116 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



when the flakes fall thickest, or to the dust of the earth. 

 The natives cannot take a mouthful of food, or lie down 

 to sleep in their cabins, unless they be fumigated almost 

 to suffocation. In die air you cannot draw your breath 

 without having your mouth and nostrils filled with them ; 

 and unguents of tar, fish-grease, or cream; or nets 

 steeped in fetid birch-oil, are scarcely sufficient to pro- 

 tect even the case-hardened cuticle of the Laplander 

 from their bite a . In certain districts of France, the ac- 

 curate Reaumur informs us that he has seen people 

 whose arms and legs have become quite monstrous from 

 wounds inflicted by gnats ; and in some cases in such a 

 state as to render it doubtful whether amputation would 

 not be necessary b . In the neighbourhood of the Crimea 

 the Russian soldiers are obliged to sleep in sacks to de- 

 fend themselves from the mosquitos ; and even this is 

 not a sufficient security, for several of them die in conse- 

 quence of mortification produced by the bites of these 

 furious blood-suckers. This fact is related by Dr. 

 Clarke, and to its probability his own painful experience 

 enabled him to speak. He informs us that the bodies 

 of himself and his companions, in spite of gloves, clothes, 

 and handkerchiefs, were rendered one entire wound, and 

 the consequent excessive irritation and swelling excited 

 a considerable degree of fever. In a most sultry night, 

 when not a breath of air was stirring, exhausted by fa- 

 tigue, pain, and heat, he sought shelter in his carriao-e : 

 and, though almost suffocated, could not venture to open 

 a window for fear of the mosquitos. Swarms neverthe- 

 less found their way into his hiding-place; and, in spite 



a Acerbi's Travels, ii. 5. 34-5. 51. Linn. Flor. Lapp. 380-h 

 Lack. Lapp. ii. 108. De Geer, vi. 303-4. " Reaum. iv. 573, 



