The Portland daily press., 1899-07-04
THE KISSING BIC.
by Washington Experts
After Puzzl;ng the Doctors-It Is
sansuinary by Nature and Preys ON
Manisind-Last winters Cold tine
Cnuse of IL.

claimed Leroy Hardness. 90 lored, Of this
city to DIR. Adams Of the Emergency Hos.
pital on Tuesday evening Of this week.
''Don't let 'em tech you. Hit am de
Dorseyfoultz bug, an am murderous in
cts ways. Oh, Lawd, look at dem ey esp
he calculated as the bug made spas
modic leap into the open mouth Of bot
tie.
| The nurses and the attendants heayed q
sigh of relief ms they saw DIR. Adams
/ cork the black creature in its glass prison
with the stopper. Lewis. the ambulance
driver, and Warren, the janitor. were
puffei with pride as they told how they
caught the creature as 1t was crawling
swiftly across the north wall Of the hospi-
tai building in tine direction Of the dis
pensary window. Hardness was convers-
ing with them about his.swollen lip when
he spied the insect. he was badly scared,
while Warren took on his coat and
wrapped 1t around the creature, and that
| was the way they captured 1t. In his ex-
citement over the capture OF the insect,
whicn he thought belonged to the same
family ms the ferocious bug that bit him.
Harkness forgot that he killed the origi-
nal trespasser. Hence the inacouracy of
the opening statement.
Almost every body in Washington has
come to the conclusion now that 1t Is
some kind Of bug, though the doctors at
the Emergency Hospital hung for long
time tostheir original diagnosis that the
whole trouble came out of local epider-
manic of a nervous ailment. great
many persons were converted for while
| TO the strawberry poison theory, but none
OF the scientific people would stand for
that, and IL fell through. For instance,
| William Simple, the newsdealer, whose
/ face was badly swollen, testified to the
Emergency physicians that he hadn't
eaten any straw berries for two weeks boz
| fore the trouble occurred In his case. IN
1t all etal ted about to weeks ago, when
| two OF his friends drove John Talbot,
colored, of 20l7 Green court, around to
the Emergency Hospital. Talbot said
that while he was sitting in his express
wagon waiting for job he was made
drowsy by the heat and fell asleep. In
about half an hour he awoke to lind his
upper lip twice as big as usual and his
eyes putting up. He hadn't felt anything
| bite or sting him, and he couldn't guess
what had happened to him SO suddenly.
| And then Henry Richards, butcher, and
| Charles Armstead, laborer, were brought
In for treatment. The symptoms in their
cases were practically the same. They
were awakened In the night to find their
| faces swelling mp. They felt nothing
bite or sting them, although the swelling
! became very uncomfor liable and soon as
sumed alarming proportions. Their lips
especially felt as II they were going to
burst. No indication OF skin puncture
could be found and they were treated for
| nervous disorder. The treatment, along
with the soothing remedies applied,
proved very successful and they were soon
dismissed.
| After that the cases began to come in
with more frequency. Scarcely a day
| passed that some one was not driven mp
TO the Emergency Hospital with hand,
a lip or some other part of the physiog-
nomy swollen out of all proportion.
Talbot was the only patient attacked by
day. The others all suffered from the
I outbreak of this uncanny maady by
| night. invariably after retiring.
| Wise people began to form theories as to
the cause of the trouble, and communica.
tions embodying these were printed at
length in the newspapers. John S.
Biankman headed the party who believed
that over indulgence in straw berries
brought on the trouhle. He said in
communication to an afternoon paper
| that the whole trouble was an epidemic
of strawberry poisoning. Although he
| gained many adherents, the Emergency
Hospital physicians knocked his theory
cold by q case which came to them for
treatment of man who did not ea
strawberries. They presented other evil
I dence to combat his theory and In favor
Of their diagnosis of nervous Affection
| A little more than week ago one Of
| the assistants In the chronological
! Bureau of the Agricultural Department
| US in or nh NJ
at night, pursuing his researches into the
nature. of bugs and insects. He Is an ex-
| pert in that line, and when little,bla
creature flew upon his hand and inflicted
a severe bite,s instead of following the
course of language and action that would
occur to an ordinary man, he immediate
ly instituted a search. He was rewarded
by finding couple of specimens of the
biting insect, and, true to his scientific
instincts, he picked them up carefully
and impaled them on a couple of cUnven-
| lent pins before dressing his wound.
The next day his hand was swollen
much after the manner of the Emergency
cases reported IN the papers. But this
! did not deter him from Identifying his
brace of insects as TWO members of that
rare and bioodthirsty family of creatures
known to the world of entomology by the
| title OF Melanolestes picipes. phe case
| was reported TO Prof. Howard, chief of
the Bureau OF .Entonology, and 1t was
! through an interview with him that a
local afternoon paper was able TO and the
| most important chapter published up 20
the time In the history of the epidemic.
DIR. Howard stated that the Melanolestes
| picipes had ways very similar to those Of
the insect which was supposed to have
caused all the trouble in Washington
Up to thRIRresent season it has been
known as very rare bug, for 1t Is true
bug. 1t Is found all over the United
States, especially along the Atlantic coast
and Gulf Staies. IL is IA small bug Of a
lustrous black. 1t is. about half inch in
length and is predatory in its nature,
feeding for the most part upon other bugs.
Its weapon differs from that Of the beetle,
| to which 1t otherwise bears close rasem-
biance. inasmuch as 1t substitutes for the
beetles pincers long, sharp beak This
beak is terrible weapon. it ia half as
long as the body of the Mslanolestes, and
is capable of doing great execution
But the Emergency Hospital physicians,
while they were willing TO lconcede that
possibly bug was at the bottom of some
of the trouble, were very anxious that the
Agricultural experts should prove their
| case analQgG the ARlannIasfou nouaIf,ciuo