Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-02-08
Science Has Pronounced the
Sentence and Busy Little
Rodents Must Go.
ARE DECLARED A MENACE.
So Formidable Tint Nothing Short Of
Complete determination VIII Salts.
fy Human Progress Requirements.

pronounced sentence of dealt
| - against rats. They have bee.
| declared menace to mankind
SO formidable that nothing short n
their complete determination can SAT-,
fy the requirements of human progres,
Iheir creation 1t seems, was a mis-.
take. Their continued survival In,
only multiplied the proof OF their I'm.
illness for existence in the moder,
world. They have got to go-every las,
one OF them And the Society for tbs
determination of Vermin has been duly
formed. organized, constituted, and mn
the rest OF 1t, TO rid these islands q,
| them.
Doubtless the cables have ALREADY
naSned 70 America the bald story n,
the formation of the society and If,
leli purpose. 1t was at the Hotel Mel.
| ropoie. the other night, while nleav
| ure-loVlns Londoners. unwilling OF tina
| dire diseases that threatened them
IRON the myriads of rats in the sewer,
oeneath their feet were fiocking to Tia
| theaters and music halls. that the ds.
| cree of determination against the rms,
| was pronounced. Sir James C,hitcbtor
| browne, an eminent physician who ha,
| little faith in the efficacy OF drugs hu,
| great faith in the value of preventive
measures, presided. Enthusiastic anti.
| ratters cheered his periods as he indict.
ca the rat at the bar of civilization
| he described the familiar rodent as an
AWFUL thing, wilier and more poison
GUS than the serpent-the dissenlnator
OF plaques and all their unholy ferrors
"a ghoulish garbager whose fecun-
ai.y was something terrible to contem-
Plate. One pair OF rats, he said un
der favorable conditions would prod,,ca
500. each one of which might becorns
a vehicle of the most awful scourgs
that could inflict humanity.
RESPONSIBLE FOR PIACur
The rat he told his audience had
Deen proven TO be mainly Responsible.
LOT the propagation of the plague in
lluia ana had been the cause OF the
people since 1896. The rat was pree+
reservoir of diseases. and the flea was
tue channel for its carriage and if
plague was to be got rid OF they
the rat. 'u'
Sir James called upon the assem-
blage TO adopt the role of the modern
Pled Piper. He advised ali earnest
rat-exterIninators to avail themselves
or the discovery of DIR, Dansyz. ,rbIs
distinguished Frenchman had evolved
deadly virus, harmless 10 other
animals which when spread on bread
aha Dutter or toasted cheese, forms n
9aihty dish for the rapscallion rodent.
but aiter he had partaken of H. h.
maze MIN ill-very III indeed. And af
ter q certain time II afflicted him with
reVerish desire for fresh air and
open spaces. Then the poor raj
erawled forth from his hole TO die with
ms tan In knots and his little pink
Eyes 9oulge with agony. Meanwhile
ne hao spread the disease (rodentioslsl
to all the neighboring families, ana
presently they became possessed wifi
the craving for fresh air: and ont they
came gasping-to die the drendfnl
death. 1t was war-war without Inercy
ana no quarter-that Sir James wanted /
Waged against the rat Therefore he
would not depend on the deadly virus
alone. Cats, terriers, ferrets. trans
anything that would reduce their mum.
portsmouth be rushlessly enlplovod
against them. AS a motto for fine so.
ciety he suggested this quotation from
hamlet How nowl A Rat? Dead
for a Ducatl"
LONDON'S RAT CENSUS.
Ono enthusiastic Arbitrator declared
that London was the greatest rat center
In tho world. He said there were six
millions OF them In the city Just how
ne had managed TO take census d
theIh ne did not explain. but nobody
Ventured TO dispute his figures. nor Inf,
assertion that the existence OF such
vast army of rats constituted disgrace
10 the metropolis of the world which
should bring the blush OF shame to
every philosophical citizen who lived
In 1t. But nobody blushed.
GOOD WORD FOR CATS.
Commissioner Nicoll of the Salvation
Army put in % good word for tho cat.
The army, he said, had started two eat
farms In india and were breoding eats
as rapidly as possihle-recruitcd by
such specimens OF stray pussbes as thoy
could import from England. Given tlmo
and chance he thought tho Salvation
Army cats. by killing off tho rats,
would accomplish great deal In com
batting tho plague In India
A. Breeding cats to get rid OF rats Is
Just time and money wasted" shifted
u soAptic. II reckon we've got two or
three hundred thousand cats IN london
and we've Just been told we have sx
million rats here, too. II that don't
prove you can't fight rats with cats
don't know anything about logic. cats
aln't going, to do any better in india
than they do In London. I'm for givius
EN- the French poison and don't care
how much 1t hurts EN-"
SOCIETY ORGANIZED.
Sir Lauder Brunton. another learned
physician whose speciality Is the diges.
i've organs, formally moved the resOlu-
lion by which the National Society for
The Determination of Vormln was ush-
ared Into existence. 1t was carried with
only one dissenticnt vote. That came
from woman In red-red hat, red
cloak ana red ohoeks-and the courage
u her convictions. She mounted the
platform and made little speech. sho
protested against the fendish cruelty
involved In the killing Of rats by the
Dansyz Virus, She didn't pretend 10
tnow much about science. but she
would back tho Creator against all tho
earned scientists present. Tho Creator
leVer made Il mistake and when ne
treated rats He had created them FOR
lome Wise purpose What II was N,
chemists might find out 10 their cost u
iver they succeeded IN killing Oft NIL mo
ats. Besides, she urged. according
he scientists themselves. the rats were
Tot responsible for the spread ~ th9
Hague. IL was the flcas and Il was
wrong To visit the sins OF the IDEAS upon
he rats Science should devise SONS
means OF killing tho iiees without klil'
ng the rats,
one movement always begets another
nd IN due time. no doubt there VIII pc
ormed q Rat Protection associations