70 INTRODUCTION. 



period, we find the same continual reference to the supposed 

 medical wtues of almost every species of insect, an instance 

 of which, showing the ridiculous extent to which these ideas 

 were carried, is given below.* But better days were now at 

 hand. Redi, and Malpighi, and Swammerdam, towards the 

 close of the seventeenth century, laid the foundations of a 

 true system of Entomology by the excellence of their respec- 

 tive observations. The first of these celebrated men, by 

 experiment, threw down the doctrine of equivocal or sponta- 

 neous generation, and also corrected numerous other errors 

 into which naturalists in general had fallen. The second 

 published a variety of researches of great importance upon 

 the anatomy of these animals ; whilst the third, by stripping 

 from the transformations of insects all of the marvellous 

 with which they had been invested, and more especially by 

 the clearness of the details by which he illustrated the ex- 

 traordinary and startling fact which he quaintly designated 

 as " an animal within an animal," contributed more to the 

 true knowledge and systematic distribution of insects than 

 any of his predecessors. His work, as well as those of 

 Mouff"et, Redi, and IMalpighi, are still sought after with 

 avidity by the student ; and his pages, although containing 

 much verbosity, are filled mth the most valuable materials — 

 the result of the most patient attention, devoted both to the 

 habits and structure of the animals investigated. If, indeed. 



* The CurcuUo antiodontalgicvs, which feeds upon the thistle, Carduus 

 spinosissimus, v/as highly praised in past times as a specific against the 

 tooth-ache (whence its specific name) ; and it was said, that if fifteen 

 larvae of this species, or fifteen of the weevils, immediately after their 

 arrival at the perfect state, were rubbed between the fing'ers till all the 

 moisture was gone, these fingers would acquire the power of causing a ces- 

 sation of pain, on touching the affected teeth, for a period of twelve 

 months, notwithstanding all the washing which they might undergo. 

 Truly our forefathers were not a whit less gullible than their posterity of 

 the present day. 



