54 
THE BAT. 
mother paid the poor little sufferer all the attention in 
her power, and a medical man was consulted, but it ulti- 
mately died from the injuries it had sustained. 
A few years ago, the town of Dowlais was the 
scene of a most painful and revolting occurrence. Some 
of the poorer class of houses are infested, to a consi- 
derable degree, by rats. A poor working woman having 
occasion to go from home, put her infant child to bed. 
Upon her return, and opening the door of the apartment 
in v/hich her infant lay, she saw three large rats jump from 
the bed, and, on looking in the direction of her child, she 
was terrified at perceiving that the bedclothes were stained 
with blood. She instantly removed the coverlet, when a 
shocking spectacle presented itself The rats had mutilated 
the poor infant and destroyed its life, having eaten away the 
wall of the belly, and actually destroyed portions of the 
intestines. 
I shall conclude this calendar of infant sufferings and 
mutilations with one case more, which took place in Dublin, 
and which is, if possible, more appalling than all the rest. 
From the testimony of the unhappy mother of the child, 
which was given on the coroner's inquest, it appeared that she 
had committed it to the care of a woman ; and it was whilst 
under this woman's care that the infant received the injuries 
which caused its death. Her evidence was to the effect, 
that on the night in question she fed the child and 
placed her in the cradle to sleep. She was awoke in the 
night by the child screaming. Witness got up, and quieted 
the child, and she went to sleep again. In the mornings at 
seven o'clock, witness got up, and, on approaching the cradle, 
found the child and the clothes about her all over blood. 
On her lifting the clothes off the cradle, two huge rats 
jumped out, and ran under the bed. She immediately ran 
with it to the hospital. According to the evidence of the 
surgeon, the child, when brought into the hospital, was fast 
sinking from the loss of blood, and half the inside of the left 
hand was eaten away, and the right arm was frightfully 
gnawed, evidently by rats ; the face was also torn. Despite 
of every care, the child sank, and expired that morning from 
the injuries she had received. 
It appears that children are not the only victims, when 
