Feliciana sentinel., 1892-10-01
RATS As DISEASE aReEoERs.
4 Prominent Physician Thinks They Are
Unegunled In This Respect.

4 Prominent Physician Thinks They Are !
Unequnled In This Respect.
DR.. s. E. Weber, assistant state vet !
srinarian of Pennsylvania, read before |
the Keystone Veterinary Medical asso-
,iation, at tn. College of Physicians, a
paper entitled 1.-The Rat as Disease
Breeder The essayist advanced the
theory that the rat is a transmitter of
some of the most dangerous diseases
which afflict humanity, chief of which
is tuberculosis or consumption. He
,itcd the results of po>t-mortem exam
nations on more than one thousand Of
the animals in proof of the theory, and
then discussed the best way Of getting
rid of them.
DIR. Weber said that nowhere does the
ubiquitous rat do more harm as a dis
ease transnitter than in the farm yard
and barn, where he comes in contact
! with the cattle and horses. The paper,
| in part, is as follows:
''t'rom the time whereof the memory
! Of man runneth not to the contrary the
rat has been looked upon as one of the
! most persistent enemies of the human
race. He has destroyed the garnered
treasures of millions of farmers, rem
| dered millions of acres valueless to the
husbandman, undermined houses with
out number, and even depopulated
whole provinces by bringing the labor
| Of men to naught. His record does not
rest upon the traditions that tell us
| of the wonderful doingS of the Pied
Piper OF Hamelin, the important
part he played in making Dick Whit
tington, twice mayor of London and
the just punishment he meted out to
Bishop Hatch in his corn-choked castle
on the Rhine. He has been pest in
every cline, and will SO continue to be
until in the development OF the distant
future he shall either disappear or
evolve into some harmless, guiltless
creature as useless as the axoloid of
Mexico or the lazy helibender that rests
his boneless body in the muddy bed of
the Mama river.
for the rat. While at all times prompt
to take for his own use the choicest
food that man can provide for himself
the rat does excellent service as a scav-
enger and consumes tons of refuse ma
terial which, If allowed to putrify
| would become the certain means of pes
thence and death. 1t is only as a scav-
enger that he seems to have been de-
| signed; and it is of record that the ter
rible plaques which used to turn the
towns and cities of western Europe into
charncl houses have been but little
known in those places since rats began
to be among tbs greatest factors in the
economy of the animal world.
The plaques and pcstiences of by
gone centuries do not decimate the pop
ulation of western Europe nowadays,
it is true But while they have given
their own stamping grounds a wide
berth they have not been routed out by
any means 1t is possible that the rats
who helped to rid England of a pesti-
lcncc carried the germs of the disease
to Turkey or to ffndostan. This brings
mo to the consideration of a subject
+ which will at once present itself to the
mind of the medical scientist one of
: the most important ever called up for
discussion.
,, "Whcn the reader thinks Of the count
j less number of rats that infest the
regions occupied by human beings. OF
their wonderful reproductive power
, and Of their seemingly causeless but
, rapid immigration from one dwelling
place to another, hundreds of miles
away. he must admit that if it is posi-
. bic for the rat to convey disease germs
, from point to point this power for evil
a is incalcula BILE. When he left plague
stricken London aud sought another
q field. did he leave the plague behind o,
, did he keep Il share of it to distribute
, elsewhere?
= II have reason to believe that the
, rat is trarsmitter of some OF the most
dangerous diseases, which affiict human
-, ity-discases that have for ages battlct
; the skill of tho abteSt scientist in the
the world. N. y. Recorder.
d THE FATHER OF SNAKES.
I
s Concerning II.
n Every one who has lived on th'
!. | Great Piains'' or in the mountains dur
), ing the past twenty-five years, will re
: call the fact that at certain season
o thousands of rattlcsnal<e and othc
:. species of scrpents may be found in tht
4 vicinity of the stone lodges hordcrip;
s the creeks and rivers of the region re
!. | ferred to. It will also be remembered
q that by some peculiar instinct thes
II reptiles congregate early in the fal
:, around the crevices in the rocks sool
:, to hibernate in immense. tangle
:, masses under the ground.
/, Although the little prairic-rattlesral<
is very vcnomous, can rarely be tanned
d is always mean, vindictive and read
= to spring at Il real or supposed enemy.
Il have vet to learn of q death from it
II bite, if medical trea tmcnt were apple
If promptly. Whisky is the antidote
# although it should not be termed ii
Il antidotc in the strictcst acceptance G
n the term. for it is nature. after all. tina
n goes to work in its cndeavor to ciin
" mate the virulent poison from the sy:
"a tenn. which she would accomplish ur
n aided. il the physical constitution {
If the individual affected could alway
!. stand the violent shock. Whisky
N merely a powerful stimuiant, keepin
Is mp the vitality, until nature herse,
&c throws off the poison.
!, In February 1869, during Gen. Sher
% dams winter campaign against tn
70 allied Indian tribes OF the plains, Ger
=. Cnster's command consisting of h