DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 143 



ensued, and it was satisfactorily ascertained that the 

 honey had been chiefly extracted from the flowers of 

 Kalmia latifolia. 



Amongst other direct injuries occasioned by these 

 creatures, perhaps, out of regard for the ladies, I ought 

 to notice the alarm which many of them occasion to the 

 loveliest part of the creation. When some females retire 

 from society to avoid a wasp ; others faint at the sight 

 of a spider : and others, again, die with terror if they 

 hear a death-watch : these groundless apprehensions and 

 superstitious alarms are as much real evils to those who 

 feel them, as if they were well founded. But having 

 already adverted to this subject, I shall here only quote 

 the observation of a wise man, that " Fear is a betraying 

 of the succours that reason offereth a ." The best remedy, 

 therefore, in such cases is going to reason for succour. 

 In a few instances, indeed, the evil may take root in a 

 constitutional defect, for there seems to be some founda- 

 tion for the doctrine of natural antipathies: but, generally 

 speaking, in consequence of the increased attention to 

 Natural History, the reign of imaginary evils is ceasing 

 amongst us, and what, used to shake the stout hearts of 

 our superstitious ancestors with anile terrors, is become 

 a subject of interesting inquiry to their better informed 

 descendants, even of the weaker sex. 



And now, my friend, I flatter myself you feel disposed 

 to own the truth of my position, however it might startle 

 you at first, and will candidly acknowledge that I have 

 proved the empire of these despised insects over man's 

 person : and that, instead of being a race of insignificant 

 creatures, which we may safely overlook, as having no 



* Wisd. xvii. 12. 



