efforts for the destruction of rats, but that vessels were fumigated
at stated intervals under the direction of the sanitary authorities.
He also stated that the Government had required portions of the sea
wall to be covered with cement in order to prevent rats obtaining a
lodging there.
In Callao, Peru, provision was made for the fumigation of vessels from
infected ports, and it is stated by Consul-General S. M. Taylor that
the Government had required steamship companies to install fumigating
apparatus on board their passenger vessels.
It is stated by the consul that there was a new municipal law in
Callao calling for stone or brick 2 feet below and 2 feet above ground
on all walls and foundations for new buildings, and concrete floors in
all establishments where provisions are sold.
In Iquique, Chile, it was reported by the consul that the director of
the municipal laboratory disinfected houses infected with plague, and
sent a corps of men to poison and trap rats which might be therein.
MEASURES AGAINST RATS IN WEST INDIAN PORTS.
From Habana it was reported that no action had been taken by the
sanitary authorities toward exterminating vermin, except the
promulgation of a circular letter calling attention to the presence of
the plague in neighboring countries, and requesting citizens to free
their premises of rats. The same statement was also said to apply to
other Cuban seaports.
In Kingston, Jamaica, on account of the appearance of the plague in
Venezuela, the government took precautionary measures with the view of
exterminating rats. These steps, as reported by Vice-Consul W. H.
Orritt, were as follows:
A. Lectures were delivered in various centers of the island showing
how rats are the distributers of plague and the necessity of
destroying them.
B. Virus was imported, and live rats were inoculated and set free in
every seaport in the island.
C. Bamboo pots with poison glued to their bottoms were distributed to
householders and placed in the haunts of rodents.
In Santo Domingo bounties for rats were authorized May 19, 1908, by
the city council. In addition, rat virus had been used in considerable
quantity.
DESTRUCTION OF RATS IN PANAMA.
In Cristobal, Canal Zone, Colon, and Bocas del Toro, it was stated by
Consul J. A. Kellogg that the sanitary department of the Isthmian
Canal Commission had for some time been exterminating rats by traps
and poisons.
In La Boca, Canal Zone, Consul-General Arnold Shanklin stated that the
sanitary department of the Isthmian Canal Commission and the Public
Health and Marine-Hospital Service had in charge and had most
effectually carried on the extermination of rats, and that this
crusade had also been extended to the old docks and wharves in the
city of Panama.
MEASURES AGAINST RATS IN VANCOUVER.
It was stated by Consul-General George M. West, December 17, 1908,
that the city of Vancouver was paying a bounty of 50 cents per hundred
for all rats caught. The following regulations for the docking or
mooring of vessels arriving from plague-infected ports became
effective April 8, 1908:
1. All vessels arriving at British Columbian ports from ports
infected or suspected of being infected with bubonic plague shall
conform to the following regulations:
(_a_) Vessels shall be moored or docked at a distance not less than
6 feet from wharf or land.
(_b_) Ropes or chains connecting a vessel with wharf or land shall
be protected by funnels of size and shape satisfactory to local and
provincial boards of health.
(_c_) All gangways shall be lifted when not in use. Gangways when in
use shall be guarded against the exit of rats by a person specially
detailed for this purpose.
(_d_) All vessels changing route to solely British Columbian ports
shall give satisfactory evidence of disinfection and extermination
of vermin to provincial board of health.
2. Every owner, agent, or captain of any vessel, and every other
person violating or instructing, authorizing, ordering, permitting,
or otherwise suffering any person to violate any of the foregoing
regulations, shall be liable, upon summary conviction before any two
justices of the peace, for every such offense to a fine not
exceeding $100, with or without costs, or to imprisonment, with or
without hard labor, for a term not exceeding six months, or to both
fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the convicting
magistrates.
Dated at Victoria, 8th April, 1908.
In addition, the mayor and council of the city enacted a by law
November 11, 1907, one provision of which made it unlawful for any
boat entering the port of Vancouver to be connected with any wharf in
the city by a gangway which was not guarded by some person there for
the purpose of preventing rats from leaving such import by such
gangway.
NECESSITY OF CONCERTED ACTION OF NATIONS.
It appears from the foregoing data that a more or less widespread
crusade against rats is being carried on in the different ports of the
world, and that the extent and persistence of these measures, with few
exceptions, depend upon whether the particular port has been directly
threatened with an invasion of plague. It is necessary to state here
that the above data are not presented as a complete epitome of
measures taken throughout the world, but refer to the ports from which
consular reports were received.
The fact that within fifteen years plague has spread to no less than
52 countries indicates that the measures taken against rats have not
been wholly efficient.
It is too much to expect that the rat population can ever be
exterminated from any country, but by the adoption of systematic
measures, such as are in force in Denmark, the rat population should
be markedly reduced, and the occurrence of plague among rodents
quickly detected. It is not too much to expect, however, that ocean
carriers could be freed from rodents and kept so, and this action
would confine plague within continental boundaries.
When the existing sanitary conventions were adopted several years
since, the importance of the subject was just beginning to be
recognized, but now that the rat has been proven beyond all doubt to
be the greatest factor in the transmission of plague from one country
to another it would appear that the conventions in question should be
amended, and the Surgeon-General of the Public Health and
Marine-Hospital Service, in a communication of February 26, 1909,
addressed to the Secretary of State, suggested the advisability of
submitting the question of the systematic destruction of rodents
aboard ships to an international sanitary conference with the view to
the adoption of an international sanitary regulation on the subject.
It must be apparent that such a regulation would lessen quarantine
restrictions, prevent the destruction of cargo by rodents, and in
large measure obviate the danger of the further spread of plague.
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
Page Changed from Changed to
57 similar or identical to the similar or identical to the
affection in man known as favus affliction in man known as favus
57 This specie of Mus is very This species of Mus is very
susceptible to a large number of susceptible to a large number of
bacterial bacterial
59 Rabinowitch, L., ’03. Ueber ein Rabinowitch, L., ’03. Ueber eine
Hauterkrankung der Ratten. Cent. Hauterkrankung der Ratten. Cent.
f. Bact., f. Bact.,
144 Universitat zu St. Petersburg. Universität zu St. Petersburg.
● Typos fixed; non-standard spelling and dialect retained.
● Used letters for footnotes and numbers for endnotes. Renumbered all
to avoid duplicates.
● Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
● Subscripts are shown using an underscore (_) with curly braces { },
as in H_{2}O.