THE ANIMAL WORLD AND THE PROPOSED PASTEUR INSTITUTE. [To TIM
EDITOR OF TRI "Spxorwros."] SIR,—I am sure all lovers of animals will rejoice that Sir M. Hicks-Beach refused to give a licence for a Pasteur Institute in London. In connection with the subject, I quote an article from the Gazette de Lausanne of June 4th. After giving a description of a visit he paid to the Pasteur Institute to see four Vaudois who are under treatment at present, the arrival .of the omnibus with its cargo of patients, their treatment, &c., the correspondent goes on to say :—" A very obliging atten- dant showed me over the different parts of the building,— dogs, rabbits, guinea-pigs, which have been inoculated with hydrophobia, tuberculosis, &c., for experiments. For these poor creatures, L'Institut Pasteur is like Dante's hell. Over the door may be written : No hope for those who enter here.' If they do not take one disease, or if they get well of it, they are immediately inoculated with another till death renders them useless. There was a beautiful little dog, called' Finette,' who had been inoculated with hydrophobia five times without any success : she appeared to be none the worse for it."
One would think even these cruel hearts would let poor Finette' live, but they seem to know no mercy. I think some time ago there was an account in your columns of a system of vapour-baths which had been found most efficacious; if so, should not all humane people join in endeavouring to estab- lish some institute where such a system could be tested and brought before the public P May I add to my letter two anecdotes of animals which have lately come under my own observation ?
An engineer employed on the works of the Yverdon and Simplon Railway has a little terrier. As he was going away -for some time, he asked a friend at Yverdon to take charge of his dog. Bijou' knew the lady well, and was apparently quite happy and comfortable, but in about a week he disappeared. Mademoiselle J— naturally was much distressed, when, to her great relief, she received a letter from Lausanne from Monsieur R—'s mother, saying : " Bijou ' is with us ; he Appeared on Monday." He remained at Lausanne a few days, and then returned to Yverdon by train. This he repeated 'several times, always getting out at the right stations, staying with Madame R— occasionally three days. Needless to -say, all the officials on the line knew him well. Whether he imagined he would find his master at his mother's house, or -whether, like all the rest of the world, he wanted a change, as he could not tell us, I cannot say.
My next story is of a cat, a black cat called Bonnivard,' who lives at Montreux ; he has learnt how to open the door. Your readers know, no doubt, that the Swiss door-handles are different from ours, going up and down. Bonnivard ' found by jumping on the handle he could open the door. There is also in this house a grey cat, who is a great friend of his. One day, Peter' was outside, and mewed to come in ; his mistress was busy writing, and took no notice ; Peter' became more urgent ; ‘Bonnivard,' who was asleep on a chair, -raised his head and listened, seeing Peter's' wants still re- mained unattended to, he got up, walked across the room, -opened the door, and admitted his friend. I have heard that black cats are the most intelligent, and tortoise-shell cats the most amiable, of the cat tribe. I wonder if there is any ground
Previous page
