. a disintegrated 
/ 2 state. 
It was on a 
winter's day, in 
a walk on the crusted 
snow, during my early 
boyhood. Returning 
by the brink of a 
stream, I noticed a 
little gray mass 
of fur on the 
/$ . 
snow, which on 
examination 
disclosed nu- 
merous bones 
of what I took 
to be field-mice and 
parts of the anatomy 
of a mole intermin- 
gled with the hair. 
No vestige of flesh 
appeared in the mass, 
and I fell to wonder- 
ing what manner of 
disease is this with 
which the mouse 
world is afflicted that 
should consume the 
flesh and leave noth- 
