most important ofthese raw materials is oil, the amount of whichavailable to a depth of 1000 metres is conservativelyestimated at 62,000 million tons. Iron, zinc, andlead are to be found in Upper Silesia, and there arequantities of sodium and potassium salts in the

Carpathians. Of industries, the greatest is textiles,after which come the working of metal, wood, leather,and minerals, the manufacture of clothes, and building.

Poland is a Republic. At the head of the executiveis the President, elected every seven years by anational assembly composed of 444 deputies and IIImembers of the senate. The President rules throughhis ministers and through officials .subordinate tothem. There are at present 11 ministers, and sinceJuly, 1932, most of the questions relating to the healthof the people have come within the province of theminister of social assistance, or have been referred tothe department of public health, which has a medicaldirector.

There are five divisions in this department, and allsave the section of pharmacy are in charge of doctors.First comes the administrative section, which dealswith the organisation of the public health service(Service de Sante), its personnel, and the inspectionsit undertakes. This section also superintends thework of public health societies and institutions, andprovides medical aid for State employees. Next wehave the section of hygiene engaged in the campaignagainst social diseases (tuberculosis, venereal diseases,cancer, alcoholism). It arranges for pre-natal andpost-natal care, and is concerned with the questionsof mental hygiene, clean food, drinking-water, andhousing. A section for infectious diseases deals withvaccination, the investigation and control of epidemics,