OBJECTIONS AXSM'ERED. S3 



tracted notice, that every eftort to extirpate them would 

 be ineffectual. 



It is needless to insist upon the importance of the 

 study of insects, as calculated to throw light upon some 

 of the obscurest points of "^oiu'ral physiology ; nor 

 would it be difficult, though the task might be invi- 

 dious, to point out how grossly incorrect and deficient 

 are many of tlie speculations of our most eminent phi- 

 losophers, solely from their ignorance of this import- 

 ant brancli of Natural History. How little qualified 

 Avould that physiologist be to reason conclusively upon 

 the mysterious subject of generation, Avho sliould be 

 ignorant of the wonderful and unlooked-for fact, 

 brought to light by the investigations of an entomolo- 

 gist, tiiat one sexual intercourse is sufficient to fertilize 

 the eggs of numerous generations of Aphides ! And 

 how defective would be all our reasonings on the pow- 

 ers of nutrition and secretion, had we yet to learn that 

 in insects both are in action unaccompanied by the cir- 

 culating system and glands of larger animals ! 



In another point of view entomological information 

 is very useful. A great deal of unnecessary mischief 

 is produced, and unnecessary uneasiness occasioned, by 

 what are called vulgar errors, and that superstitious 

 reliance upon charms, which prevents us from having 

 recourse to remedies that are really efficacious. Thus, 

 for instance, eating figs and sweet things has been sup- 

 posed to generate lice=*. Nine larva? of the moth of 

 the wild teasel inclosed in a reed or goose quill have 

 been reckoned a remedy for ague''. Matthiolus grave- 

 ly aflirms that every oak-gall contains either a fly, a 



* Araoreuxj^ie. *• Ra\, Cat. Cant. 45. Hist. Ins. 3i\. 



VOL. I. D 



