186 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



one only, as there are hundreds more to revenge their 

 companion's fate ; so that the person who thus is sub- 

 ject to be bitten (some individuals are exempt) remains 

 the whole night like a sentinel upon duty, rather 

 watching the approach of fresh invaders than inviting 

 the pleasing approaches of sleep.'* Mouffet assures 

 us, that against those enemies of our rest in the night 

 our merciful God hath furnished us with remedies, 

 which we may fetch out of old and new writers, either 

 to drive them away or kill them, t The following is 

 given as the best poison for bugs, by Mr Brande of 

 the Royal Institution : — Reduce an ounce of corrosive 

 sublimate (Per chloride of mercury), and one ounce 

 of white arsenic, to a fine powder ; mix with it one 

 ounce of muriate of ammonia in powder, two ounces 

 each of oil of turpentine and yellow wax, and eight 

 ounces of olive oil : put all these into a pipkin, placed 

 in a pan of boiling water, and when the wax is melted, 

 stir the whole, till cold, in a mortar. J 



Though most people, however, dislike this insect, 

 others regard it not only with apathy but with pro- 

 tecting care ; at least, one gentleman would never 

 suffer them to be disturbed, or his bedsteads removed, 

 till in the end they swarmed to an incredible degree, 

 crawling up even the walls of his drawing-room ; and 

 after his death, millions were found in his bed and 

 chamber furniture. § In the Banian hospital, at Surat, 

 the overseers are said frequently to hire beggars from 

 the streets, at a stipulated sum, to pass the night 

 among bugs and other vermin, on the express con- 

 dition of suffering them to enjoy their feast without 

 molestation. I| 



The bed-bug is not the only one of its congeners 

 which preys upon man. St Pierre mentions a bug, 



* Goldsmith, Anim. Nature, iv, 198. t Theatr. Insect. 



X Materia Medica, Index. 

 § Nicholson's Journ. xvii, 40. II Forbes, Oriental Mem. i. 



