of the species that may be classed as paste eaters : 

 Pyralis farinalis, a raotli, and Tenebroides mauritani- 

 cus, Silvanus surinarnensis, Calandra granaria, and 

 Tenebrio molitor, all booties. 



Paper. — Paper is made from cotton, linon, honaj). 

 rags, and waste, from chemically prepared woods, 

 from straws, from bark without the wood, from wood 

 not chemically prepared, and many other substances. 

 In a great many papers, clay and other minerals are 

 added as fillers. While we are conversant with the 

 various processes used by paper manufacturers, yet 

 very little attention has been given to the real charac- 

 ter of life that dwells within the manufactured pro- 

 duct in its primoid state. Cotton fly is used for low 

 paper stock, and the little insect that infests the cot- 

 ton boll, known as the cotton weevil, sends forth its 

 offspring under a different form, yet with all the in- 

 stincts of itself. 



After the paper has passed through certain stages, 

 but not with sufficient intensified heat to destroy the 

 principle of existence, the species evolutionizes into 

 another state or mode of living. In the broader con- 

 ception of biological truths, ready answers are given 

 to this profound questions, i. e., the origin of various 

 forms of life, and the researcher has ready for the 

 querist the proper foundation whereon to build the 

 superstructure of that truth which the arcanum of 

 nature reveals to the desires of the mind of the scien- 

 tist and physicist. Too little attention has been given 

 to the manuscript notes of scientific workers, often 

 only a line or two of their observations upon the small 

 forms of life. The average scientist thinking it too 

 trivial to notice, often passes over the very observa- 

 tion, which is the key to the puzzle that he has been 

 spending years in trying to solve. 



Paper Eaters; Wood Pulp. — A species 

 of insect, frequently found in libraries, is the Cimex 

 leciularius , vulgarly known as the ., chinch" or , .bed- 

 bug". Its natural instinct leads it to wood on account 

 of certain poisons in the forms of acids contained 

 therein, and certain nourishments which are of a 

 poisonous character to the human being, but beneficial 

 and necessary to insects and worm life. Where paper 

 has been manufactured from wood pulp, containing the 

 particular acids or poisons which the ,, bed-bug" 

 requires, there you will find the insect with all its in- 

 stinctive faculties. Why do they live and thrive under 

 wall paper? Many wall papers, some of which are 

 known to be a cause of illness to mankind, have large 

 quantities of arsenic, cochineal, and paris green in 

 them. This mineral compound, being changed by the 

 continual variation of temperature going on in the 

 room, is sufficient to change the natural character of 

 the paper, and also the habits of the bugs, who are 

 thus able to obtain nourishment from the back of the 

 paper. 



Among this group may be found the following 

 beetles: Apate capucina, Xestobium iessellatum, and 

 Lyctus unipunctaius. 



Paper Eaters; Vegetable Fibres. — 

 In the Aztecan history many of the primitive docu- 

 ments were made from banana skin. These were made 

 to receive the imprint, just the same as paper is manu- 



factured for printing to-day. A sample of this ]')aper 

 was placed in a perfectly sealed case, and a scholar 

 wishing to lofer to it one day, uf)on going to the case 

 containing tlic writing, was astonisliod to find that all 

 the paper had bec^n entirely destroyed, although the 

 case was still impervious to any attack made from the 

 outsido. This demonstrates how long life may be 

 prolonged, ii^ the sense of the insects being placed 

 away from their natural surrouTidings, continuing the 

 life cycle whenever the proper conditions arc given. 



Trichophaga tapelzella, Tinea pelUonella, Tineola 

 biselliella, and Plodia interpundella are a few of the 

 moths that bore into paper in order to obtain access 

 to the fibres. 



Paper Eaters; Mineral Fillers. — 

 This group includes papers where quantities of clay 

 and other mineral substances have been used as fillers. 

 For an illustration we will take the character and 

 life habits of the Termites, or white ants, which are in 

 a measure destructful to material utilized in the manu- 

 facture of paper. The alluvial deposits are natural 

 to the white ant, consequently, when clay is used in 

 the manufacture of paper, the instinct in the ant leads 

 it to feed upon that which is natural to it, especially 

 if the books have been kept in a place where it is 

 damp. The lower organic life is, but in a measure, an 

 evolution that is manifested in the higher and more 

 complex forms of life. In the mountainous region of 

 North Carolina is found a collection of people who 

 eat large quantities of clay which is found there in 

 abundance. These creatures, the whites being disig- 

 nated as ,,poor white trash", and the negroes as the 

 ,, blue-gummed negroes", are addicted to the habit 

 of clay eating, and nearly all are veritable living 

 skeletons. The eyes and gums of the whites have a 

 reddish hue, and their skins become a dirty yellow; 

 and the gums and skins of the negroes take on a bluish 

 hue. This clay contains arsenic, and, instead of clay 

 eaters, they might more properly be called arsenic 

 eaters. The supply of clay for daily use is provided 

 with more energy and precision than food. This clay 

 poisons the saliva exuding from the glands of the 

 mouth, and also from the base of the teeth, and makes 

 their bite probably poisonous. 



And so we see the special laws of nature by which 

 forms of low life live, actuated by the first principles 

 of their instinct to return to their primitive mode of 

 feeding; that is, the life that is generated fi-om the 

 botanical kingdom, much in sympathy with the facts 

 established by Dr. Hahnemann, which verifies the 

 principle that like attracts like. 



Monorium pharonis, or red ants, Termites, or 

 white ants, are found destroying paper that has clay 

 in its composition. The first named is also fond of 

 saccharine that is found in wooA fibre. 



Paper Eaters; Animal Fibre.Parch- 

 m e n t. — Insects, such as roaches, which destroy 

 parchment, are after the oils and fats which are used 

 in their preparation: for however carefully the parch- 

 ment may be prepared, there is always a certain 

 amount of oil and grease left in it. These oils are ob- 

 tained from the plants, minerals, and animals of the 

 earth, which the roaches have always been used to; 



