The Bluebottle; The Laying 



sandy floor. That Is enough for the maggot's 

 first establishment. These causes of failure 

 are avoided with a layer of sand about an inch 

 thick. Then the Bluebottle, the Flesh-fly and 

 other Flies whose grubs batten on dead bodies 

 are kept at a proper distance. 



In the hope of awakening us to a proper 

 sense of our insignificance, pulpit orators some- 

 times make an unfair use of the grave and 

 its worms. Let us put no faith in their dole- 

 ful rhetoric. The chemistry of man's final dis- 

 solution is eloquent enough of our emptiness : 

 there is no need to add imaginary horrors. 

 The worm of the sepulchre is an invention of 

 cantankerous minds. Incapable of seeing things 

 as they are. Covered by but a few inches of 

 earth, the dead can sleep their quiet sleep: no 

 Fly will ever come to take advantage of them. 

 At the surface of the soil, exposed to the 

 air, the hideous invasion is possible; ay. It is 

 the invariable rule. For the melting down 

 and remoulding of matter, man Is no better, 

 corpse for corpse, than the lowest of the 

 brutes. Then the Fly exercises her rights and 

 deals with us as she does with any ordinary 

 animal refuse. Nature treats us with magnifi- 

 cent Indifference In her great regeneratlng- 

 factory: placed In her crucibles, animals and 



339 



