Mr. W. B. Spence on a Passage in Herodotus. 9 



will be so also ? In short, can we warrant the conclusion that the 

 assertion of Herodotus is correct ? And, until the experiment has been 

 fairly made, we cannot be certain that gnats will be excluded from 

 beds as flies are from rooms. But at the same time, judging from 

 analogy, and the great improbability that so unusual a mode of de- 

 fence, and one so uvAJkely a priori to be effectual, should have been a 

 mere fiction without a foundation of truth, there seem strong grounds 

 for believing the fact to be as stated by Herodotus ; and that though, 

 as is well known to people who live in hot climates, gnats soon find 

 their way through holes in gauze curtains, yet it is very probable 

 that they may be afraid of venturing through a net, just as this last 

 is suflicient to keep out flies, though we know that they will creep 

 through the linen sides of a meat-safe. And thus the father of hi- 

 story may be found to be as correct in this passage as GeoftVoy de 

 St. Hilaire has shown him to be in the history of a bird (Characb-ius 

 Egypticus of Hasselquist) taking the gnats out of the mouth of the 

 crocodile, which was deemed a mere fable until fully confirmed by 

 the evidence of this naturalist when in Egypt. (Vide ' Description 

 de I'Egypte,' Histoire Naturelle, torn. i. p. 198 — 205.) 



If it shall be proved by experiment, as seems not unlikely, that a 

 person in bed may protect himself against the attacks of gnats merely 

 by stretching a wide-meshed net over the place where he lies, it may 

 be regretted that this simple fact related by Herodotus as known to 

 the Egyptian fishermen 2300 years ago, has been so long over- 

 looked, and remained in reality quite unknown. Adopting this sim- 

 ple mode of protection, a traveller in marshy districts M'ould have 

 only to provide himself with a piece of netting three yards long and 

 a yard wide, not taking up, Avhen rolled, more than a few square inches 

 of his trunk, and throwing this over a slight support of a few pieces 

 of cane or whalebone equally portable, he would be secure from at- 

 tack, though the net were but a few inches above his body, and the 

 width of the meshes would not otFer the slightest impediment to re- 

 spiration and the free circulation of the air ; whereas it is almost out 

 of the question to use a piece of muslin or gauze in the same manner at 

 a slight elevation above the body, on account of the suffocating heat 

 that would ensue ; and if, in order to obviate this, the traveller were 

 to carry with him common gauze curtains, as now in use, sufficiently 

 spacious to inclose the whole bed, the time and trouble required in 

 arranging and applying them would often be such as even to deter 

 him from making use of them, and to make him prefer taking his 

 chance without any defence. 



If there is thus cause for regret that this fact, which appears so im- 

 portant, should have been so long and so completely overlooked, it 



