Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic) Protest Against Insurance Bill Clause. Speeches by Lady Paget, Mr. H. G. Chancellor, M.P., & Dr. Hadwen.
The Chairman read letters of apology for non-attendance, and expressing sympathy with the object of the meeting, from the Countess of Plymouth, who was to have been one of the speakers, the Countess of Warwick, the Baroness de Knoop, Mr. J. R. Pope (President of the local branch of the Union), who was indisposed, Sir William Wedderburn, Sir Ashton Lister, Captain Colchester-Wemyss, the Rev. T. Randall, Mr. Max Bellows, Mr. Franklin Higgs, and Professor Alfred Russell Wallace, O.M., D.C.L., F.R.S.--who said: "I quite agree with all you say about the utter needlessness of endowing 'research' into causes and modes of cure of tuberculosis, etc., and the certainty that the £62,500 per annum will be wasted and worse than wasted, on experiments on living animals. For some years past the proceedings of the Royal Society have been overloaded with descriptions of an endless variety of such 'researches,' most of which do not even profess to have led to any definite or useful result; while they have certainly involved unknown cruelty to thousands of the higher animals." (Applause.)
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