Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1879-09-25

NUw comes tine mosquito. Not that she
mosguifP cOlflne hiS visits 20 the late sum-
mer and autumn by any means for, like
rhe poor, we have him always with US. or
nearly always tE1i il Is about this time
shaf he begins 10 take himself seriously, TO
insist upon himself, 70 labor and TO prey,
hu1 noi 70 wHit by any means.
There Hre some curious and interesting
points abcul the mosquito, and now that we
mus give HIM some measure Of attention
wAether I'VE wish 10 dosO n not. il is well 10
cez some entertainment cut Of him. He
re1s good Deal cut cf us
There SIRE d good many kinds of him for
one thlng--enera or species, as the reader
may pleRse-s0Me Of them aCtive hy day
others NV night and some-aS anybody may
discover for himself, though ths scientific
books neglect 10 mention the fact-ready,
like the lower class of restaurants. for
meals AZ al hours Of the day or night"
The mOSt curious thing about mosquito
Is thai he Is found in some places. and not
in Others where the conditions are appar-
entity precisely the same. There are places
where mosquitoes swarm, while IN others
near al hand snd similarly situated not
Tor tins nobody knows
Another thing sb0U the mosquito that
nohOay kn~ws Is how he buzzeS. That is
ms seCrsi. and ~ vet he has not revealed il
tc MuThOcE- EntGmOlOrisss have question
cd him On this point 10 no purpose. They
hEVe disseCled him, separated each of his
muscles from its fellows; they have stud
ied HIM sitting sriIL flying and walking,
they have observed him In the act of blood
letrInC; they have counted the vibrations of
his winrS. and lesrned that rs stroke is fif-
" - the second; bui they have never dis
c0ve7ed how or WAY he b1zzeS They have
mSny preTTv theorles on the subject, but
hSve SgreeG among themselves upon no set
tied doctrine.
The mesquite is graceful fellow in all
he does. and II he woRld sleep of nights
would not he al unpleasant companion, but
Tor his hite- We should SAY her bite for it
u only the female that bites. n fact from
which every reader viii argue that mosqui-
toes mus I've PalvEamistS. with many thou
sznds of wives apiece, for oAe very rarely
finds the mOsquirs that does not bite. He
j. rSrer than the maz who does not smoke
O- the woman whose shoes are avowedly
TOO small by half size.
Why does the mosquito bite That is
another SecneL IL Is pretty certain that
she ESs no occasion 10 do 50. Vegetable |
JUICES ard sweets are her natural food. snd |
Il = now doubted whether or not she really |
neeCis any food Al all To test this Ques- |
tion a Tennessee eniOmOlogist believing that |
arrangements for scaling the state debt |
were II a satisfactory stale Of advancement |
devoted ms spare time n few years ago To |
the making OF experiments He impriSon- |
Cd several mosquitoes under bell glasses and |
kept them there without food during the /
whole term OF their natural lives. and he /
teS1ihes that they remained healthy, active /
and vigorous without perceptibly losing /
flesh until the advent OF cold weather put /
En end 20 them and the experiment at once.
Their blOcd-thiTSt. therefore. seems to be
purely malicious, aRd not al al part of |
Their struggle Tor existence.
An ingenious spOlogisl for the mosquito
attempted a few years AGO 10 sci up de-
tense fOr her, winch, II II had been true,
would not only have excused her. but
would have justified her also, in the use of
her lEncelS- de declared that Mrs. Mos
guiiO 4 a female practitioner; that she
@-A -44A-1@ Ao@c AN-AD44@ 1Af0
SKINS there, partly 10 drive men away from
Pes1ilenIlal spots and partly to counteract
tine poison CT the atmosPere by the admin
ls1r1tlOn CT an Antldote; in a word this |
aPolOrlsr held that Mrs. Mosquito bites not |
f0r the purpose of sucking blood but TO ad-
minister minute doses of qHinine by sub
culAneous injection. If this fact could be
proved we should have in the mosquito the
mos elecJic Of phySicians-one who uses
the old school lancet, but gives homeopathic |
doses
How the mosquito bites is much better
known than why she bites. She carries six
little lz1ceiS INSIDE her preboscis, and with
these she puncTures the skin. making a hole
80 small thai the blood cannot flow through
i except under pressure, and through this
hole she draws what she wants by sort of
special suctiOn-pump stomach which is dis
tInc1 rr0n her stomach proper. Tue intlam-
maii0n and irritation which follow the bite
are due not so much TO the puncturing of
tire SKIN As 90 the acrid saliva which flows
into the wound This irritation is some
times SO great as to produce fever, fact
from which il appears that, if the mosquito
ls really u physician. she adheres TO the
homeopathic doctrine that like cures like, a
doctrine which has never been followed out |
70 It's logical end IN cases where men, hav-
ing broken their heads by falling down
a hight OF stairs, need TO be thrown down
hight by way OF repairing the injury. Per
haps tins Is misinterpreiatien of the doc
trine, and al any rate has nothing to do
with mosquitoes, whose heads cannot be
broken In any such way.
The usual Tenedw for mosuuiroes is to |
slap ones self violently. Ii docs not hurt |
tine mosquito, but it braces the sufferer up |
and teaches HIM TO endure pain