At 4:21 PM -0700 7/11/00, [log in to unmask] wrote:
>>Finally, two books about animals must be added to the list: Watership Down
>>(about rabbits), and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (mice, rats, owls,
>>cats, etc...).
>
>Every time I see this title, I think "National Institutes of Mental
>Health."


And for good reason. In the book, that's exactly what NIMH stands for. If
you haven't read it, then I'll just say (without ruining too much of the
plot) that the Rats of NIMH were once ordinary street rats who were
captured and made subjects of an experiment at NIMH. The result of the
experiment was that the rats ended up with an intelligence level equal to,
or even greater than, that of the scientists conducting the experiment. Of
course, they (the rats) concealed thier intelligence from their captors, so
as to make their ultimate escape easier...

B.