33 



haps, more than this may be called into play : 

 maybe other creatures can be bred that may 

 abate the numbers of these vermin, just as the 

 Mungoos is used by the Hindu to destroy the 

 Cobra- di-Capello, as the Ferret is set upon the 

 Rat in England and the Ladybird is said to be 

 employed in the South of Europe to extermi- 

 nate the larvae of various insects that prey on 

 the poor peasant's scanty crops. Indeed, this 

 is a fascinating, an exhaustless, a labyrinthine 

 subject and could be enthusiastically pursued 

 like Ariadne's silken clue, with infinite bene- 

 fit to our suffering race. We have an ap- 

 proach to something of the kind in Jenner's 

 valuable vaccine for the prevention of Small- 

 pox, Here, I believe, is shewn a striking in- 

 stance of the destruction of one germ by an- 

 other ; the substance he employs must contain 

 creatures antagonistical to those of the Small 

 pox pustules, else how could its effects endure 

 so long in the systems of those inoculated 

 with it ? And that this, supplied in svifficient 

 quantities, not only overwhelms those of the 

 malady when they enter the blood, but con- 

 tinues to exist, inhabit and breed in that fluid 

 thereby preventing entrance of the other and 

 fatal germ life. If this is so, then what a Sun 



