A RAT RAILROAD.

Bush Advocate, Volume IX, Issue 668, 27 August 1892, Page 6

A RAT RAILROAD.

There was recently in Paris a Bussian, tiy name Dourof , who is supposed to know more about the nature of rats than any other man living. He has made a business of training them to do queer things, and at tho same time has carefully studied thoir habitß and ways. A reporter who visited him and his 230 free and ordinarily uncaged rata found him in the act of exhibiting his "rat railroad," It consisted of a narrow track laid in a circle, upon which were three passenger cars large enough to hold five or eix . rats apiece, a baggage car, and a pretty little locomotive. Close to the track wa j a small-painlod wooden house, which sowed as a station. There were switches, and other railroad paraphernalia. Presently a cage was brought in which containcda considerable number of ruts. Dourof clapped his hands together three times, and all the rats came tumbling out of tho cage and swarming into and about the little station. He dapped his hands again, and half a do7,en black and sleek rats— very raapectable, corpulent fellow3 — climbed into the first car, which was a first-class coach. Once more Dourof clapped, and half a do/.on black and white rats, quite regularly marked, got into tho secor.d-clas3 car, while an indiscriminately marked and ratler disreputablelooking company scrambled into the last car, which waa third-class. A black rat who did duty as the stationmaster promenaded up and down on the platform of the little house, while two or thrre small white rats dragged some little trunks into the baggage car. These were tha "baggage smashers," A whistle wa3 heard, the engineer rat climbed upon the locomotive, and a switchman ru3hed to the switch. Again the whistle sounded, and tb.3 train moTed oft around the track. The training of the rats to tho performance of this feat was, M. Dourof declared, extremely easy except in the case of the baggagemen,whoae education had cost him a great deal of trouble. Each party of " passengers " had been placed — one party at a. timo — at tbeir breakfasting hour opposite the car to which they belonged, in which some pieces of soaked bread had already been placed. At his Bignal they had been liberated, and ha4 quickly found the bread. Little by little they had been trained in this way to enter the proper car. The locomotive was operated with clockwork, aud the rats bad nothing to do with it.