CURRENT TOPICS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12551, 12 July 1901, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

A' return recently furnish'* ed to the Imperial Patellar ment gives the number and!

VIVISECTION-.

nature of experiments performed lasts year 1 on living animals, distinguishing (painful from painless experiments,''' and it comes m a relief to learn, on the authority of Ms Thafle, Inspector under the ISruelty toi Animals Act, that vivisection is well tm-i der tba control of the Stat*. Altogether 10,839 experiments were perforated!, 1885 with anaesthetics, and 8954, chiefly inoculations, without anaesthetics. Few, of the experiments, according to Mr Thane, were actually painful, and where Steirious ipain, was likely to be caused the animal was destroyed', in accordance with the condi*. tions attached! to. the licenses issued by the ; Government. To the, argument advanced by anti-vivkectionists, that the experiments have no scientific value, Mr Thane gives a decided refutation. ■ Th# large increase in the number of these inoculation experiments without anaesthetic* is, he says, "mainly due to the growing appreciation of their great value as a means of detecting, curing and preventing disease." Inoculations for the purpose of diagnosis are now part of the routine of medical praotice. During iasfc year 2230 inoculations were made by three licensees, for the jrurpose of standardising anti-toxins, and over 1500 inoculations were made by two licensees for the testing of milk. "The appearance of bubonic plague in this country," continues Mr Thane, "has afforded an illustration of the value of the experimental method in diagnosis. It is of the greatest importance that this disease should be recognised as early as possible. This can only be dor.o with certainty with the aid of inoculations into animals. Two fresh places) Were registered arid two new licenses were granted during 18G0 t ««•

Jjres's-Iy to allow of the necessary experiments being performed in?.localities where ■ infection was apprehended." The report states that licenses and certificates have .•been granted and 1 allowed oniy upon the , recommendation of persons of high seien- ', tifio standing, ■ The licensees aw persons who, by their training arid education, are fitted'to undertake experimental work and to profit by it, and all experimental work kas been: conducted in suitable places. The net result seems to bo that the Government exercises an eSective supervision over vivisections, that the majority of experiments are attended by either no pain at all or only a small amount, that in a Ismail number of casS£s the animals do undoubtedly suffer, but every effort is made to ftifamwwn ijhe time and tba extent of- '-the aujFeriug, and that .these experiments are of -undoubted' value as a means of de'tect- • ing, curing and preventing disease in human beings and animals alike.

HUE MEDITEB", tLAsnaxs < !. ILEET,

The agitation now in pro-' -grass in the Mother Country for ths strengthening of the 'Mediterranean Squadron has been fed

' Judiciously by naval experts like Lord 'Charles 'BereEfoTd. In the "FoifcaigMy" for, Junc\ tie ■soldier's view of /the! situa--1 tion is expressed by Lieutenant-Colonel Vemey-umderthetitle "AFool's Paradise." Tie burden, of the Article is the weakness *n& fonprsparedness- of the Mediterranean Squadron -owing 'to its constant depletion to provide for the- maval policing of distant ©uittposrts of the 'Empire. In the modern conditions of naval warfare, this means playing directly into the hands of the enemy. In land warfare, no matter how . perfect 'the machinery of mobilisation, a decisive engagement cannot be fought for sc-HMi days, and probably for some weeks, after the commencement of hostilities. • iAgain, -however disastrous may be the first encounter or series of encounters to oue or other of the- ibelligerents on Hand, ths perfected arrangements ifor army corps in sup- ' .port-and in reserve afford at least a possibility for' it to receive r&Morcem'e , and to recover itself, atid even eventually to turn the scale of the balance in its cwniavour. But in a. naval war, and more especially in a modern naval war, fought out -under the -conditions in which an island iPowcr like Oreat Britain, depending on tihe command of the sea for its very existence, is opposed to the fleets of Continental' nations, these" two factors of delay and recovery are absolutely non-existent. In naval "war, the time for .mobilisation means, or should mean, as the " Saturday Review ". explains, the number of hours required for * thoroughly equipped fleet to g&i under way. Ths, Power -that properly realises this has over another the overwhelming advantage which would accrue were it possible for one European dt-ato to mobilise and mass its armies along the frontiers of another State that had its forces still on a peace-footing and scattered about the country. Moreover, it is generally accepted that the result of a general fleet action must mean ainnihilatian to one side or the othtr. Thus it is essential tnat a navy, even more than ma army, should be completely equipped 1 and always ready. .Character students would

lit LADT NICOTINE.

seem • to-. have innumerable X-ray appliances for laying bare the mental and moral

peculiarities of tic objects of their study. People, indeed, seein ''io give themselves away" - with a naive , unconsciousness which would he quite disconcerting did they but realise their own ingenuousness. Now, we are told<j if a man is a smoker his character can be instantly estimated by some one. or other of certain set forms of idiosyncrasy peculiar to <th& lovers of "My Lady Nicotine." Most men—the common men of little pereonality—hold their cigars with their,front teeth amd puff 'tne smoke out on either side. A large minority, also of but Kttls individuality, hold them in the corner" of the mouth, the glow just, showing ow a dark night an inch below the ear. The smoker of a. vivacious and sprightly temperament seldom keeps his cigar long between his lips; two puffs and a jest is his characteristic procedure. The man of a determined character, energetic, pugnacious and impatient, betrays himself in the 'American manner by giving his cigar an upward tilt while consuming it. The contemplative, dreamy individual, on the contrary, lets 1 it droop towards his chin, whilst the level-headed person holds hia horizontally. Naturally, insolent people omit to ' remove their cigars when -speaking, whilst the- sullen brooder chews the end of his • Henry Clay to a horrible jmlp. • Eloquent of' stinginess, moreover, is the Ger- • man habit of piercing the butt with a small pen-knife and smoking to within an ace of burning point. The cigarette is equally instructive. Most people hold their cigarettes between the' first and second fingers. Not so the sarcastic ma". Ho kolds his little roll much as one would a., pen, the glowing end thrust away from' Ms' ih'and, as he meditatively examines the up and drops his biting comments. At the other end of the pole, say the experts, is the ill-bred man who holds his cigarette with the glowing end hidden in the hollow of his hand. • The pipe-smoker has no character; he is simply the personification <-f depravity. All of this is somewhat doubtful plulosophy, bub coming as the oracle of a non-smoker, it is,-like the marriage of a • woman once deceived by a man, a kind of revenge as good as any other.