The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1874-04-18

contains some curious and amusing mat
ters The statements concerning rats
living and dead, are especially remarkable
The bones Of defunct animals are largely
in demand everywhere, for buttons, knife
handles and various other purposes. But
to make these bones marketable, they mus
be cleaned. To boil them or apply de.
composing substances to take off the ad-
herring flesh, Injuries the bone. To clean
them by hand would add too much to then
cost There is "pound" in Paris, about
ten acres in extent, surrounded by a stone
wall. To this receptacle all the carcasses
of dead animals from the city are brought
and here the problem of bone-cleaning is
solved. The city authorities colonized the
place with rats from the catacombs. They
do the work Of bone-cleaning artistically
polishing the bones gratuitously as no hu.
man cleaner could do, without great trou
bic and expense. With the rodents il i,
work Of love, impaired by voraeity; and
a carcass, dumped in the enclosure one
day, is found on the morrow "a neat and
polished skeleton" The bones are al
ready to be sawed up into the frames Of
ladies fans, and to touch beautiful noses
all unconscious Of the odors which the
elegantly carved toy exhaled but few
weeks or days before.
But the four-leggcd operators agrow By
what they feed on" sleek individually
but collectively ''too numerous to mention.
There is such an increase Of laborers oyel
the demand, that the rats employed Il
keep down waste become "waste" them
selves. They in their turn are utilized, :
and human ingenuity is too much foI
animal sagacity. All round the insid,
base Of the wall of enclosure are perforates
cylindrical holes, in diameter the size of
rats body, and in depth equal to hi
length At break Of day, once month
"calathumpian band" armed with drums
tin kettles and whatever else will make
horrid noise, rushes in among the rats
Thus "charivaried' into mortal terror, tn,
poor rats poke their heads into the frs
holes they find. Rat-catchers, each equip
ped with bag over the left shoulder, rusl
round and seize the rats by their protrud
ing tails and whip them into the bags Will
wonderful and dexterous celerity. Tn
privilege Of catching the rats is paid for
and the catchers make good thing out o
the sale Of the fur, the skin and the flesh
The fur is used among other purposes 70
hats. The skins furnish thumbs for XII,
gloves. Fur and skin are sometimes use,
together. But-the flesh? After sucl
a revelation the customers at cheap Pari
restaurant might say; In that sayory disl
what rats may come, "must give US pausel
Rats il will be seen, have thus reache,
the dignity of articles Of commerce il
Europe. In China, where rat soup is
delicacy, this small game has, perhaps 70
centuries, been quoted at two dollars
dozen. In the East Indian province o.
Scinde the commissioner, to abate tn,
rat nuisance, issued proclamation givin,
three pence dozen for rat tails Tn,
catchers were permitted to keep the car
cass, no small addition to their profits
The emigration Of rats and their multipli
cation are among the curiosities of natura
history. In France they are computed t.
amount in number with other rodents /.
over two thousand millions, and their dep
relations, il estimated at only one,fifth o
an American cent year to each rat
would amount to nearly four millions O
dollars annually. The proprietor of ,
slaughter house near Paris has entrappet
and killed over six thousand rats in ons
month. In one night he destroyednca
three thousand. These rat figures are
something appalling They certainly far
exceed any American experience, and it il
to be earnestly hoped that they alwayi
may.