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method of investigating nature." On the other hand,abundant proof has been adduced, by Dr. Dudley Buxton andother high experts in anaesthesia, to show that the experi-ments on living animals are generally painless, and are

always conducted in this country with a due regard to theparamount necessity of inflicting a minimum amount of

i3ufi’ering. I do not, therefore, propose to say anything moreon this branch of the subject. I will, however, ask you to<bear in mind that the objects which our’ society seeks toattain are twofold. We wish not only to point to the resultswhich have been obtained by the experimental method, butalso to make known the facts as to experiments on animalsin this country, and the regulations under which they.are conducted. That I consider a most important object.It is important because we have to recognise that thereare a considerable number of distinguished men and womenin this country who, it may readily be admitted, are

animated by very high moral sentiments, and who, in moreor less decisive tones, condemn our proceedings. Theyrepresent an aspect of the case which not only demands fairconsideration, but which, in so far as the general principleinvolved is concerned, will, I feel assured, excite the active- sympathy of all civilised human beings, whether scientistsor those less versed in scientific mysteries. I have said thatthe general principle advocated by our opponents is of amature to command our respect and sympathy. I cannot

always say as much for the methods which are at timesadopted to enforce the validity of that principle. Our

opponents may, I think, be divided into several differentcategories. Let me first deal with that which, as I ventureto think, cannot legitimately claim either respect or sym-pathy. I allude to those who distort facts, and who wilfullycalumniate the whole of a noble profession with a view toholding its members up to the unmerited odium of an ill-informed public. What can one say of those who resort- to such ignoble methods as these to prove their case ? 1 Onlythis, I think, that it would be beneath the dignity of theprofession which they attack to defend itself from suchinfamous charges, and that the arguments of those who can- stoop to the adoption of such methods are wholly un-deserving of consideration. - Now I pass to another categoryof opponents, who, although I think they adopt an ethicalstandard which is both irrational and practically unattainable,are, at the same time, much more deserving of respect thanthose to whom I have previously alluded. I take as an

example of this category the evidence given before the Royal’Commission by a very worthy clergyman, the Rev. LionelLewis. I say I respect Mr. Lewis because he has the

’courage of his opinions, and because those opinions are mani-festly the outcome of honest and thoroughly sincere conviction.Mr. Lewis was asked the crucial question of whether,supposing a child of his to be suffering from diphtheria, hewould allow antitoxin to be used, to which he replied in thenegative. " Would you," he was then asked, 6 &deg; let the childl1ie! " to which he replied, " I would." Between those who I4iold his views and the generality of mankind there is an I

- ethical abyss which it is impossible to bridge over. I fearthat little or nothing can be done to influence this categoryof opinion. And now I come to the third category of critics-for I will not call them opponents-whose views are muchmore deserving of attention than either of those which Ihave so far mentioned. I allude to those who admit the

- necessity of experiments on living animals, but who urge themecessity of obviating by all possible means the infliction ofpain. We are happily able to meet these critics on commonground. But, in dealing with this branch of the subject, thequestion at once arises of the extent to which pain is nowinflicted. I do not say it is altogether absent, but I honestlybelieve it is reduced to a minimum. I quite admitthat all reasonable safeguards against even occasionalabuses should be instituted; and if the Commissioners,whose report we have for so long been anxiously expecting,- can suggest any unobjectionable safeguards in addition tothose which already exist, the public may feel assuredthat the scientific world will give to their proposals fairand even sympathetic consideration. But it is essential-I quote the words of the Royal Society, uttered through themouth of their spokesman, Lord Rayleigh-that these safe-guards " should be so framed as not unnecessarily to interferewith the advancement of knowledge." Unnecessary restric-tions would, Lord Rayleigh added, " not only cripple or

arrest the growth in this country of an important branch of

biological science, but in so doing would reduce the efficiencyof both physician and surgeon to mitigate or cure disease."Considering the eminence of the gentlemen who compose theCommission, I cannot doubt that full weight will be given tothis essential condition. In any case, our duty as a societyis clear. It is to welcome any well-considered and innocuouschange in the existing law, but to offer a strenuous opposi-tion to any measures which would retard the advance ofknowledge, and which would result in displacing this countryfrom the position it ought to occupy in the van of scientificand beneficent progress.

After delivering his address Lord CROMER put the questionto the meeting that the report be adopted, and this was doneunanimously by a show of hands.

Sir FRANK LASCELLES proposed a vote of thanks to LrdCromer for presiding. After alluding to the debt which thesociety owed to Lord Cromer for all the help and guidancegiven by him to its affairs, Sir Frank Lascelles went on to

speak of the recent meeting of the Royal Society for thePrevention of Cruelty to Animals when a resolution was passedadverse to Lord Cromer’s vice-presidency of that society.Sir Frank Lascelles said that he was very glad that LordCromer had taken a line directed towards the maintenance ofthat society’s interests, and had upheld the principle thatthere was no opposition between the objects of the ResearchDefence Society and the objects of the Society for the Pre-vention of Cruelty to Animals.The vote of thanks was seconded by Dr. SANDWITH, who

referred to his personal knowledge of Lord Cromer’s adminis-tration in Egypt.The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation.Lord CROMER, acknowledging the vote of thanks, referred

to some of the early experiences of the Egyptian Society forthe Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. With regard to the

i recent action at the meeting of the Royal Society for the, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Lord Cromer said that he’I thought it would be a mistake to attach much importancel to the " little skirmish " between himself and Mr. Coleridge.l It was what his friend sitting near him, Sir Reginald. Talbot, would describe as an affair of outposts. Hisr only wish had been to save that society from the

clutches of its more extreme supporters, and he hopedthat his action had produced that effect. Lord Cromerwent on to speak of the proposal that there shouldbe more inspection under the Act. He said that theResearch Defence Society would give thorough and carefulconsideration to such a proposal ; but it was necessary toask, What kind of inspection? 7 The society could not sup-port any proposal for any such inspection as might hinder orharass our men of science in their work. He went on to

speak of the proposal that dogs should be exempted fromexperiments altogether. We are all of us, he said, fond ofdogs. At the same time he believed that this proposal wasfounded on sentiment, not on reason. He did not see that itwas in any way worse for a dog to die under an anaestheticin a physiological laboratory than to die in the lethalchamber at Battersea. He hated cruelty in any shape orform ; but he held that cruelty to a fox, or a cock pheasant,or a partridge, or a hare, was just as objectionable as crueltyto a dog. There were certain experiments, very limited innumber, for which it was necessary that a dog should beused; and these experiments were of very great value tomankind.The meeting then terminated.

THE CORONATION MEDICAL HONOURS.

WE printed last week the names of those members of themedical profession who were announced at the moment of ourgoing to press as the recipients of titular distinction amongthe Coronation honours. The medical profession has receivedadequate treatment, and we feel certain that the list ofmedical honours meets with the warm approval of our

readers. We now publish the complete list. Many of thosewho are thus honoured are so distinguished, and their claimsto recognition in this way are so obvious, that it is scarcelynecessary to mention their achievements or to detail theprominent positions which they hold and have held. Fivebaronetcies are conferred upon members of our profession.

Mr. Henry T. Batlin, the distinguished President of theRoyal College of Surgeons of England, is also President of

34

the British Medical Association and consulting surgeon toSt. Bartholomew’s Hospital. His public services to medicinehave been great and varied. He has been dean of the

Faculty of Medicine in the University of London andPresident of the Pathological and Laryngological Societies,while he has held many other offices in the Royal College ofSurgeons and at his old hospital.

Dr. William Osler, Regius professor of medicine in theUniversity of Oxford, is famous throughout two continents.He has been professor of medicine at the Johns HopkinsUniversity, and at McGill University, Montreal, and he hasenriched the literature of medicine with many works of highscientific and literary value.

Dr. J. F. Goodhart, consulting physician to Guy’sHospital and the Evelina Hospital for Children, is an

eminent clinician whose name is a household word in generalmedicine as well as paediatrics.

Sir Charles B. Ball, the President of the Royal Academy ofMedicine in Ireland, is a distinguished member of a distin-guished family. He is the representative on the GeneralMedical Council of the University of Dublin, in which body heis Regius professor of surgery. He is surgeon to Sir PatrickDun’s Hospital and honorary surgeon to the King in Ireland.

Sir W. Thornley Stoker, consulting surgeon to theRichmond, Whitworth, and Hardwicke Hospitals, Dublin, isanother eminent member of the Irish medical profession. Heis a past-President of the Royal College of Surgeons and ofthe Royal Academy of Medicine in Ireland, and he isHis Majesty’s Inspector of Anatomy and Government

Inspector under the Vivisection Act in that country.Knighthoods have been bestowed upon Mr. A. A. Bowlby,

C.M G , surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and surgeon-in-ordinary to the King, who is a member of the Council ofthe Royal College of Surgeons of England, and served assenior surgeon in charge of the "Portland Hospital"in the South African war; upon Mr. R. Brayn, HomeOffice adviser in lunacy and late medical superintendentof Broadmoor Asylum; upon Dr. Alexander Dempsey,a well-known Belfast obstetric physician, who is phy-sician and gycagcologist to the Mater Infirmorum Hospital ;upon Dr. F. W. Hewitt, anaesthetist to the King and phy-sician-anxsthetist to St. George’s Hospital ; upon the Hon.John McCall, Agent-General for Tasmania in London,and Member of the House of Assembly and of the ExecutiveCouncil, who has done much useful public work and wasPresident of the Central Board of Health; and upon Mr.F. C. Wallis, surgeon to Charing Cross Hospital.The honour of K. C. B. has been conferred upon Inspector-

General D. M, Shaw, who saw active service during theCrimea and the bombardment of Alexandria, and was incharge of several naval hospitals before his retirement ; uponInspector-General T. D. Gimlette, the head of the RoyalNaval Hospital, Haslar; upon Surgeon-General W. L.

Gubbins, C.B., Director-General of the Army MedicalService; upon Surgeon-General A. S. Reid, C.B., of theIndian Medical Service, lately principal medical officer ofthe Punjab Command ; upon Major Ronald Ross, professorof tropical medicine in the University of Liverpool and theLiverpool School of Tropical Medicine, who was awarded theNobel Prize for Medicine in 1902, and whose services in thecampaign against malaria are world-famous ; and upon Dr.B. A. Whitelegge, C.B., H.M. Chief Inspector of Factoriesand Workshops.The distinction of K.C.M.G. has been conferred upon

Dr. J. Rose Bradford, one of the two secretaries to the RoyalSociety, physician to University College Hospital, and amongour foremost scientific physicians ; and upon Dr. John

Pringle, C.M.G., member of the Privy and LegislativeCouncils of Jamaica.

Dr. Bertrand Dawson, physician-extraordinary to the

King and physician to the London Hospital, is appointedK C.V.O.The C.M.G. is conferred upon Dr. James W. Barrett,

member of the council and lecturer of the University ofMelbourne ; Mr. Dugald Christie, head of the Mukden MedicalMission ; and Dr. T. Zammit, Government Analyst, Malta.The following are appointed C.B.’s.: Inspector-General C. C.Godding, Inspector-General A. W. May, Inspector-GeneralH. J. McC. Todd, and Fleet-Surgeon P. W. Bassett-Smith ofthe Royal Navy; Surgeon-General G. W. Robinson, princilpalmedical officer of the Aldershot Command; Surgeon-GeneralJames G. MacNeece; Colonel C. F. Willis and Colonel T.

Grainger, of the Indian Medical Service ; Lieutenant-CoIoBeBH. E. R. James, R.A.M.C. (retired), attached to the generalstaff at the War Office ; Colonel G. S. Elliston, AdministrativeMeuical Officer of the East Anglian Division; and Colonel7P. B. Giles. Colonel J. R. Thomas, M.D., is appointedHonorary Physician, and Colonel Damer Harrisson, F.R.C.S.Edin., is appointed Honorary Surgeon to His Majesty for His.Majesty’s Territorial Force.The C. V. O. has been conferred upon Fleet-Surgeon

A. R. Bankart, Mr. Milsom Rees, and Mr. Mayo Robson, and;the M.V.O. upon Mr. William Fairbank.

Dr. Michael Cox has been made an Irish Privy Councillor.The Hon. Sir Frederick Borden, Canadian Minister forMilitia and Defence, has been made an Honorary Surgeon-General ; and Sir James Reid, Bart., G.C.V.0., K C.B., has.been granted by His Majesty an augmentation of arms inconsideration of services rendered to His late Majesty KingEdward.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AT STRATH-PEFFER SPA.

THERE are signs of a growing recognition that thiacountry possesses health resorts offering natural facilities’for the relief of disease which rival those presented at‘the well-known watering places abroad. A glance through.our own columns for the past few years will disclose morethan one example of a determined effort to make our homerhealth resorts and their advantages better known to the,.

public, and to bring them to a high level, not only in regardsto treatment, but also to social attractions and domesticcomforts. This is as it should be, and we are glad to.

recognise that the feeling is spreading that there is no reasonrwhy this country should be outstripped in this matter b,foreign countries.The British Isles possess every kind of natural mineral

water which can be found elsewhere in the world. There"are thermal waters, carbonated alkaline waters, salineo

purgative waters, brine baths, sulphur waters, iodo-waters,,chalybeate waters, and so forth, the medicinal value of allof which in various ailments has been demonstrated ill>

practice. The materials are plainly here, and if only a.

system of regime in regard to their medical application wereadopted with the rigour and discipline commonly practisedat continental health resorts a great stimulus would be-

given to the development of our home spas. It is a good>omen that our railway authorities are beginning to see that.the health resorts and spas upon the various lines can bemade a source of revenue to their systems, and there is hopefor the future of home balneological practice when ourgreat railway organisations turn their attention seriouslyto the development of health stations along their routes.

Fortunately, many of our lines bring within reach spots.which are beautiful besides health-giving.Nothing can exceed the beauty, for example, of the High-

lands of Scotland, and these have long boasted a c spa’’at Strathpeffer, which is situated in the very midst of some.of the most romantic and picturesque scenery in NorthBritain. To the south-east approached from Perth i&Aviemore, close by the Cairn Gorm mountains, then thegorgeous Killiecrankie pass, Kingussie, the heights of Dal-whinnie and Dalnaspidal. Mountain streams, lochs and glensform a continual panorama of great interest and beauty.To the west the Highland railway takes the traveller from,Strathpeffer through country unsurpassed for the romanceand magnificence of its scenery, until at length the seais reached at the Kyle of Lochalsh, where the mountainsof Skye and the islands of the Hebrides come in viewto charm the eye and to impress the imagination with,their wild grandeur. The enterprise of the railway in.this part of the country has recently been manifested in.its determination to provide Strathpeffer with a splendidlyappointed hotel, a view of which is given in the accom-panying illustration. The hotel is majestic in its pro-portions, and recalls the hofs "of German health resorts.The justification for its existence is a sulphur spring, a.

health-giving environment, and a site endowed with greatnatural beauties.The most important water at Strathpeffer is that drawn

from the sulphur wells, of which there are three, but there;