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CRUELTY TO ANIMALS-A STUDY IN SOCIOLOGY. 129
proved. The rumours and hearsay evideuce about tho froquent
private vivisections by students did not usually bear
cross-examination, though in one town it is clear that a kind
of small club of students had been erperimentiug. Tho story
of tho old horse kept for the purpose of practising operations
in a veterinary school is also an uupleasaut one (Questions
5,037-5,043). But if we allow that there was some cruelty in
this single case, I do not think there is any need to expend
much sentimental indignation upon it, The witness mho made
this case known was obliged to t-~llow in his auswers to other
questions (5,052-5,05-i) that ho had himself performed a far
more pninful operation on horscs, namely, that of firing them
without always taking the trouble to give them chloroform.
The same witness denounced ‘( the fearful cruelty ” with mhicll
a pnrticnlar dog had been tveatcd by soma students. Exnn~iuution,
however, showed (Questions 5,009-5,030) that tho intention
had been to kill the dog in the manner usudly considored
tho least objectionable, namely, by the adtninistmtion of prussic
acid. Tho dose having perhaps been insufficient, tho dog Boon
aftorwards showed signs of life, and some students tried the
effect of a little ammonia as an antidote. llaving become
partially sensible, it was promptly killed by a blow on the
head. The dog probably suffered no pain, or as little as might
be; and I see nothing so cruel in it as for sportsman to shoot
a bird, and then depart without taking the trouble to ascertain
whether it is killed or only wounded.
A great deal of attention was given to the case of certain
dogs which had becu killed by strychnine in tho presence of
medical students, for the purpose of demonstrating tho action
of that fearful poison. As regards the physical pain caused,
I see no grounds for complaint, while it is permitted for the
squatters of Queensland to kill the native dogs in large
numbers by strychnine. If the use of this poison is in itself
=el, then the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty should
take means to prohibit its genera1 use. It is on moral and
psychological grounds, then, that the exhibition of the effects
of the poison are to be objected to, if at all. But nobody
denied that a medical man ought to le- the symptoms of