RECENT RAT LORE 265 



may be found on an outward-bound ship, even in 

 in these days of steel bulkheads and tinned provisions. 

 At twopence per head, the usual price paid for rats 

 killed, we gather that on this ship one hundred and 

 twenty were killed ; enough to make the ship's com- 

 pany uncomfortable for the whole voyage, and to 

 damage any perishable cargo. The responsibility 

 would in this case lie with the shipowners. It is 

 not long since an insurance company refused to pay 

 damages claimed for a cargo of grain spoilt by water, 

 which had run in from pipes gnawed by rats, alleging 

 the negligence of the owners in not having them 

 destroyed a contention in which they were partly 

 supported by the court. 



The summer of 1895 saw a greater plague of rats 

 in large towns than has been known for many years. 

 The most striking instance of their numbers and 

 boldness was shown in the case in which they 

 attacked a family of children in Paisley, during 

 the great heat in the middle of September. The 

 accounts which appeared in the papers at the time 

 were somewhat exaggerated, but the following notes, 

 communicated to the writer by the senior house- 

 surgeon of the Paisley Infirmary, do not diminish the 

 interest of the story : ' The family, named Weaver, 

 lived in an old house, between which and a stable 

 next door there was free communication. Near the 



