No. 4.] RATS AND RAT RIDDANCE. " 171 



RATS AND RxVT RIDDANCE. 



INTRODUCTION. 



With the lapse of ages the rat has become a parasite on man. 

 It has developed into the greatest rodent pest ever known. It 

 is far more destructive, directly or indirectly, to human life and 

 property than any wild beast or venomous serpent. It appro- 

 priates nearly everything that man eats, and drinks many of 

 his beverages. It follows him with its baleful influence from 

 the cradle to the grave. It destroys his poultry and molests 

 his domesticated animals. It has been known to attack and 

 mutilate infants, sleepers, the sick, aged and infirm. It is the 

 forerunner of famine, pestilence and death. It carries the 

 germs of disease. It infects man's ships and habitations with 

 the dreaded plague; sets fire to his dwellings and ships, and 

 ceases its ravages only when the house burns or the ship sinks. 

 As if not satisfied with pursuing him through life, it follows 

 him in death, desecrating and mutilating his mortal remains. 



It is the duty of all nations to take part in the destruction 

 of this abominable pest. Dr. William Colby Rucker, Assistant 

 Surgeon-General, Public Health and Marine Hospital Service 

 of the United States, says that we must work and we must 

 teach, and so bring about an antipathy toward the rat greater 

 than the present antipathy toward the snake. Also, we must 

 inculcate the lesson that "the rat is the most expensive animal 

 that man maintains," and that its suppression and control are 

 as important from an economic as from a humanitarian stand- 

 point. 



RAT HISTORY. 



House rats and mice came to America in ships from the 

 Eastern Hemisphere. They belong to the old world genus 

 Mus. The house mouse (A'his musculus) may be regarded as a 

 small rat, as it has similar habits; the black rat {Mus raitus) 

 is medium in size, and the brown, Norway or wharf rat iMus 



