lAve Stock, 



562 



[December, 1908. 



per rat per day estimate" was self- 

 evident. At any rate, so convinced were 

 the Danes of it, that in order to save 

 the loss thus forcibly demonstrated 

 thoy passsd forthwith a ' Law Ordering 

 the Destruction of Rats within the 

 Kingdom of Denmark.' 



Though not the first Rat Law — that 

 honour belongs to Barbadoes which had 

 oneaslong as 130 years ago— it is neverthe- 

 less the most unique piece of legislation 

 ever enacted. The former civil engineer 

 Zuschlag who, only ten years ago was 

 regarded by his countrymen as ' rat mad,' 

 is to-day the Administrator of the Act 

 and President of an enormously influen- 

 tial international society formed for 

 the object of bringing about, in con- 

 junction with the Govern meats of the 

 civilised world, concerted action in 

 exterminating the rats on ships and 

 ashore, chiefly with the object of pre- 

 venting the spread of the bubonic 

 plague. The first cause of the Act is 

 nothing less than a partnership deed 

 between the State, Municipalities, Zusch- 

 lag and a microbe. Zuchlag is in charge 

 because he is the greatest living 

 authority on the rat problem, and 

 because he is the Advocate on the 

 " Premium System," which says in effect, 

 "It doesn't really matter much what 

 means you use for killing rats as long 

 as you kill them everywhere and at 

 the same time. The only way to obtain 

 such co-operative killing is to make it 

 worth peoples' while to co-operate, and 

 the only stimulus powerful enough to 

 effect that is money. Pay a penny per 

 rat— cash on delivery— and you will see 

 what you will see." The fact is that 

 during the first nine months of the 

 Danish Rat Law just elapsed, this 

 Premium System has met with an extra- 

 ordinary success, over one million rats 

 having been killed within that time. 



The war chest is supplied by the 

 Municipalities which levy a rate of 31 

 per year per hundred inhabitants, or 

 a higher rate if required, for the pay- 

 ment of the premiums ; the State who 



pays a subsidy of £1,500 a year to his 

 strange ally, the microbe, and the 

 Danish Society for the destruction of 

 rats, which contributes £500 a year as 

 long as the war will last. 



The microbe is known in text-books on 

 bacteriology as Neumann's bacillus, and 

 was discovered accidentally in the urine 

 of the child. By a process which can 

 only be described as "breeding," how- 

 ever strange that may sound, Neumann 

 succeeded in producing a microbe with 

 an enormous rat killing power. His 

 work was continued by Dr. Bahr, of 

 Copenhagen, whose variety of Neumann's 

 bacillus, know as ratin, produces accord- 

 ing to German Government reports, a 

 " case mortality " of 100 per cent., and 

 is according to the Indian plague author- 

 ities, absolutely indifferent to any 

 changes of temperature. In other words, 

 this bacillus, while incapable of harming 

 any other living thing, will kill all the 

 rats which it may come into contact, 

 whether in Northern Siberia or in the 

 Indian Plains. 



So tar the Home Government has 

 done nothing to show that it is alive 

 to the necessity of dealing witn this 

 important problem, but it is possible 

 that the vigorous action of a number 

 of Colonial Governments may supply 

 the stimulus for the formation of a 

 scheme of an inter-Empire campaign 

 against the i*at. Hitherto the want of 

 active operations was explained by the 

 want of reliable weapons with which 

 to conduct this war ; but now that the 

 pioneer work of foreign and Colonial 

 Governments has shown a way to the 

 solution of this problem within their 

 own spheres of action, there is no 

 longer an excuse for continuing the 

 policy of laisser faire ; for the prize of 

 an inter-Empire rat war, conducted 

 relentlessly with all the means that 

 human ingenuity can devise, will be 

 the saving of many millions of pounds 

 and of thousands of human lives. — 

 Indian Agriculturist, Vol. XXXIII., 

 No. 7, July. 1908. 



