Evening star., 1901-07-03
MAKING WAR ON The RATS
THEY SHOULD BE DRIVEN OFF-THE
FACE OF THE EARTH.
So Far Known They Have We Use
full Place In Natures Scheme
Could Well BE Spared.


Mondays kilograms from South Africa
brought the unpleasant news that plague
rats had been found dead at Port Eliza
beth As it is now known that these ami
mails are more susceptible to the plague
infection than cats are to diphtherfa and
their death preceded the outbreaks at
Hong Kong and in Bombay. the news is
serious The Japanese doctors employed
by their government to report the out
breaks of bubonic plague at Hong Kong
agree that the rat harbors the disease and
transmits it to human beings They
ommend that in the interests of public
health the creatures shall. If possible. be
exterminated. advice which Is more easily
given than acted upon Even Japanese
men-of-war harbor these pests IN numbers.
and the brown rat Is said to be establish
I'd inland in the islands as well as at the
ports. In South Africa it is now in
digenous. being carried to all the sea-
coast towns in cargo and grain ships.
though owing to the numbers of SNAIL
Carnivora in the up-country districts ard
the absence of corn crops in any great
extent. it is not plentiful away from the
seaboard. But il the disease becomes es-
tablished there owing TO rat contasion its
extension by the vast and abnormal
traffic now going with the northern
provinces is only too probable
Dangerous to the World.
There can be doubt that the plague
rat IS uanger to the world at large. It
Is more than probable that It Is RESPONSE
bic for the wide distribution of the pesti-
lence. and its appearance in improbable
and Isolated places Indian coolies. who
now go out to work on indenture In distant
and tropical British possessions. may have
taken IL to Cape Town But the outbreak
in island like Maurtius surrounded by
the Indian ocean. looks very much like
a case of rat-carried plague. and the sick
ening of Lascar sailors on board ship. and
other instances. like that lately recorded
as spontaneous In one of the inland Cape
Colony towns. are probably due to the
same cause. Spontaneous N this sense
means that the person affected has not
been in contact with any human sufferer
from the disease, or his effects. But the
contagfon may all the time have been
present In the same house. and communi-
Gated to articles Of food and dress by the
vermfn which infest the ship house or
hospital No more dangerous or unfOrtu-
nate coincidence could be imagined In the
history of diseases than that the most
dreaded of all pestilences is communicable
to and by the most common and increasing
of the larger creatures parasitic on human
Industry and trade. one which finds
natural home In the great insanitary
cities of the east. and on the ships which
go and come from there 20 every port
Quarantine is useless against Infection un-
less the ships themselves are prohibfte ed
from coming to the quays. 1t would be be-
youd the genius even of the inventor or
the rat-proof raiIings at the Zoo to de-
wise means oy Wnlch creatures which can
swim as well water-voes. and can con-
ceal themselves in the most unpromising
surroundings more deXterously than any
sto~away. can be kept from landing 1t
is part of the regular and professional
business of rats to find means OF access
To desirable but difficult places and they
show an equally demoniacal ingenuity in
getting themselves smuggled into these and
also out of tight corners" 1t was sup
posed that iron ships lying out in the water
away from auays would be unciimbable by
them But they enter by dropping down
with the tide. if the boat is any distance
from shore. and climbing up by ropes at
tached boats or anything communicating
with the decks Their ingenuity when they
wish to reach the shore is put to less Sc
we're tests But some of the means taken
though possibly only accidentally success
full suggest an intellectual predominance
over most less criminal animals A case
of empty bottles was lately rowed ashore
with other "ullages from The mess of a
Inan-of-war In the boat went also small
fox-terrier- The bottles were only laid on
little straw. and in a shallow case, hold
ing only one layer. The terrier made a
dead-set at the box, the lid of which was
opened by one of the passeuxerz In the
gig to see whether there a rat In It
Not one rat but half dozen were slowed
away between the bottles, scarcely cover
ed with straw and an impromptu rat hunt
in the boat ensued. with Incidents worthy
of the pen of Marryat when dealing with
Peter Simples experiences OF going in
charge of boats crews with stores to
may have been an accident But IT looked
much as though the rats knew that that
particular box was going ashore and had
prepared TO take advantage of the ''litt'
so offered
EsxisteRee In Dinereditnble.
At the same time. IT IS not creditable
TO civilization that SO noiseme and mis-
Chfevous a pest should flourish uncheck-
ed. even were there no such intimate con-
nectfon between the rat and deadly disease
1here Is no place for the creature In prop
eriy ordered houses. The rat. as COM
mensalistic with man, to the scien-
tlnc phrase for parasites on human food
and lodging. Is an anachronism. 1t is a
relic of mediaeval filrhfness- In good
wetl-butlt modern house such a creature
is unknown Dirt and disorder and waste
are IT'S congenial surroundings Modern
buildings in brick and iron. with concrete
floors and ceilings. are no place for them
Ihey flourish in badly made drains: round
pig styles. slaughter houses and wherever
NTH and garbage accumulate Damage to
caFgoes by rats is. we believe, not recover
able, and rightly so, from marine Insurance.
companies The multiplication Of rats is
almost entirely due to human agency or
rather, to human neglect II there uere no
waste products left for them to dev1ur
there would be such formidable num-
bers OF the pest They are by no means
on the Increase In this country generally
thougn there are years when they flourish
extensively in the rural districts owing
70 dry summers. which suit their young
and numerous families. The year 1895 was
noted rat year. In 1893 and 1s9 there
was plague Of the creatures in the open
ana cultivated parts of Norfolk They are
supposed 10 have come up from the fen
when flooded in the winter. and spread over
the hedges banks and covers of the noted
game estates Of the northwest corner of
the county On one estate the Keepers
were reluctant to go down to a particular
ly rat-haunted wood by night, dislixfrg
the numbers and proximity of the yerrnin
hpI mt
In London they are only found In great
numbers In the docks. and lower down the
river at Deptford. where the foreign cattle
are slaughtered on Decentralization. Else
where. the London cats. and especially
those prime enemies OF rats. the home