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a) Its physical and mental faculties. 

 ff) Its tremendous fecundity. 



c) 1 he increase in the human population (hence more shel- 

 ter and more food stores). 



d) The killing, by gamekeepers, of the rat's natural enemies 

 the weasel, the owl, and the kestrel. 



<?) The total absence of cooperation in the methods chosen 

 by man to exterminate the rat. 



4) As a result of these factors operating in favour of the rat, 

 there are to-day, in Great Britain 40 ooo ooo rats, which do every 

 year a damage amounting at least to 15000000. 



5) In addition, the rat is guilty of being the chief agent in 

 the spread of trichinosis (by acting as host to the trichina), and of 

 the bubonic plague (by acting as conveyor of the plague flea). 



6) The destruction of rats becomes, therefore, a matter of 

 national importance. 



7) There is no ideal method for destroying rats. In this war 

 of man v. rat any method is good as long as it kills rats, and is 

 used persistently and in co-operation with similar efforts made 

 everywhere else. 



8) Nothing but a national campaign, waged with all the wea- 

 pons available, can bring about the destruction of the brown rat, 

 but this co-operation can be effected only by the State. 



9) The State already undertakes, through the Port Medical 

 Officers of the Local Government Board, the destruction of rats 

 for hygienic reasons, and, through the Board of Agriculture, the 

 destruction of injurious insects. The destruction of rats for eco- 

 nomic reasons is therefore only the natural development of the 

 present duties of the State. 



10) A short Act, based upon the Danish Rat Law, making it 

 compulsory for county councils and municipal authorities to destroy 

 rats, would probably effect the practical extermination of the rat 

 in this country in ten years. 



n) An annual expenditure of 50 ooo would probably result 

 in saving the greater part of the enormous loss inflicted by rats. 



12) This annual grant should be expended partly on premiums 

 from id. to 2d. for each dead rat handed in partly for experi- 

 ments, on a large scale, with such bacteriological preparations as 

 may be selected on the grounds of harmlessness to other animals, 

 high efficiency, and easy application. 



13) Such Rat Law should contain a clause protecting, during 



