Evidence of Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton before the Royal Commission on Vivisection, Wednesday, 24th July, 1907.

  • Moulton, John Fletcher Moulton, 1st baron, 1844-1921.
Date:
1908
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Evidence of Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton before the Royal Commission on Vivisection, Wednesday, 24th July, 1907. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    myself fear very much of the popular storm. I know perfectly well the power of a certain small number of determined people to prejudice the minds of the public, and I appreciate that it is considerable ; but the more that the public has experience of the good results of research, the safer it is in the hands of the public. 12765. Of course, as regards the foreigner himself, the man who is temporarily over here, he is to some extent free from the law. He performs certain experi- ments, and the result of those experiments are not published, probably, until he has returned ; and then the Home Secretary may be blamed for allowing the law to be broken by a man over whom he had not effective control. You recognise that difficulty, do you not ?■—He ought to have effective control, and I think that this would be best obtained by requiring that the reports should be sent in from time to time, and that there should be some responsible person to see this is done. 12766. Would you go so far as this, that supposing a foreigner were authorised to experiment, say, at University College, you would make the head of the laboratory there surety for him ?—Yes ; I would make him see that the thing is done. And if the man is not performing his duty, it is the duty of the head of the laboratory to report to the Home Office that the ex- periments are being carried out without due observa- tion of the conditions. 12767. But what practical power of enforcing it have we ? Would you withdraw the licence of the head of the laboratory if there were any contravention of the conditions by a foreigner working in his laboratory ? —Not unless he connived at it. But, in my opinion, the report of an experiment should be written out F