THE LOUSE KIND. 



7.53 



force increase with the coldness of the cli- 

 mate; and, though less prolific, that it became 

 more predaceous. 



If the flea be examined with a microscope, 

 it will be observed to have a small head, 

 large eyes, and a roundish body. It has two 

 feelers, or horns, which are short, and com- 

 posed of four joints; and between these lies 

 its trunk, which it buries in the skin, and 

 through which it sucks the blood in large 

 quantities. The body appears to be all over 

 curiously adorned with a suit of polished 

 sable armour, neatly jointed, and beset with 

 multitudes of sharp pins, almost like the quills 

 of a porcupine. It has six legs, the joints of 

 which are so adapted, that it can, as it were, 

 fold them up one within another; and when 

 it leaps, they all spring out at once, whereby 

 its whole strength is exerted, and the body 



raised above two hundred times its own di- 

 ameter. 



The young fleas are at first a sort of nits 

 or eggs, which are round and smooth ; and 

 from these proceed white worms, of a shining 

 pearl colour: in a fortnight's time they come 

 to a tolerable size, and are very lively and 

 active; but if they are touched at this time, 

 they roll themselves up in a ball : soon after 

 this they begin to creep like silk-worms that 

 have no legs: and they seek a place to lie 

 hid in, where they spin a silken thread from 

 their mouth, and with this they enclose them- 

 selves in a small round bag or case, as white 

 within as writing-paper, but dirty without : 

 in this they continue lor a fortnight longer : 

 after which they burst from their confine- 

 ment perfectly formed, and armed with pow- 

 [ ers to disturb the peace of an emperor. 



CHAPTER CLXXI. 



OF THE LOUSE, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



THE antipathies of mankind are various; 

 some considering the toad, some the serpent, 

 some the spider, and some the beetle, with a 

 strong degree of detestation: but while all 

 wonder at the strangeness of each other's 

 aversions, they all seem to unite in their dis- 

 like to the louse, and regard it as their natu- 

 ral and most nauseous enemy. Indeed, it 

 seems the enemy of man in the most odious 

 degree, for wherever wretchedness, disease, 

 or hunger seize upon him, the louse seldom 

 fails to add itself to the tribe, and to increase 

 in proportion to the number of his calamities. 



In examining the human louse with the 

 microscope, its external deformity first strikes 

 us witli disgust; the shape of the fore part of 

 the head is somewhat oblong ; that of the 

 hind part somewhat round : the skin is hard, 

 arid being stretched, transparent, with here 

 and there several bristly hairs: in the fore 

 part is a proboscis or sucker, which is seldom 

 visible: on each side of the head are antennae, 

 or horns, each divided into five joints, cover- 

 ed with bristly hair; and several white ves- 



sels are seen through these horns : behind 

 these are the eyes, which seem to want those 

 divisions observable in other insects, and ap- 

 pear encompassed with some few hairs: the 

 neck is very short, and the breast is divided 

 into three parts; on each side of which are 

 placed six legs, consisting of six joints, cover- 

 ed also with bristly hairs; the ends of the 

 legs are armed with two smaller and larger 

 ruddy claws, serving those insects as a finger 

 and thumb, by which they catch hold of such 

 objects as they approach : the end of the 

 body terminates in a cloven tail, while the 

 sides are all over hairy; the whole resembling 

 clear parchment, and, when roughly pressed, 

 cracking with a noise. 



When we take a closer view, its white 

 veins, and other internal parts appear, as like- 

 wise a most wonderful motion in ils intestines, 

 from the transparency of its external cover- 

 ing. When the louse feeds, the blood is seen 

 to rush, like a torrent, into the stomach ; and 

 its greediness is so great, that the excrements 

 contained in the intestines are ejected at the 



