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LETTER IV. 



INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 

 DIRECT INJURIES. 



In the letter which I devoted to the defence of Entomology, I gave you 

 reason to expect, more effectually to obviate the objection drawn from the 

 supposed insignificance of insects, that I should enter largely into the 

 question of their importance to us both as instruments of good and evil. 

 This I shall now attempt ; and, as I wish to leave upon your mind a 

 pleasant impression with respect to m.y favorites, I shall begin with the 

 last of these subjects — the injury which they do to us. 



The Almighty ordains various instruments for the punishment of offend- 

 ing nations : sometimes he breaks them to pieces with the iron rod of war ; 

 at others the elements are let loose against them; earthquakes and floods 

 of fire, at his word, bring sudden destruction upon them ; seasons unfriend- 

 ly to vegetation threaten them with famine ; the blight and mildew realize 

 these threats ; and often, the more to manifest and glorify his power, he 

 employs means, at first sight, apparently the most insignificant and inade- 

 quate to effect their ruin ; the numerous tribes of insects are his armies^, 

 marshalled by him, and by his irresistible command impelled to the work 

 of destruction : where he directs them they lay waste the earth, and 

 famine and the pestilence often follow in their train. 



The generality of mankind overlook or disregard these powerful, 

 because minute, dispensers of punishment ; seldom considering in how 

 many ways their welfare is affected by them ; but the fact is certain, that 

 should it please God to give them a general commission against us, and 

 should he excite them to attack, at the same time, our bodies, our clothing, 

 our houses, our cattle, and the produce of our fields and gardens, we should 

 soon be reduced, in every possible respect, to a state of extreme wretched- 

 ness ; the prey of the most filthy and disgusting diseases, divested of a 

 covering, unsheltered, except by caves and dungeons, from the inclemency 

 of the seasons, exposed to all the extremities of want and famine ; and 

 in the end, as Sir Joseph Banks, speaking on this subject, has well observ- 

 ed^, driven with all the larger animals from the face of the earth. You 

 may smile, perhaps, and think this a high-colored picture, but you will 

 recollect, I am not stating the mischiefs that insects commonly do, but 

 what they would do, according to all probability, if certain counter-checks 

 restraining them within due limits had not been put in action ; and 

 which they actually do, as you will see, in particular cases, when those 

 counter-checks are diminished or removed. 



Insects may be said, without hyperbole, to have established a kind of 

 universal empire over the earth and its inhabitants. This is principally 



* Joel, ii. 25. * On the Blight in Corn, p. 9. 



