Observations on a mode practised in Italy of excluding the common house-fly from apartments / by William Spence.

  • William Spence
Date:
[1836]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on a mode practised in Italy of excluding the common house-fly from apartments / by William Spence. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    been hitherto much neglected, I should beg particularly to direct the attention of the Society,—I mean what may be called the metaphysics of entomology, or an investigation of the limits which bound their instincts on the one hand, and that small portion of mind and reason which few will deny them, on the other. And here what is chiefly to be desired are facts, the want of a sufficient collection of which has hitherto been the chief cause of the vague and inconclusive way in which this highly interesting subject has been often treated; as by Dr. Darwin, for example, whose theory of the supposed instinctive actions of animals being really referrible to their reason solely, is mainly built on statements as to changes of the instinct of a species having taken place, when in reality species altogether distinct were confounded together. These facts can be scarcely too numerous or minute if accurately stated; and to show that they may be drawn from sources not hi¬ therto often considered within the range of the objects of a scientific Society, I shall here beg to lay before you a few observations on a very humble and undignified topic,—a mode practised in Italy of excluding the common house-fly from their summer apartments,— which, though it may perhaps at first view seem a subject more ap¬ propriate to the pages of a magazine of domestic ceconomy, wfill not, I trust, when its close connexion with the interesting questions just alluded to, and more especially the curious and unexpected light which it throws on a passage of the father of history, are considered, be deemed wholly unworthy to occupy a share of the attention of the Society. In this country the common house-flies (Musca domestica) towards the close of the summer and the commencement of the autumnal months often become a great nuisance, both from their numbers and the pertinacious curiosity with which every individual of the race seems resolved, for its own satisfaction, to taste, see and touch every object around it, even perching upon and exploring the “ human face divine,” as if in mockery of our boasted supremacy, and to humble us by the conviction that the equanimity of the philosopher as well as the comfort of the suffering invalid is often at the mercy of a fly. But it is to more southern and hotter climes that we must direct our view if we would form a correct idea of the real pest which these little restless intruders become in the warm months, when they literally almost fill the apartments. Every traveller in the South of Europe during the hot months will confirm the assertion of Arthur Young, that “ they are the first torments in Spain, Italy, and the olive districts of France. It is not that they bite, sting, or hurt, but they buzz, teaze and worry: your mouth, eyes, ears and nose are
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