8o 



BACTERIOLOGY v. RATS AND MICE :— Follow- 

 ing on my notes on this subject in Vol. IV., it may be of 

 interest if I detail my own experience. My house, an 

 old one, covering a good deal of ground, had been 

 greatly infested with mice for many years — at any 

 rate as long as I have known it. So numerous were 

 they, especially in the winter time, that they would 

 scamper about the rooms, even the bed rooms, in the 

 presence of human beings ; while the noise they 

 made at night behind the wainscotting and under the 

 floors was exceedingly disconcerting to anyone 

 engaged in either study or literary work. Such birds 

 as I keep in cages suffered greatly from their atten- 

 tions, for no sooner did one leave the room than the 

 seed boxes were invaded by the unwelcome marau- 

 ders, who indeed did not always trouble to scurry 

 away on one's return, but would sometimes actually 

 remain where they were until active attempts were 

 made to dislodge them. 



From time to time I tried traps of all kinds, 

 including the American water trap which auto- 

 matically re-sets itself after each capture. With all of 

 them there was a greater or less measure of success 

 for a time, till the cunning little wretches became 

 suspicious of them, when they became useless. Then 

 I got a cat — to be accurate I have had two cats, the 

 latter of which was an excellent mouser, and always 

 caught seven or eight a day ; but that was no good, 

 because with such a large stock the birth rate always 

 exceeded the death rate. 



On February the 8th I used the contents of one 

 tube of mouse virus, using salt and water to suspend 

 it, and then soaking dry pieces of bread with the 



