St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-11-12
RATS As DISEASE BREEDERS.

UaeQaalea h This Respect.
DR.. s. E Weber. assistant state vet
srinarian Of Pennsylvania. read before
the Keystons Veterinary Medical asso-
cation, ut tn. College Of Physicians, .
paper entitled s'The Rat Is . Disease
Breeder" The essayist advanced the
theory that tho rat Is transmitter OF
some of the most dangerous diseases
which aflict humanity, chief Of which
is tuberculosis or consumption. He
cited the results Of post-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.
DR. Weber said that nowhere does the
ubiquitous rat do more harm Is q dis
ease transmitter than in the farm yard
and barn, where he comes In contact
with the cattle and horses. The paper,
In part, il Is follows:
Prom the time whereof the memory
of man runneth not to the contrary the
rat has been looked upon Is 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-cholked castle
IN 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 a useless ss the axoloid Of
Mexico or the lazy hellbender that rests
his homeless body in the muddy bed of
the Mama river.
"There is bat one good word TO say
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.
cnger and consumes tons of refuse ma
terial which, II allowed to purify,
would become the certain means of pes
thence and death. 1t ID only rs Q 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
charnel houses have been but little
known in those places since rats began
to be among the greatest factors in the
economy of the animal world
The plaques and pestilences 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 . wide
berth they have not been routed ont by
any means. It Is possible that the rats
who helped to rid England Of . pesti-
lence carried the germs Of the disease
to Turkey or to Hindostan. This brings
me to the consideration OF . subject
which will 1T once present itself to the
mind Of the medical scientist as one of
the most important ever called up for
discussion.
"When the reader thinks of the count
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 il it is possi-
BILE for the rat to convey disease germs
from point to point this power for evil
Is incalculable. When he left plague
stricken London and sought another
Geld. did he leave the plague behind or
did he keep share of it to distribute
elsewhere?
II have reason to believe that the
rat is . trausmitter Of some of the most
dangerous diseases which afiiict human
ity-diseases that have for ages bafiled
the skill of the ablest scientist in the
the world."-N. Y. Recorder.