US VERTEBRATA. 



After so many things said against rats, it is a relief to find something in their favor. " The rat," 

 says our entertaining author, "is one of the most tormented of created animals ; he has many ene- 

 mies and very few friends; wherever he appears his life is in danger from men, dogs, cats, owls, hawks 

 &c, who will have no mercy on him. These perpetual persecutions ohlige him to be wary in his 

 movements, and call for a large amount of cunning and sagacity on his part, which give his little 

 sharp face a peculiarly knowing and wide-awake appearance, which the most superficial observer 

 must have noticed. Though, poor creature, he is hated and killed by man, his sworn foe, yet he 

 is to that same ungrateful race a most useful servant, in the humble capacity of scavenger; for 

 wherever man settles his habitation, even in the most remote parts of the earth, there, as if by 

 magic, appear our friends the rats. There were thousands of rats in the camp before Sevastopol, 

 and a rat-hunt in the trenches was not an uncommon occurrence. Again, they swarm at the 

 camp at Aldershot; the sentries see them at night going to the nearest water to drink. The rat 

 quietly takes possession of the out-houses, drains, &c, and occupies himself by devouring the re- 

 fuse and filth thrown away from the dwelling of his master — under whose floor, as well as roof, he 

 lives. This refuse, if left to decay, would engender fever, malaria, and all kinds of horrors, to the 

 lestruction of the children of the family, were it not for the unremitting exertions of the rats to 

 get rid of it, in a way no doubt agreeable to themselves, namely, eating it. Let us take an ex- 

 ample. The sewers adjoining a connected series of slaughter-houses, as Newgate-market, White- 

 chapel, Clare-market, &c, are often nearly choked up with offal and the foul refuse of animal 

 matter, swept into them by the careless butchers. It may be imagined what fearful maladies 

 would arise from this putrid mass if it were allowed to stay there neglected. How is this evil 

 result prevented ? Why, by the poor persecuted rats, who live there in swarms, and devour every 

 morsel of concentrated cholera as it comes down to them, profiting thereby themselves and the 

 inhabitants of the houses who reside above their haunts." 



The following facts are exceedingly curious: "When in Paris, I paid a visit to the horse- 

 slaughtering place at Montfaucon; there I saw from fifteen to twenty horses, tied up in a row, 

 all to be killed that day. I was told that sometimes they slay double that number. The horse 

 being killed, and the skin taken off, the carcass is cut up with hatchets, and thrown into a 

 huge metal tub, big enough to contain the bodies of several horses; when it is full, the top is 

 fixed on, and steam turned into it. After a time the lid is again taken off, and it is found 

 that the steam has quite separated all the flesh from the bones, which are beautifully white. 

 The bones are then picked out and placed in stacks ; the flesh is thrown out by shovels, and 

 spread out widely on floors, to which the air has free access. It soon becomes quite hard and 

 dry, and is then sent off in sacks to the chemist, who, operating on it, soon converts it into prus- 

 siate of potash, and this again into Prussian blue. The bones are ground up in a mill for manure ; 

 so that, in a comparatively short space of time, the horse, having worn out his energies in the 

 service of man, and being of no further use, is converted, one half into Prussian blue, the other 

 into loaves of bread, through the medium of the wheat which absorbs his powdered skeleton. 

 Thus the Frenchman practically carries out the threat of the ogre, who, when he smelt the Eng- 

 lishman, pronounced the following anathema against him — 



Fe fa fum ; 



I smell the blood of an Englishman ; 



Be he alive or be he dead, 



Til (/rind his loncs to make my bread.' 



"In the place where these bones are stacked were plenty of rats. It is walled round, and in the 

 inside of the wall are several holes left. When the bones arc taken out, the rats, finding them- 

 selves becoming exposed, endeavor to conceal themselves in the holes. These holes are only just 

 deep enough to contain half their bodies, and their tails are left exposed, capital handles for the 

 men to catch them by. They are placed, when caught, in cages, and carried off. But what 

 becomes of them? We have heard that their skins are used to make gloves. I have inquired 

 in many glove-shops in London for gloves of this description, and friends in Paris have also made 

 the same inquiries, but without success. Either they are not used for this- purpose, or, what u 

 more probable, the glove-dealers won't own to rat-skins in their gloves. 



