THYSANOURA, PARASITA, SUCTORIA. l6S 



that two black servants had no other employment than that 

 of carrying baskets full of these insects, and throwing them 

 into tlie sea. This, as INIr. Kirby observes, appears to be 

 somewhat exaggerated and hyperbolical. We shall conclude 

 this part of the subject, by observing, that phthiriasis must 

 vary in its types, according to the species of pediculus by 

 which it is produced. 



The facts mentioned in the text, that lice abandon the 

 Spanish sailors, in a certain degree of latitude when going to 

 the Indies, and revisit them again on their return, and that 

 body lice are unknown in India, are observations that have 

 need of being corroborated by more certain testimonies than 

 we are yet in possession of. But, if true, there would be 

 nothing in the fact very surprising. A degree of considei*- 

 able heat, and a more abundant transpiration, might 

 prove unfavourable to the propagation of the pedicidi 

 corporis. As their skin is more tender, the influence of 

 the air might prove detrimental to them in those burning 

 climates. 



The disgusting fact, mentioned in the text, of these vermin 

 being eaten, is not confined to the Hottentots, the Negroes 

 of Western Africa, and the Simiae. It has been observed to 

 prevail among some of the American tribes, and is not 

 uncommon even in Europe, as amongst the beggars in 

 Spain and Portugal. Some authors have pointed out the 

 courses which should be adopted to protect or free the per- 

 son from these disgusting insects. The best of all, in ordi- 

 nary cases, is cleanliness. Of the medical uses to which 

 these animals have been applied, it is unnecessary to dilate 

 here. No one, we fancy, of the least degree of intelli- 

 gence, gives any credit to such remedies at present. It was 

 imagined that their introduction into the urethra of new-born 

 infants, troubled with suppression of urine, might, by the 

 titillation which they caused in that canal, force the sphinc- 



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