1919 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 69 



the corrosive sublimate would become inactive within a reasonably short period, 

 its poisonous action being neutralized by its affinity for proteid substances present 

 in the soil, but to what extent its action would interfere with the fertility of the 

 soil I think leaves room for some experimental worker to demonstrate. 



SOME CHAPTEES OF THE EAELY HISTORY OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



W. LOCHHEAD, MaCDOXALD COLLEGE, QuEBEC. 



The Beginnings of Entomology. 



The beginnings of all sciences are full of interest as they reveal the gropings 

 of earnest seekers after truth. Every natural science has an early stage when 

 the knowledge of nature was extremely limited and clouded with superstition. 

 It has been said that, " x\ll knowledge begins and ends with wonder, but the first 

 wonder is the child of ignorance "; but while wonder and curiosity have been great 

 impulses to the study of that great mysterious world of nature, much of the know- 

 ledge of nature has come as the direct result of the experiences of early man in 

 gaining his livelihood. Consequently we must look for the beginnings of Ento- 

 mology in the practical lore of the hunter, the shepherd and the gardener long 

 before the facts had been collated by the early naturalists. 



A few references to insects are made in early writings, locusts, bees and ants 

 being often mentioned by the old Hebrew writers (Exodus 8, Judge 14.14, Pro- 

 verbs 6, Proverbs 30, Joel 1.4, Joel 2.25, Joel 2.2-10.) and scarabgeid beetles sculp- 

 tured in stone by the old Egyptians. It is very probable that the peoples of some 

 of the ancient civilizations possessed considera]:)le knowledge of natural history, 

 including insects.* 



Bee-keeping was a favourite occupation in Palestine, Assyria, Babylon, Carth- 

 age, Egypt, Greece and Eome. The Egyptians had even floating apiaries. A 

 hieroglyphic bee has been found sculptured on a Sarcophagus containing the 

 mummy of Mykerinos, King of Lower Egypt, about 3,633 years B.C., no doubt 

 emblematic of the relationship between the King and the people. 



Silkworms were cultivated many thousand years ago by the Chinese and the 

 people of India, and the silkworm industry was an agricultural one. 



We find also that the Egyptians had a high grade treatise on medicine 1500 

 years B.C., which must have been based on centuries of observation and practice, 

 and also upon a knowledge of related sciences. However, whatever may have bfeen 

 the accomplishments of these people, no records have been preserved. To the Greeks, 

 therefore, belong the credit of producing the first scientific treatise on natural 

 history. 



The first entomologist of whom we have any record was Aristotle (384-322 

 B.C.) Parts of three of his zoological works viz., Historia Animalium, De Partihus 

 Animaliuni, and De'Generatione AnimaUnm, have been handed down to us. These 

 reveal the many sided nature of his activities, for he was not only a collector and 



*When we reflect that practically all our cultivated plants and domesticated animals 

 are of pre-liistoric origin, we are obliged to believe that pre-historic man maintained for 

 long ages a high civilization, when skill and labor not only transformed wild life into 

 cultivated fruitfulness and domestic use, but also made progress in the knowledge of 

 the creatures (including insects) that associated with the plants and animals. Recent 

 researches go to show that such an agricultural civilization occupied the Mediterranean 

 l!asin from Portugal through Asia Minor and Persia to Korea. Pre-historic cultivaMon 

 terraces in this district still show how extensive were the plantations in ancient times. 



