San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-08-22
RATS BREED DISEASE.
The Plaques They Have Caused and
COntagiOn They Carry.


ContagiOn They Carry.
Philadelphia Ledger.
DR.. S E. Weber, Assistant Stat
Veterinarian of Pennsylvania, reaC
before the Keystone Veterinary Med
ioal Association at the College Of
Physician paper entitled THE Rs
q Disease Breeder " The ESSAYS
advanced the theory that the rat 1,
q transmitter of some of the mos
dangerous diseases which affiict hu.
mainly, chief Of which Is tubercu losis
O. consumption. He cited the results
ofpo,t mortem examinations on more
{ 81 1000 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 as a
disease Gransmitter than in the farm
yard aud barn, where he comes in
contact with the cattle and horses
The paper, in part, is as follows:
"From 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
II ace. He has destroyed the gsrnered
treasures of millions of farmers, rem
'dered millions of acres valueless to
the hus bandman, undermined houses
without number, and even depopu-
lated whole provinces by bringing
the labor of man to naught. His re-
cord 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 Wilmington twice Mayor of
London and the just punishment he
melted out to Bishop Hatto in his
cornchoked castle on the Rhine He
has been a pest in every cline, and
will so continue to be until, in the
development of the distant future, he
sball either disappear or evolve into
some harmless, guiltless creature az
useless as the aXOloti of Mexico or
the lazy helIbender that rests his
bCnsless body in the muddy bed of
the Miami river.
There is but one good word to say
for the rat. While at all times prompt
10 take for his own use the choicest
food that man can provide for him.
self, he does excellent service as a
fGaveDger, and consumes tons of re
fuse material which, If allowed to
putrety, would become the certain
means OF pestiience and death. 1t is
On'V as a scavanger that he seems to
n v been designed; and 1t is of rec.
oru that the terrible 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
bygOne centuries do not decimate the
populations of Western Europe now
adays, 1t is true But while they
have given their own stamping
ground a wide berth, they have not
been rooted out by any means. 1t is
possible that the rats who helped to
rid Englsnd of a pestilence carried
the germs of the disease to Turkey or
Hindostan. This brings me to the
consideration of a subject which will
at ance present itself to the mind OF
the medical scientist as one OF the
most important ever called up for dis
CussiOn.
when the reader thinks of the
countless number of rats that infest
the regions occupied by human
beings, of their wonderful reprOduc.
tive power aud of their seemingly
Causeless but rapid migration from
one dwelling place to another, hun
dreds OF miles away, he must admit
that if il is possible for the rat to con.
Vey disease germs from point to point
It's power for evil is incalculable.
L., l., /. 1 A.l. 4
end sought another field, did he leave
the plague behind, or did he keen a
SHARE OF it to distribute elsewhere?
81 have reason to b 4lieve that the
rat Is a transmitter of some of the
most dangerous diseases which
8tfljct observation-disclosures that have
for ages baffied the skill of the ablest
scientists in the world.