Professor Ray Lankester has sent us a letter of protest,—
and we may say, almost of denunciation,—for the remarks we made last week on his correspondence with Miss Cobbe in the pages of the Weekly Dispatch. To this letter we have appended at its close an answer which seems to us sufficient, and perhaps more than sufficient. But we have had, since reading Professor Ray Lankester's letter, an opportunity of reading an article in the Medical Press and Circular for February 29th, in praise of M. Pasteur's method of waging war on the Australian rabbits, which so profoundly shocks and alarms us, that we must call attention to it as an illustra- tion of the ethics which the new physiologists and patho- logists are introducing into this country. Far be it from us to say that Professor Ray Lankester would not denounce this suggestion, if it means what it appears to mean, with quite as much horror and indignation as we do. We only wish to call his attention to the moral logic by which the practices which he defends may be developed into the practices by which, as we hope, he would be as much revolted as we are. Here is the passage to which we refer :—" If carried out successfully, this will certainly be the most striking instance of the application of science to warfare. By diverting a natural force into this channel we have more or less under our command (the extent of which remains to be proved) a devastating agent compared to which Galling guns and mitrailleuses are mere popguns, and although, so far, it is only proposed to deal with rabbits, the future is pregnant with new and unthought-of possibilities in this direction." That means, if it means anything, that we should be justified in spreading destruction among our human enemies as M. Pasteur wishes to spread destruction among the Australian rabbits,—a monstrous suggestion of which no one can foresee the development. Conceive the consequences of an attempt on the part of the Germans and French, for instance, to spread mortal plagues amongst each other by exporting fatal bacteria into the enemies' soil !
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