CHAPTER TENThe rat was a prime, healthy specimen of the tame white variety so beloved by schoolboys and so detested by fond female parents. Ottoway held it in gloved hands, stroking the short fur as he held it in plain view.
“Gentlemen, please regard this animal.”
The members of the Commission stirred on their chairs and Macdonald hoped the bio-physicist wasn’t going to act the fool. They wanted a demonstration, not a lecture, but there was nothing he could do but hope that Ottoway would get the unpleasant business over as quickly as he could.
“A rat,” said Ottoway evenly, “is, biologically speaking, very much like a man. They are relatively intelligent, relatively small and very easy to breed. They make ideal laboratory specimens. Remember that what affects a rat will affect a man. Thi
