“Remedies.

“Undoubtedly the most efficient remedy for the bedbug is to fumigate the infested house or rooms with hydrocyanic-acid gas. This gas will penetrate into every crevice in the house or room where the bedbugs conceal themselves and has an immediate effectiveness which gives it an important recommendation, especially when the infestation is considerable or of long standing. This method of fumigation should be intelligently employed, as the gas is deadly poisonous.” Five ounces of potassium cyanide per 1,000 cubic feet of space should be employed; exposure, one hour.[2] Ten ounces per 1,000 cubic feet would be better.

[2] Creel, R. H., and Faget, F. M., Cyanide Gas for the Destruction of Insects, with Special Reference to Mosquitoes, Fleas, Body Lice, and Bedbugs: Public Health Reports, June 9, 1916, pp. 1464–1475; Reprint No. 343.

“The fumes of burning sulphur are also a very efficient means of control where the conditions are such that this method can be used, readily destroying the insect in all stages, including the egg. The treatment is inexpensive compared with the use of hydrocyanic-acid gas and offers much less risk of danger to human beings. There is, however, a considerable risk of injury to household fabrics, furnishings, and wall papers from the strong bleaching quality of sulphur fumes. This danger will be somewhat diminished if the fumigation can be done at a time when the room or house is thoroughly dried out, as in winter by a furnace or other heating system. Further precautions should be taken by removing all metallic surfaces from the room or building, or by protecting them with a coating of vaseline.”

Four pounds of sulphur are recommended for each 1,000 cubic feet of space, and the building should be closed for the treatment for at least five or six hours. “Sulphur candles may be used where available, or the sulphurous gas or fumes can be generated by burning the sulphur in a dish placed in the center of the room, and for protection set within a larger vessel. Thoroughgoing precautions must be taken to prevent accidental overflowing or the starting of a fire, and after the fumigation the house should be given a thorough airing.

“Other gases have been experimented with, such as formalin and the vapors of benzine, naphthalene, and camphor, but these gases are of little value. Similarly, insect powders are of little value, largely from the difficulty of getting them into the crevices and other places of concealment of the insects.

“The old-fashioned household remedies referred to below are effective enough, though at a greater cost of time and personal effort. They will, however, be often of much service in the case of slight or recent infestations, or where the employment of more poisonous and troublesome gases is objected to or is impracticable. Of these simple methods of control perhaps the most efficient is in very liberal applications of benzine or kerosene, or any other of the lighter petroleum oils, introduced with small brushes or feathers, or by injecting with syringes into all crevices of beds, furniture, or walls where the insects may have concealed themselves. Corrosive sublimate is also of value, and oil of turpentine may be used in the same way. The liberal use of hot water, wherever it may be employed without danger to furniture, etc., is also an effectual method of destroying both eggs and active bugs.[3] A 5 per cent solution of compound solution of cresol (liquor cresolis compositus) in kerosene forcibly applied with a large plant sprayer is effective if frequently applied.

[3] “A remedy for the bedbug has been devised by Mr. R. H. Pettit (‘Notes on two insecticidal agents,’ 10th Rpt. Mich. Acad. Sci., p. 159–160, 1908) as a substitute for hydrocyanic-acid gas and sulphur, and is reported to have proved very successful. The preparation of this insecticide and its application are described as follows:

“Alcohol is drawn through pyrethrum in a funnel until the powder is well washed and a large part of the resinous principle extracted. To do this, the powder is placed in a large funnel with filter-plate and a layer of cotton wool at the bottom. An aspirator is attached and the alcohol is at first slowly and later rapidly sucked through six or eight times, during which operation it becomes highly colored. To this liquid as a basis, are added several oils to give permanence to the application. Both alcohol and pyrethrum evaporate so quickly that it was thought best to carry in some heavier volatile oils whose effects would last several days or even weeks. The formula when completed stands as follows:

“To the extract made by washing 400 grams of pyrethrum with 2,000 c. c. of strong alcohol, are added—

“The application is best made with a large-sized atomizer, one holding a pint or more and working with a piston instead of a rubber bulb. * * * To obtain the best results, repeat the treatment after about two weeks. We have tried this mixture repeatedly and with uniformly gratifying results. Usually one application, if thoroughly made, put a period to the complaints, about eight to ten ounces being required in an average sleeping room. The odor remains some little time in a room, but is not disagreeable to the average person.

“This remedy can be readily prepared by a pharmacist in any drug store.”

“Various bedbug remedies and mixtures are for sale, most of them containing one or another of the ingredients mentioned, and these are frequently of value. The great desideratum, however, in a case of this kind, is a daily inspection of beds and bedding, particularly the seams and tufting of mattresses, and of all crevices and locations about the premises where these vermin may have gone for concealment. A vigorous campaign should, in the course of a week or so at the outside, result in the extermination of this very obnoxious and embarrassing pest.”

“Temperature control.—The possibility of temperature control is indicated in the discussion elsewhere of the effect of temperature on this insect. A temperature maintained below freezing for 10 or 15 days destroys the eggs, and this temperature continued for 15 days to a month will destroy the newly hatched young. It may be, therefore, that if infested houses in cold climates should be opened up and allowed to remain at a temperature well below freezing for a considerable period, all eggs and the young, and possibly most if not all of the adults, would be exterminated. This method of control might perhaps be practicable at least in the case of summer houses in the North which are left untenanted in the winter.

“The maintaining of high temperatures may be an even more efficient method of control. The activity of the bedbug is at its greatest between 60° and 70° to 75°. As indicated elsewhere, in a temperature of 96° to 100° F., accompanied with a high degree of humidity, newly hatched bedbugs perish within a few days, and, if this temperature is raised to 113° F., in a few minutes.[4] A temperature of 113° will also destroy the eggs, and with these higher temperatures the item of humidity is not apparently important.”

[4] Editorial note.—An account of successful use of live steam to eradicate bedbugs in bunkhouses, as practiced by a lumber company in Oregon, was published in Public Health Reports, Nov. 28, 1919, pp. 2713–2714. In that instance steam pipes were tapped, after closing all doors and windows, and a temperature of 160° F. was held for approximately 3 hours. The officials of the company stated that 2 months after the steaming no signs of bedbugs had been found.

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Transcriber’s Notes:

Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.

Variations in hyphenation and compound words have been preserved.