the louse. 
271 
microscope discovers the blood ascending through the head 
m a very rapid, and even frightful stream. The louse has 
at that tune sufficient appetite to feed in any posture • it is 
then even sucking with its head downward, and its tail 
elevated It during this operation, the skin be drawn tight 
t te trunk is bound fast, and the animal is incapable of dis- 
engagmg itself; but it more frequently suffers from its glut- 
tony, since it gorges to such a degree, that it is crushed to 
pieces by the slightest impression. 
There is scarcely any animal that multiplies so fast as this 
unwelcome intruder. It has been pleasantly said, that a 
ouse becomes a grand-fatlier in the space of twenty-four 
hours : tins fact cannot be ascertained ; but nothing is more 
nie than, that the moment the nit, which is no other than 
the egg of the louse, gets rid of its superfluous moisture, 
-nd throws ofl its shell, it then begins to breed in its turn! 
Nothing so much prevents the increase of this nauseous ani- 
■ ’ a ® cold and want of humidity ; the nits must be laid 
a place that is warm, and moderately moist, to produce 
•my thing. That is the reason that many nits laid on the 
hairs in the night time, are destroyed by the cold of the 
succeeding day ; and so stick for several months, till they 
l ‘t last come to lose even their external form. 
( There is scarce an animal, and scarce even a vegetable 
that does not stiller under its own peculiar louse. The sheep' 
the horse, the hog, anci the elephant, are all teased by them; 
he whale, the shark, the salmon, and the lobster, are not 
wit, lout their company; while every hot house, and every 
pwden is infested with some peculiarly destructive. Linnreiis 
ells us, that he once found a vegetahle-louse upon some 
P mits newly arrived from America; and willing to trace 
te little animal through its various stages, he brought it 
Vlt l from London to Leyden, where he carefully pre- 
served it during the winter, until it bred in the spring : but 
le louse it seems did not treat him with all the gratitude he 
Pec ted : for it became the parent of so numerous a pro- 
pmy, that it soon over-run all the physic garden of that 
beautiful city ; and leaves, to this day, many a gardener to 
e nrse the Swede’s too indulgent curiosity. ° 
t lie animal which some have called the Leaf Louse, is of 
c ’? SIZC °f » flea, and of a bright green, or bluish green 
oiour ; the body is nearly oval, and is largest and "most 
theT* i° n l , h , e lli,uler P al t : tlle breast ' s very small, and 
ui • f aC ** blunt and green; the eyes may be seen vety 
ainly, being prominent on the fore part of the head, and 
