The Washington herald., 1912-08-11
PUTTING UP BARRIERS
AGAINST THE PLAGUE
Cities on Atlantic and Gulf Coasts Are Fighting a
Battle of Prevention and the Rat
Is the Enemy.

are merely out Of sight, or that the
refuge from the stables can be thrown
into an uncovered bin, but IL means that
all foods which might tempt the rat
shall be rendered Inaccessible by the use
OF metal containers or metal screening.
Once You have done this It Is easy to
Kill the rats on by using poisons. 1t
has been my observation that phospher-
rous paste Is one OF the best poisonous
agents II shines at night and the rats
seem to like its taste and odor An
other advantage It has Is that 1t de-
teriorates, hence you are not likely 20
Kill an animal you never intended to
harm couple of years after you put
the poison out. No matter what kind
OF poison Is used It must be put out
carefully SO that children and domestic
animals VIII not come In contact with
it.
Must Capture Rats.
In order to trace the course Of the
disease in rats 1t IL necessary to obtain
samples Of the rodent population. To
DO this two kinds Of traps are used
the large wire cage trap and tho smaller
snap trap. The cage trap has the ad-
vantage that It takes the rats alive and
thus permits scientific investigation of
the fieas upon their bodies. In this con-
nection 1t may be stated that in San
studies are being made Of the different
species OF 5eas.
1t requires just as much fntelligence
and care to trap rats as II does to trap
mink or otter. The rat bait should be
firmly attached to the trap, the trap
must be placed in the runway Of the
rat
The surroundings must be changed as
little as possible and every precaution
fba
Time and labor are required to train
rat-trappers. And q peculiar combina-
ton Of skill and patience is necessary TO
produce good rodent hunter.
All CAPTURED rats must be tagged to
show where. when, and how. and by
whom they are captured. They are then
taken to a laboratory and examined by
skilled corps Of officers for evidence
OF disease.
The captured rats are first emersed in
an antiseptic solution to kill the feas.
Next a tacker affixes the rat TO a shin
gle. The shingle Is then given a num-
Der. SO that even is the tag Is lost, the
identity Of the rat remains established.
Look for Disease.
Next, the rat is passed to the skin
ner. who. with a pair of forceps in one
hand and a sharp scalpel in the other.
reflects the skin from the abdomen of
the rat. and looks at the armpits and
groins for enlarged glands. He then
opens the body and looks for other evil
dences Of disease 1t is remarkable how
skillful these laborers become IN recog-
nizing plague. leprosy. and the host OF
other diseases which affect rats
Next, the rats are gone over carefully
by an officer. who has been trained In
a hygienic laboratory in the recognition
OF this disease. Should he find anything
suspicious he makes the meteorological
cultures necessary TO establish or dis
prove his diagnosis.
Suppose that a plague-infected rat Is
found. the field force is Immediately no.
titled. and the district from which the
infected animal came is subjected TO a
thorough cleaning and deratization.
These are the measures that have been
put in force in Porto Rico and in Puerta
de TERRA Large numbers OF insanitary
buildings have also been destroyed. 9TH
ers have been rat-proofed by the use
OF impervious material. such as concrete
and sheet iron. and still others have
been raised in the air. so as to allow
easy access 10 the cat and the dog. the
natural enemies OF the rat.