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| "Oh, great. Here come the Mouse-sized Flies. You're going to have to orate a bit louder, Daniel." |
Tucked away inside a copy of Lilian Whiting's Life Transfigured I found this cute, little advertisement for a rat poison poison called 'Rough on Rats.' Now there are many different aspects of this card that make it charming (horseflies with walking sticks, a giant rat with glasses, etc. etc.), but what I find most precious is the proportion of fly to mouse to rat to squirrel to...well, you get the point. Maybe they grew bigger bugs back in the late 1800s? If so, perhaps Rough on Rats drove that insect population into extinction? I suppose I should be thankful. One thing the card is missing, however, is a person.
Rough on Rats was basically straight arsenic, and folks were taking the stuff to commit suicide.
Thank you to the Encyclopedia of New Zealand for this comic image (and validation!).
What The Card Sayeth: "Lecture on 'Rough on Rats.' This is what killed your poor father. Shun it! Avoid anything containing it throughout your future useful careers. We older heads object to its especial roughness."
What The Comic Sayeth:
Death Too Expensive.
Customer: Two pennies worth of Rough on Rats.
Chemist: We only sell it in sixpenny packs.
Customer: What, sixpenny! Then I'll change my mind; I'll not commit suicide right now.
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