New-York tribune., 1901-04-28
ANINDICTMENTOFTHE RAT
IIIS SHARE IN THE WORK OF SPREAD
ING DISEASE.
vny AN INTERNATIONAL CRUSADE WOULD BE
FULLY JUSTIFIED.

Wet the rat of any graveT offence than larceny,
carnage to articles Of food which he could not
carry away or completely devour on the spot,
and the construction of rapid transit tunnels
without any charter. These offences have been
aggravating in the extreme. but they never led
l. any concerted movement for his extinction.
There has been no cooperation among those
Who sought to capture destroy him. But
il is now known that he is than mere
nuisance AS a dissemina tor of disease he works
much serious injuries human society
than those hitherto charged to his account, and
there are signs that this discovery may lead to
/ systematic crusade against the offender.
A japanese bacteriologist. DR.. Nashuda who
visiting in Chicago few days ago. declares
that the Mikado's government is likely to pro
pose to other nations a league against this
rodent. The story is not inn robable. There
have been international congresses To discuss
-holera. bubonic plague. tuberculosis. leprCsy
ard other infectious maladies. Why should not
AH civilized countries unite to suppress such
vel! recognized source OF danger to health as
rats?
The malaCy with which these animals are
most closely associated in the public mind is the
hubonic plague. Thousands of them--perhaps it
would be safe to say hundreds of thousands Of
thcrn-are carried of hy this disease in Oriental
Countries every year. Indeed it is uncom-
for IA Is to die from that cause in a house
before any human subjects attacked by it.
itats are such ramblers. moreover, that it is
POSSIBLE for them to infect whole neghbor-
EooG before the fact is discovered and as they
tften die in inaccessible places their bodies may
remain hidden but active sources of Infection
III days and weeks. The germs of the buboniC
llaguo are transmitted to the soil and air in
this manner. and thus find easy entrance to tn.
lungs, food and skin scratches Of human he
iHgs.
Only few weeks ago Il man in Cardiff
Wales. employed clear q store OF dead
eats q Fcd Of rat epidemic having prevailed
there. week or 50 later the man himself sue
cumbed 70 mysterious attack of illness which
eventually proved to be the genuine buboaic
,'!agre When such incident can occur in d
healthy port lie Cardiff. it is easy to under
stand how tn" same agency can work far
greater mischief in the filthy. crowted t-nc-
ments of place like bombay or Hong Kong
But there is reason to suspect the rat Of com
GEoity with the dissemination of other dis
cases also The singular preference which some
disorders show for one class of animals and
their comparative Indifference to another is Il
remarka he phenomenon. Thus. cows are pc
cuIiarly susceptible to tuberculosis: but that
disease never affects a rabbit unless the latter
il: artifciay inoculated. Cats rarely acquire
diphthcfia in q natural manner. although they
viii develop the proper symptoms if diphth-rla
germs are intrCGuCed into their veins. and rats
are practically immune against the disease. An
ln1ection of toxin Il hundred times big as is
necessary to sicken cat will affect a rat
at all. ON the other hand. the latter is almost
the only known creature. aside from man
which acquires the bubonic plague. Cats and
dogs occasionally. but rarely take il. Again.
few animals besides the hog ever suffer from
trichinap, and among these few are rats and
mice In fact, rats are suspected of being one
Of the means whereby hogs are infected with the
parasites. TfiChnsr get into man or an animal
only through the blood Rats and hogs are
chance to eat dead rat in whose body lot of
trlchinie were curlod up il would do so without
hesitation and would suffer the consequences
;" far as is known. the only way in which
hogs can become infected is To eat the flesh OF
"A rlchiniferouS rat mouse. cat or pupllv Full
grown dogs never suffer from this trouble
But rats and mice transmit tht. germs
of other diseases than those of which they are
themselves the victims. 1t is Il well established
fact that common flies carry typhoid and other
haleiul bacteria on their feet from masses of
injected matter - perfectly clean articles Of
food which carelessly exposed Now il i;
not so clearly proved that rats and mice act in
the same manner although it is probable that
they do to some extent Dr. W II. Park men
tlons case in point
A culture of certain bacillus that was ua-