PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 
O IF QUEElTSLjAlSrD. 
The following paper by Mr. Diggles 
was read before the Philosophical So- 
ciety, on Tuesday evening last. 
ON THE USE OF INSECTS TO MAN. 
That every thing has its use, is a fact which 
few will question, and although the world teems 
with objects, the direct use of which is un- 
known, it is generally admitted that they must 
be of some utility, otherwise they would not 
have been created. Even concerning those 
things of which we know very little, we are 
able often to form surmises and conjectures 
respecting them, and every day’s experience 
shews we have a right so to think as we hear 
of fresh discoveries made. Thus it has come 
to pass, that many substances which we 
formerly thought useless, have been found of 
great value, and that which was a little while 
ago thrown away as rubbish, has been carefully 
stored and turned to account. The produc- 
tions of earth are so varied, each clime having 
its peculiar ones, that all nations are able to 
addjsomewhat to our stock of knowledge, and 
even the most savage tribes can doubtless con- 
tribute some small amount of information con- 
cerning things about which the rest of the 
world are ignorant. It would be a curious 
task, and one of great interest if possible to be 
accomplished, to catalogue the various useful 
discoveries which man has made since his first 
primeval condition. Many are doubtless lost 
and will have to be found out afresh as time 
rolls on, and no less interesting is the specula- 
tion relative to the future ; for judging from 
the amazing impetus which discovery has 
received during the last hundred years, many, 
very many of the common objects which we 
now pass by in disregard, will probably be 
found teeming with interest and sources of 
wealth, industry and comfort. Many very 
valuable discoveries are of great antiquity, in 
fact they are of so remote an age, as only to be 
mentioned by the most ancient historians, as 
matters of course. The benefactor of his 
species, who sowed the first corn field, or 
steeped and propared the first flax plant. The 
man who first extracted iron from its 
ore, or constructed the first ploughshare. 
Their names are long ages ago forgotten, but 
the benefit of their labor remains. Of all de- 
partments in nature where we might least 
expect to derive any particular benefit, the 
insect world is that one. That such insignifi- 
cant beings ahould be capable in any measure 
to minister to the wants, comforts, or luxuries 
of manhood would seem a far-fetched idea, and 
yet it is the truth. For ages in China it has 
been known that the cocoon of the silkworm 
moth was capable of being manufactured into 
garments of surpassing strength and richness, 
* — T 
and that ingenious people, as well as the Hin- 
doos, have been in the habit of using this beau- 
tiful material, and making it an article of 
valuable commercial importance for thousands 
of years. About the 6th century, the eggs of 
the silkworm moth were brought from India to 
Constantinople by some monks, who, doubt- 
less from the great trouble they must have been 
at to convey them without injury so long 
a distance, must have had a pretty shrewed 
notion of the future importance of their 
valuable contribution to the western world. 
Silk then brought its weight in gold, and gold 
was many times more precious than it is now. 
The services rendered to mankind by insects 
may be classed as direct and indirect. That — 
from their vast numbers, also when not duly 
kept in check — they are capable of inflicting 
severe injury is well known, as in the devastating 
power of grasshoppers and locusts, and various 
species of catterpillars. But that the services 
they render far outweighs any damage they may 
at times do is, I think, easily proved. But, I 
must not dwell on the power they possess, hurt- 
ful to man, but on the benefits which he derives 
from an acquaintance with their -habits. Food 
being the first of bodily wants, let us see what 
insects can furnish in this respect. Locusts 
have been eaten by many nations from an early 
period of the world’s history down to the 
present day. It is a singular fact, related of 
John Baptist in the Scripture narrative, that 
both the articles of his diet named are 
connected with insects, one , the insects them- 
selves, and the other the. product of insects. 
That a considerable amount of nutriment exists 
in locusts I have no doubt, from the quantity of 
oily and muscular substance which is within 
them. They are generally roasted, stripped of 
legs and wings, and pounded in a morter, so as 
to form a kind of paste. It is said, however, that 
this description of food is not the most whole- 
some, but like many other customs, what was 
at first done as a necessity, became afterwards 
a custom or choice. Various kinds of larvae 
are also used a3 food by different nations. The 
ancient Roman epicures were very fond of a 
grub called “ cossus,” supposed by some to be 
tliejparvaof thejgoat moath {C. Liginpenda), and 
by others that of the stag beetle ( Luoanus 
Germs). However this may be, both insects 
are very large and conspicuous, and would form 
a morsel considerably exceeding in size the 
largest shrimp, to which crustacean I believe 
many of ourselves will confess a liking. That 
such things should not be eaten because of 
their disgusting appearance is a foolish argu- 
ment and is at once met by the fact that even 
oysters are considered a delicacy by most 
civilised people. Somebody has said the man 
that eat the first oyster had plenty of 
courage, so he had — even more than the one 
who devoured the first grub. Now it happens 
