"A guinea-pig that will rest quietly in your hands before you commence to inject it, will remain perfectly quiet during the introduction of the needle under the skin; and the moment it is returned to the cage it resumes its interrupted feeding. "Arteries, veins, and most of the parts of the viscera, are without the sense of touch. We have actual proof of this in what takes place when a horse is bled for the purpose of obtaining curative serum. With a sharp lance a cut may be made in the skin so quickly and easily that the animal does nothing more than twitch the skin-muscle of the neck, or give his head a shake, whilst of the further proceeding of introducing a hollow needle into the vein the animal takes not the slightest notice. Some horses, indeed, will stand perfectly quiet during the whole operation, munching a carrot, nibbling at a wisp of hay, or playing with a button on the vest of the groom standing at its head. "Harrowing details concerning the horrors of trephining rabbits for Pasteur's antirabic treatment are frequently supplied for popular consumption, but how little real existence any suffering in connection with the operation has, may be gathered from the fact that if, as a preliminary measure, the skin be benumbed with carbolic acid, the whole operation, from making the incision through the skin to cutting out the piece of bone with a fine trephine and passing a needle under the dura mater, may be done without once causing the animal to withdraw its attention from the important business of munching a bit of cabbage-leaf or a scrap of succulent carrot." (Prof. Woodhead, _Medical Magazine_, June 1898.) It may be well to put here--(1) the full text of the Act; (2) an account of the anæsthetics used for animals; (3) the latest Report of Government Inspectors appointed under the Act. 1.--AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO CRUELTY TO ANIMALS _15th August 1876_ Whereas it is expedient to amend the law relating to cruelty to animals by extending it to the cases of animals which for medical, physiological, or other scientific purposes are subjected when alive to experiments calculated to inflict pain: Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876."