42 ANIMAL COMPETITORS 



disease by house-mice made by Dr. P. Bara- 

 baschi, and published in an Italian medical 

 journal in 1909 (see Experiment Station 

 Record, Vol. XXII, No. 7), it is stated that Dr. 

 Barabaschi has found many bacilli within their 

 bodies and excreta. Among these were the 

 pneumococcus to which croupous pneumonia 

 is due, the bacillus of anthrax, that of ery- 

 sipelas, those to be found in abcesses, boils, 

 etc., and other pathogenic germs. The mice 

 with the pneumococcus were caught in private 

 houses where there had recently been pneu- 

 monia. The excreta of the mice "mice dirt" 

 drying and scattering in dust, may transmit 

 infection even without more direct contact. 

 The greatest danger from this source is in- 

 curred by persons working in granaries, etc., 

 where mice abound and their droppings are 

 scattered over the substances handled. It may 

 be added that an American physician asserts 

 that the microbe of measles comes from mice. 

 In houses left untenanted for a time mice 

 frequently do considerable damage by tearing 

 holes in blankets, bedding and clothing, to get 

 material for their nests. The writer has him- 



