This, surely, is a true definition of curare, that it is a painless poison, which in small doses prevents the transmission of motor impulses; and, in large doses, which may necessitate the use of artificial respiration, prevents the transmission of sensory impulses. Mr. Berdoe can hardly refuse to accept this definition; indeed, it is his own. And, certainly, he would be a bold man who said that a small dose of curare has any effect on sensation; or that the exact strength of any one specimen of curare is standardised as a supply of antitoxin is standardised. Now we have a perfect right to take a practical view of curare. At the present time, and in our own country, how is it used? The Act forbids its use as an anæsthetic. What evidence does Mr. Berdoe bring that it is so used? 1. He quotes Professor Rutherford's experiments. These were made at least 16 or 17 years ago. 2. He quotes Dr. Porter's paper, "On the Results of Ligation of the Coronary Arteries." (_Journal of Physiology_, vol. xv. 1894, p. 121.) Dr. Porter speaks of four experiments made under morphia _plus_ curare. These experiments were made at Berlin, 14 years ago, by the Professor of Physiology at Harvard, U.S.A. 3. He refers to Professor Stewart's papers, in the same volume of the _Journal of Physiology_. The one experiment which he quotes at some length was made at Strasburg, 14 years ago or more. But we want to know what is done now and here under the Act, not what was done at Berlin or Strasburg 14 or more years ago. Still, the experiments by Professor Stewart have been in constant use, among the opponents of all experiments on animals. In May 1900, at the great annual meeting of the National Society, at Queen's Hall, Dr. Reinhardt said:-- "I will pass on to prove to you, by a few conclusive evidences, for which I can give you chapter and verse, that torture is inflicted on animals by British vivisectors to-day. Now, if you buy the 15th volume of the _Journal of Physiology_, and look at page 86, you will find there," etc. To prove that animals are tortured in England to-day, he quotes one experiment made at Strasburg ever so long ago. And, in 1901, Mr. Coleridge wrote, in the _Morning Leader_, saying: _It is with curare, which paralyses motion and leaves sensation intact, that all the most shocking vivisections are performed._ And, the same year, Mr. Stephen Smith, a "Medical Patron" of the London Society, wrote: _I state emphatically that when curare is used, proper anæsthesia is out of the question...._ _Curare is used daily throughout England. Mention of an anæsthetic in a report is no guarantee that the animal was anæsthetised._