Feb. 1, 1868.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



33 



the walls and ceilings, from behind the paper- 

 hangings, from the joins in the flooring, out from 

 under the carpets, out from the chinks in the crazy 

 furniture, out from everywhere ; and then they 

 troop about, rushing hither and thither, and cover- 

 ing everything. This state of affairs lasts only for 

 a few hours, and soon after midnight not one is to be 

 seen, though I dare say they might be readily found 

 by seeking after them in the cracks and crevices. 



I certainly did not believe any place could be so 

 thoroughly swarmed with them as I had heard, till 

 a few years since. I was then holding office at an 

 hospital, and in the course of my duties it became 

 necessary for me to pass some hours in, I should 

 think, one of the oldest tenements of the worst part 

 of Lambeth. I had paid a visit several times during 

 the day, and was on the look-out for specimens, for 

 we are sworn foes, but saw none ; in the evening, 

 however, soon after the dim lamp was lighted, I 

 chanced to look round to where close beside me was 

 a small table covered with a white cloth (?), and I 

 should think there were some hundreds upon it, of 

 different sizes, from the pallid infant to the rotund 

 matron and portly sire. As soon as I could realize 

 the fact, I began to inspect my garments, and was 

 horrified to find the siege had already commenced : 

 some were ascending my trousers, and there was a 

 patch of six on my waistcoat that I could have 

 covered easily with a half-crown. They were every- 

 where, — on ceiling, walls, and floor ; I scarcely think 

 you could have put a foot down anywhere without 

 killing some ; and the worst of it all was, they seemed 

 to recognize my presence, and make for me ; and 

 in a very short time I was in a dreadful condition 

 with the irritation and bites of these little torments; 

 I might, literally, be compared to Bishop Hatto, who 

 was attacked by vermin, though of a different kind ; 

 as the story runs : 



" And in at the windows, and in at the door. 

 And through the walls by thousands they pour, 

 And down through the ceiling, and up through the floor, 

 From the right and the left, from behind and before, 

 From within and without, from above and below, 

 And all at once to the bishop they go.'' 



We are further told that " they were sent to do 

 judgment on him " for taking human life ; but as I 

 had taken up my post, and held it through the night, 

 for just the reverse, I think it was a mistake they 

 did not receive special instructions to leave me 

 alone. 



I forget the exact time, but it was not long after 

 midnight, when they vanished, quite of a sudden, 

 and I did not see a single one afterwards. 



It would be a great blessing if something could 

 be discovered that would rid aplace'of them easily, 

 —something that they would eat which would cause 

 their death. Plenty of things will kill them, if you 

 can only persuade them just to get in. Liquor 

 Potassae will kill them instantly, as salt and water 



may ; but what can you do with either in a bedroom ? 

 You cannot apply it to the bed or bed-linen, or to a 

 papered wall, or pour it with impunity into every 

 crack in the floor; and if you could, you would still 

 have bugs, for you would not reach them all. I have 

 tried experiments with various remedies reputed 

 infallible, and they have most of them miserably 

 failed. I got some Persian vermin-killer, — a powder 

 which was to be strewed about their haunts, and it 

 was dusted on the floor, on every shelf, into cracks 

 in the walls, everywhere in fact, without any 

 apparent effect. I then put some in a bottle with 

 two or three bugs ; but they climbed over it, and 

 into it, and never manifested the slightest incon- 

 venience. I also tried corrosive sublimate, and 

 flowers of sulphur, in the same way, with the same 

 result. Only one experiment terminated fatally, 

 and that was when one was shut up for about six 

 hours with a little lump of camphor. I had heard 

 that stoving a room with sulphur was a certain cures 

 so my room was twice subjected to that process ; 

 but on the second occasion two or three bugs, in an 

 open bottle, in one corner of the room, evinced no 

 symptoms of being in the least inconvenienced ; and 

 next time I passed a night in the room, they were 

 more numerous than ever. I tried the last experi- 

 ment again on a smaller scale, and enclosed one in 

 an atmosphere of sulphurous acid for some time, 

 and I believe he rather preferred it. 



Most of the bug poisons that are sold, in my 

 opinion, are useless, unless you can take the insect 

 by the back of the neck in one hand, and apply the 

 poison with the other. The way in which my room 

 was cleared, after all other things had failed, though 

 entailing a little more trouble and expense, is never- 

 theless, I believe, the only remedy. The walls were 

 stripped, and every crack in them and the ceiling 

 plastered up ; and in like manner every join and 

 little hole in the flooring was filled with mastiche 

 cement, which soon turns almost as hard as stone ; 

 and from that day not a vestige of one has been 

 discovered. 



To conclude : with regard to these insects, the 

 question cui bono naturally arises, as it does in 

 reference to so many of nature's works and ways, 

 which we cannot understand. To say, as is generally 

 done, that they are designed to make people clean, 

 is simply absurd ; for it is always found that the 

 dirtier people are, the less they care for them ; in 

 fact, I have seen persons perfectly indifferent to them, 

 who take no notice if they are crawling over them, 

 or at most brush them on to the floor : they are 

 protected against their bite by the dirt which 

 " wraps them round as doth a garment ; " and 

 further, I believe if a man were sufficiently dirty, 

 he might take his fee and enter the far-famed bug 

 ward of the Banian Hospital with impunity ; yes, and 

 lay him down, and sleep in peace, and dwell in safety, 

 none daring to make him afraid. 



