DIETETICS OF EATS. 
55 
rats are seized with a craving for liuman flesli. The follow- 
ing circumstance has been mentioned by various authors. 
There was a German bishop, by the name of Hatto, wliose 
residence was infested with so many of these animals, that 
he built a tower, close to the Hhine, for his defence against 
them. Here he resided ; but at last they gained an entrance, 
and at length killed and ate him. 
A few years ago a friend of mine was in Dublin. There 
was a tradition current, to the effect that some time 
previously a British officer had come by his death in a 
most melancholy manner through rats. The account ran 
as follows. A bosom friend and brother officer of his 
had died of a fever, and he among others attended the 
funeral. When the ceremonies were over, and all the 
mourners had retired, he sought an opportunity of leaving 
the company, and went alone into the vault to pay a 
last tribute to his departed friend. 'Now whether, accord- 
ing to the custom of the country, he had partaken a little 
too freely of whisky, and therefore fallen asleep, or whether 
he was so completely absorbed in devotional supplications for 
the welfare of the soul departed, nothing has transpired to 
determine. But suffice it to say, that in the evening the 
gravedigger came, and never supposing for a moment that 
any one was there, closed up the entrance of the vault, and 
«o fastened him in. On the following morning, upon the 
soldiers gathering, and the muster-roll being called, he was 
found absent, and being one of the most regular in his at- 
tendance, it caused an inquiry as to who had last seen him ; 
bi\t no one had set eyes on him since the evening before. 
This caused some uneasiness among his friends, since they 
knew of his devoted attachment to the deceased officer. 
They called at his lodgings, and ascertained that he had not 
been home all night. That caused a hue and cry, when the 
thought suggested itself to some of his friends to have the 
vault searched. The gravedigger was soon sought for and 
found. On opening the vault, there lay the missing officer 
a corpse, and so miserably gnawed and mangled by rats, 
that, but for his uniform, they could scarcely have identified" 
him. But on further examination some dead rats were 
found, and were supposed to have been killed by random 
fjuts with his sword in the dark, since that instrument is said 
