/ 
OF CURIOSITY. 193 
grant that they are very troublefome to us* 
But is therefore all care about them to be 
1 
given up ? by no means* On the contrary 
we ought to contrive means to get rid of 
them, that they may not deftroy both lis 
and our poffefiions. This cannot be brought 
about unlefs we know their nature ; when 
that is known we fhall more eafily find out 
remedies againfi: them c * The ufe of infers 
has been fufiiciently explained by the noble 
Carolus de Geer, lord of the bed-chamber to 
his majefty, in an oration which he made in 
the academy of fciences at Stockholm. An- 
other of my fellow-ftudents has undertaken 
to explain what damages infedts of various 
kinds do us, and another now is adtually em- 
ployed in Ihewing what kind of infedts live 
c We have lately had a proof that the knowledge of the 
nature of infedts may fometiines be ferviceable to Us. The 
fagaoiofts Dr. Wall of Worcefler, upon feeing the cafe of the 
Norfolk boy, who was cured of worms; by taking down a 
large quantity of white lead, and oyl, gucifed that the cure 
was performed by the oyl, knowing that oyl is fatal to worms 
and other infedts. Upon this he has fince tryed oyl in worm- 
cafes with a great appearance of fuccefs, an account of which 
i faw in a letter from him to be communicated to the Royal 
Society. That oyl is deftruclive to worms was known to the 
antientS; as appears by Arifl. Vid. Hid* Anim.lib. 8. c. 27, 
o 
upon 
