The Life of the Caterpillar 



and the burning sensation is so acute that I am 

 tormented every moment with the desire to 

 tear off the bandage. However, I hold out, 

 but at the cost of a sleepless, feverish night. 



How well I now understand what the 

 woodcutters tell me ! I had less than a square 

 inch of skin subjected to the torture. What 

 would it be if I had my back, shoulders, neck, 

 face and arms tormented in this fashion? I 

 pity you with all my heart, you labourers who 

 are troubled by the hateful creature. 



On the morrow, the infernal paper is re- 

 moved. The skin is red and swollen, co- 

 vered with tiny pimples whence ooze drops 

 of serous fluid. For five days the itching per- 

 sists, with a sharp, burning pain, and the run- 

 ning from the pimples continues. Then the 

 dead skin dries and comes off in scabs. All is 

 over, save the redness, which is still percep- 

 tible a month later. 



The demonstration is accomplished; the 

 Arbutus Caterpillar, capable as he is of pro- 

 ducing, under certain conditions, the same ef- 

 fects which I obtain by artificial means, fully 

 deserves his odious reputation. 



i6o 



