12 LABORATORY MOUSE 



Aristotle (300 b.c.) said that mice were generated spon- 

 taneously from filth in houses and in ships. Horace (65-8 

 B.C.) wrote the famous story of the Country Mouse that 

 returned a visit to his cousin the Town Mouse. Pliny (a.d. 

 23-79) in his Historia Naturalis classified the different kinds 

 of mice, calling the house mouse "musculus" (little mouse), 

 which name it bears today in zoological taxonomy. Pliny 

 also recorded that the ashes of a weasel sprinkled about the 

 house will keep away mice. He stated that in Ionia mice 

 are generated by the overflowing of the Meander River, 

 even causing the inhabitants to flee from their dwellings. He 

 told of the driving out of the entire population of the Isle of 

 Gyarus by mice which proceeded to gnaw the gold, iron, and 

 steel left behind. 



Europe. In Christian Europe mice and rats fell into dis- 

 repute, becoming the companions of witches and sorcerers. 

 This was partly due to the attitude of the Church following 

 the condemnation of these creatures by Moses. 



The clergy of the Middle Ages never ceased to comment 

 upon the voluptuous and libidinous habits of mice. Indeed, 

 mice were frequently raised by curious churchmen in order 

 to observe their wicked actions. Albert (65) records that the 

 white ones are very lustful. In this statement he follows 

 Diogenes. Gesner (65) says they are libidinous. Erasmus 

 records their lust. 1 Part of the European attitude may have 

 been due to plagues and current legends originating in Greek 

 mythology. 2 



Horace (65 b.c.) spoke of the mountains being in labor and 

 bringing forth a "ridiculus mus," which is to this day a 

 proverb of futile effort. Aelianus calls them "earthborn 

 creatures." 3 About a.d. 1500 Erasmus collected together 



1 The mouse was often a symbol of delicacy or lust in Greek drama. In the 

 British Museum is a bronze mouse from Iconia which holds over its face the mask 

 of a Silen, a creature usually represented as a man having a horse's tail, and the 

 symbol of lust in the worship of Dionysos. 



2 The ancient Persians and Bactrians held that mice were creations of the 

 wicked god Ahriman. 



3 A Talmudic fable speaks of a mouse in the process of creation, the fore parts 

 already flesh and the hinder parts still earth. 



