THE RAT.*

 

            NATURE, by descending gradually from great to small, from strong to weak, counterbalances every part of her works.  Attentive solely to the preservation of each species, she creates a profusion of individuals, and supports by numbers the small and the feeble, whom she hath left unprovided with arms or with courage.  She has not only put those inferior animals in a condition to perpetuate and to resist by their own numbers, but she seems, at the same time, to have afforded a supply to each by multiplying the neighbouring species.  The rat, the mouse, the field-mouse, the water-rat, the short tailed [275] field mouse, the fat squirrel, the garden squirrel, the dormouse, the shrew-mouse, and several others, whom I mention not, because they belong not to our climate, form so many distinct and separate species, but so analogous to each other, that, if any one should happen to fail, the gap in the genus would hardly be perceptible.  It is this great number of neighbouring species which hath given to naturalists the idea of genera; an idea which can only be employed when we view objects in general, but which vanishes whenever we consider nature in detail.

 

            Men at first gave distinct names to objects which appeared to differ from each other; and, at the same time, they gave general denominations to objects that seemed to be nearly similar.  Among a rude people, and in the infancy of all languages, there is hardly any thing but general terms, or vague and ill-formed expressions for objects of the same order, though very different from each other.  An oak, a beech, a linden-tree, a fir, a pine, a yew, would, at first, have no other name but that of a tree; afterwards the oak, the beech, and the yew, would all be called oak; when these were distinguished from the fir, the pine, and the yew, the three latter would be called fir.  Particular names could only be invented in consequence of a minute examination of each different species; and the numbers of these names are augmented in proportion to the extent of our knowledge of Nature:  The more [276] we examine her, proper and particular names will become more frequent.  When natural objects, therefore, are represented to us, under general denominations, or by classes and genera, it is recalling the darkness peculiar to the infant state of human knowledge.  Ignorance is the parent of genera; but science will for ever continue to create and to multiply proper names; and I shall never hesitate in adding to their number, as often as I have occasion to delineate different species.

 

            Several species of small animals have been confounded under the generic name of Rat:  But we shall confine this name solely to the common rat, which is of a blackish colour, and infests the habitations of men.  The rat commonly frequents granaries and barns, and from thence, when food is scarce, comes into our houses.  He is a carnivorous, or rather an omnivorous animal:  He seems only to prefer hard substances to those which are tender or succulent.  He gnaws linen, cloaths, furniture, makes holes in the walls, lodges in the ceilings, and in the void spaces between the wall and the wainscotting [sic].  From these lurking places the rats issue in quest of food, and transport thither every substance they can drag, forming considerable magazines, especially when they have young to provide for.  The female brings forth several times a year, but always in the summer season. The litter generally consists of five or six.  They [277] are fond of warmth, and, in winter, insinuate themselves near the chimneys, or lodge among hay or straw:  In spite of cats, poison, and snares, these animals multiply so greatly, that they often do much damage.  In old country-houses where grain is kept, and where the vicinity of barns and magazines of hay facilitates their retreat, they often increase so prodigiously, that the possessors are obliged to remove and desert the habitations, unless the rats happen to destroy each other.  It is well known, that rats, when pinched for food, eat one another.  When a famine is created by too great a number being crouded [sic] into one place, the strong kill the weak, open their heads, and first eat the brain, and then the rest of the body.  Next day, the war is renewed, and continues in the same manner till most of them are destroyed.  This is the reason why these animals, after being extremely troublesome, disappear all of a sudden, and return not for a long time.  The same thing happens to field-mice, whose prodigious multiplication is interrupted only by the hostilities they exercise on each other, when provisions become scarce.  This sudden destruction is ascribed by Aristotle to the operation of rains. But rats are not exposed to rain, and the field-mice know how to guard themselves against its effects; for the holes they inhabit are not even moist.

 

            The rats are as lascivious as they are voracious:  They squeak during their amours, and cry [278] when they fight.  They prepare a bed for their young, and soon learn them to eat.  When the young begin to issue from their hole, the mother watches, defends, and even fights with the cats, in order to save them.   A large rat is more mischievous, and nearly as strong as a young cat.  The fore-teeth of the rat are long and strong:  the cat is not a good biter; and, as she uses only her claws, she requires both to be vigorous and accustomed to fight.  The weasel, though smaller, is a more dangerous and formidiable enemy, because he follows the rat into his hole. Their strength being nearly equal, the combat often continues long: But the method of using their arms is very different. The rat wounds only by reiterated strokes with his fore-teeth, which are rather destined for gnawing than biting; and, being situated at the extremity of the lever, or jaw, they have not much force.  But the weasel bites cruelly with the whole jaw, and, instead of letting go his hold, he sucks the blood from the wounded part; and therefore, the rat uniformly falls a sacrifice to the weasel.

 

            Of this species, as in all those which consist of numerous individuals, there are many varieties.  Beside the common rat, which is blackish, some are brown, others gray, reddish, and even totally white.  The white rats have red eyes, like the white rabbit, the white mouse, and all the other animals which are perfectly white. The whole species, and its varieties, appear to be natives of the [279] temperate climates, and are more diffused over the warm than the cold regions.  There were no rats originally in America;* but those imported from Europe multiplied so prodigiously, that they were long the scourge of the colonies, where they had no enemies but large serpents, who swallowed them alive.  They have been carried by ships into the East Indies, and all the islands of the Indian Archipelago;+ and are found likewise in Africa.3  But, towards the north, they have never multiplied beyond Sweden; for what are called Norwegian and Lapland rats, are animals of a different species.

 

SUPPLEMENT.

 

            Pontoppidan remarks, “that neither the wood nor water rats can live farther north than Norway; that there are several districts, as that of Hordenver in the diocese of Bergen, and others in the diocese of Aggerhum, where no rats are to be found; and that the rats on the south banks of the river Vormen soon perish when [280] carried to the north side of it.”  “This difference,” he adds, “can only be ascribed to certain exhalations of the soil, which are destructive to these animals.”  These facts may be true:  But we have often discovered that Pontoppidan is an author who deserves not entire credit.

 

            M. le Vicomte de Querhoënt has favoured me with the following remarks:  That the rats, transported from Europe to the Isle of France, increased to such a degree, that, it is alledged, they made the Dutch leave the island.  The French have diminished the number, though great quantities of them still remain.  Some tiome, adds M. de Querhoënt, after a rat resides in India, he acquires so strong a smell of musk, that he scents every thing for a considerable space round his habitation; and it is alledged, that, when he comes near wine, he makes it turn sour.—This Indian rat appears to be the same which the Portuguese call Cheroso, or odoriferous rat.  La Boullaye-leGouz says, “that it is very small, and nearly of the figure of a ferret; that its bite is venomous; that its smell is immediately perceived when it enters a chamber; and that it cries kric, kric, kric.”*  

 

            This rat is likewise found in Madura, where it is called the scented rat.  It is mentioned by the Dutch voyagers, who tell us, that its skin is as fine as that of the mole, but no so black.+  [281]

Notes

 

*  The rat has two cutting teeth in each jaw, four toes before, five behind, and a slender taper tail, naked or very slightly haired.  It is of a deep iron gray colour, nearly black; the belly is cineritious, and the legs dusky and almost naked.  There is a claw, in place of the fifth toe, on the fore-feet.  Its length is seven inches, and that of the tail near eight; Pennant’s Synops. of quad. p. 299.

            In Greek, [a Greek word I can’t duplicate on my keyboard]; in Latin, Mus major, Rattus, in Italian, Rato di casa; in Spanish, Raton; in German, Ratz; in Swedish Rotta; in Polish, Sczurcz; in French, Le Rat.

            Mus domesticus major, sive rattus; Gesner. quad. p. 731.  Ray, Synops. quad p. 217.

            Mus rattus, cauda elongate subnuda, palmis tetradactylis, cum unguiculo pollicari, plantis pentadactylis; Linn. Syst. p. 83.

            Mus rattus domesticus; Klein. quad. p. 57.

            Mus cauda longissima, obscure cinereus; Brisson. Regn anim p. 168 [back to page 275].

 

*  See la descript. des Antilles par le P. du Tertre, tom. 2. p. 303.  L’hist. nat. des Antilles, p. 261.  Nouveaux voyages aux iles de l’Amerique, tom. 3. p. 160. Dampier, tom. 4. p. 225.

+  Lettres edifiantes, recueil 18. p. 161.

3.  Voyage de Guinée par Bosman, p. 241.  L’hist. gen. des voyages par M. l’Abbé Prevôt, tom. 4. p. 238 [back to page 280].

 

*  Voyage de la Boullaye-le-Gouz, p. 256.

+  Recueil des voyages qui ont servi à l’establissement de la Comp. des Indes Orient. tom. 2. p. 275 [back to page 281].