The daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Ind. Ter. [Okla.]) 1898-1902, 1898-12-05

"
secure from attack alike from men.
as from dogs and cats and all their
other enemies. The grain godowns
of Bombay have been forever increas-
ing, and the rats have increased with
the number Of the godowns. The 60
downs, it should be mentioned, have
been the domiciles, the feeding ground
and the strongholds of the rats, and it
is not easy to conceive of any mere
effective plan of successful rat breed
ing than that which has been estab-
lished in the godowns by the grain
dealers of Bombay.
At the time of the first visitation OF
plague in Bombay, in August or Sep
tember, 1886, the city must have been
filled with an unusual superabqRdance
of rats, seeing that every ingenuity
which the human mind might devise
for the most complete and extensive
breeding of domestic rats had been in
actual operation in Bombay for half
century. To this complete system Of
rat-breeding has to be added the facts
that grain dealers and Hindoos gen.
orally keep neither cats nor dogs in
the houses, and the destruction ofrats
is regarded by these classes as re-
ligious proclamation and dire sin.
This popularity of the masses of the
people gives the finishing touch to the
apparent mystery of rat breeding and
rat preservation. There is no mystery
in the matter at all. The facts con-
nected with rat breeding and rat pres
ervation are evident to the meanest
comprehension. When the plague first
came Bombay must have been the
"Urbs primus" in rats, If in nothing
else, and in those early days of the
plague numerous houses in the Mand-
vie district exhibited every morning
large numbers Of dead rats thrown out
of the rooms and from the staircases
of houses, awaiting removal by the
scavengers of all that the crows had
not previously feasted on.
From the beginning of the plague
until now dead rats have been found /
In houses and in the streets as regular !
antecedents Of plague among the peo- !
pie in the near vicinity. Dead rats
have been discovered first and plague
cases such close second as to give rise
to the popular belief that the rats
caused the plague. This belief was
strengthened by the very numerous
dissections and observations which
have been made by competent observ-
ers from time to time, all Of which
went to prove that the great rat NOR
tality was caused by the plague and by
nothing else. The diseased rats, 1t
was said, infected one another, and.
spread the disease among themselves,
and so great was the susceptibility of
the rat to the plague that nearly the
whole tribe perished in each of the
epidemic visitations. The first batch
died off with the first epidemic, but the
city was such good breeding ground
for rats that in a year new genera
tion was ready to herald in a second |
visitation. In the second epidemic, as
In the first, dead rats showed the d.
rection and force of the visitation
among the people, and gave th. warn
ing. So certain was this warning that
the belief is now strongly and gener-
ally entertained that the city owes all
Its plague troubles to rats, and to rats
alone. Calcutta's experience is close
" following the experience of Bonn
bay-dead rats first and human plague
Immediately afterward. Other factors
may be instrumental in fostering and
spreading plague infection. If there
are any such factors they require in
vestigation, for. up to the uresent, lit
tie or nothing is known about them.
Times of India.