DEVASTATING POWERS OF THE EAT. 
169 
every twenty-four hours ; and that six rats would eat^ day by 
day, as much as an ordinary man. 
Some few years ago, there was an account in the newspapers, 
to the effect, that an experiment had been tried with rats, as 
to the amount of food they would consume, and the results 
published were, that six rats would eat as much as a man, 
but that eight would eat more than a man : therefore, to 
place the matter beyond all doubt, I will set down ten rats 
to eat as much as an ordinary man ; and I sincerely wish 
that every man, woman, and child throughout the human 
family could secure, day by day, as much food each as ten 
rats can dispose of ; and then we should have no more bad 
harvests, famines, and their appalling consequences. 
Now, allow me to give you a slight estimate as to 
your losses. Suppose there are five hundred and twelve 
wine-glasses or half-gills, at strike measure, in a bushel ; if 
five hundred rats eat only a wine-glass, or half-gill of corn 
each, every twenty-four hours, and you allow twelve 
glasses only for waste_, then they dispose of a bushel of corn 
per day. We must also bear in mind, that it is not only 
what they fairly eat but what they waste also, which must 
be considered ; and if any of you have watched them feed, as 
I have done, you will bear witness to this fact, namely, that 
the number of grains they eat, in comparison to those they 
waste, is regulated according to the quality of the corn. It 
is true that when corn is sent to the mill, the good, bad, 
and indifferent are all equally ground into flour ; but, as the 
rat grinds his own corn, he selects that which is most easy 
and palatable for the purpose ; and as he grinds it grain by 
grain he naturally selects the best, where there is plenty. 
The result is, I have at times seen them bite through and let 
fall four, six, and even eight grains out of ten ; and as they 
will keep on till they have their fill, the consequence is, that 
the worse the corn, the greater is the waste. 
I have just counted the number of grains in half a gill of 
the best wheat that money could purchase ; it is now, at the 
time of writing, fetching seventy-two shillings per quarter. 
There are twelve hundred and twenty grains, and out of 
these there are four hundred and twenty which are small, 
shrivelled, or unsound ; consequently there is more than one- 
third of it which would be wasted ; that is to say, if five 
