is it equal in beauty to that with which many of these small animals are decked? With juftice, we may say, that Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

BOOK II.

PART II.

CHA P. I.

OF THE USES OF INSECTS WITH RESPECT TO MAN.

INSECTS, confidered in a fuperficial manner, with out entring into a particular examination of their qualities, appear to be creatures of little or no use. This is an error, which after having read this Chapter, people will not easily fall into. I confefs it would be rath to decide pofitively concerning the particular ufe which the wifdom of God had in view in the creation of each individual species. We may however conclude from the ufe they are of, from the benefits we derive from them, that God among others, had that particular use in view when he created them Every event in nature proclaims that whatever happens is directed by a Being infinitely wife. From this principle it follows that God hath determined the uses of ani

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mals in general, and of infects in particular; and that he hath defined them to ferve, some one purpofe, fome another. It is not chance then that hath made infects ufeful, but the eternal degrees of providence; and man hath only turned to his use what was originally intended for his fervice.

I obferve in the first place that there are many infects which are used as food by the human race. It is faid that there are in India people who commonly eat worms raw or prepared, and confider them as a delicacy: Some make the fame use of what are called Sea-ftars. Both ancient and modern history mention a species of locuft, common in the eastern countries, whofe flefh is as white as that of a crab, and which as it is faid, has an exquifite tafte. The people of thefe countries prepare these in a particu lar way. Some boil them, others dry them in the Sun before they use them. Dampier in his voyages relates, that this is practifed among those people at this day. This navigator fays that in fome iflands of the Indian ocean, there are locufts an inch and a half long of the fize of ones little finger, blackish, having broad and thin wings, with long and flender legs: of these the inhabitants catch great numbers. They expofe them to heat in an earthen veffel, by which means the wings and legs fall off, but the head and body become red like thofe of boiled lobsters and are excellent food. The fame author relates that in the kingdom of Tonquin there iffues annually from the earth, in the months of January and February, a fort of locufts which are there in great request as food. The inhabitants rich and poor gather as many as they can, broil them on the coals or falt them that they may keep. This food is very wholefome. In the year 1693, when an army of fuch infects overfpread Germany, fome perfons tried to eat them. The celebrated J. Ludolph, who had travelled fo

much

much in the Eaft, having found them the fame fpecies which the Orientals efteem fo much, made them be dreffed in their way. He made fome be boiled like lobsters and feafoned others with pepper and vinegar. One of his fervants having eaten of them without any harm, he ate of them himfelt, and one day regaled with the difh the Magiftrates of Frankfort.

Every body knows the delicious and useful fubftance furnished by bees. They collect it from various things. The dew which fails on flowers affords them honey; the flowers themfelves are the princi pal fource from which they draw it. We fee them hovering to obtain it above all forts of flowers, in gardens, meadows, orchards, woods, &c. They even extract this juice from bitter plants, fuch as thyme, and from rofes, whence fpiuers fuck poison. It is pleasant in a fine day to fee this humming cloud of Bees come forth to repair to the fields. There they go from flower to flower, fucking from the nectaria, the dew of the morning, tafting every herb, bending down the leaves and extracting the fweets. One part ferves them for food, and the remainder is digefted into a fmall receptacle destined for that purpofe. U. pon their return their first care is to empty the recep tacle and to lodge its contents in their combs.

There are two forts of bees, the wild and the domeftic. The former require no care. They fly freely every where, and deposit their honey fometimes in the cavity of a rock, fometimes in the hollow of a tree, or in places of that nature. For this reafon the produce of their hives has been called wild honey. The latter are domeflicated, and kept in hives where they remain.

The best honey of Europe is, in France, that of Provence and Languedoc, particularly in the envi

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rons of Narbonne and in Switzerland, that of Ap penzel. There are three forts of honey: 1. that which drops of itself from the combs; 2. that which is preffed from them; and 3. what is boiled and afterwards preffed. The antients made great ufe of honey for culinary purposes, and at table. The eafe with which fugar is now a days procured, makes honey of less general use than it was formerly. It is still however an object of importance in economy.

It is with honey that the Ruffians make the drink known by the name of Hydromel. The operation is performed in this manner. A certain quantity of good white honey is taken, and eight times as much well water. The water is gently heated in a veffel of tinned copper, and then the honey is put in, and the mixture is allowed to boil. It must be carefully fcummed and boiled into one third of the quantity. The great art confifts in its being boiled neither too much nor too little. It is known to be enough when a fresh egg will fwim in it. It must moreover be obferved that Hydromel ought to be more or lefs boiled, according to the quality of the honey employed. The best need not remain fo long on the fire as the worst kind. While it is ftill warm it is paffed through a fearce to purify it, and then it is put into a cafk in which there has fore merly been wine. This cafk is afterwards expofed for five or fix weeks to the Sun, or behind a furnace, or on a baker's oven, that the hydromel may be well fermented. When all these precautions are taken it is put into the cellar. In places where there is plenty of honey, a liquor of an inferior quality is made with water, which has been used to wash the wax, and veffels where honey has been kept. It is given to servants. The peasants fometimes mix good new wine with excellent honey which affords them

a beverage much to their tafte. Formerly another kind of drink was made, composed of verjuice and honey.

Some infects furnifh us with ftuffs for our raiment. It is well known that the filk worm draws from its own body long and tough threads in which it wraps itfelf up. After having for a time been as it were buried here, it leaves its fepulchre for the use of man, who uses the materials to clothe and adorn himself. This infect and its web have been known in the earlieft times, among the Seres a people who inhabited the country now poffeffed by the Chinese, the Siamefe, and Tartars. Even at this day there are to be found in China, in the province of Canton, filkworms in a wild ftate, which without any care being taken of them, make in the woods a kind of fiik which the inhabitants afterwards gather from the trees. It is grey without luftre, and is ufed to make a very thick and ftrong cloth named there KienTcheon. It may be washed like linen cloth, and it does not ftain. Silk however was exceedingly rare in Europe for a long time. Many circumftances contributed to this at first. The proper inftruments were wanting for fpinning and weaving it, and there was no intercourfe with the people of the countries where it grew. Can we then be surprised if filk was rare and dear? It is faid that in the days of Solomon, a woman of the ile of Co, named Pamphila, was skilled in weaving and making cloth of filk which came from the country of the Seres. It is probable that this woman had not received from that country the animal, but only its thread. Had it been otherwife, how could filk ftuffs in the time, of the Romans have been fo dear, and how could that high price continue till the reign of the Emperor Jultian? In his time two monks brought from the Indies to Conftantinople fome eggs of the filk worm. From that place they were carried into Italy, and alter

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wards