Of this I am sensible, that I daily am bit when practising and at work in my Business, destroying them; and as they never swell me but when out of order, from thence I infer, that not only myself, but all such who are among Buggs, and do not swell with their Bites, are certainly in good Habit of Body. But to return to my Subject.
Having shewn that they not only live in Winter, but asserted that to be the best Season for their total Destruction, I must further observe, that few People caring to trouble themselves about Buggs but when they themselves are troubled by them, having confin’d the Attempts for their Destruction chiefly to the Breeding-Season, has been the sole Reason why the best Efforts for their Destruction have fail’d.
I do admit innumerable Quantities have been destroy’d, and much good has and may be done in Summer: but should every old Bugg then be destroy’d, you are yet not safe; for the Nits behind Wainscot and in Walls, which cannot be come at, will by heat come to life, and your work is partly to be done over again.
Whereas, on the contrary, if cleared out of Spawning-time, there is a certainty, as there is then no Nits, that their Offspring cannot plague you thereafter.
’Tis for this Reason I warrant what I do in Winter; which I cannot pretend to do in Summer.
In Summer indeed I do destroy all Buggs and Nits too in Beds and their Furniture, but Buggs only behind Wainscot and in Walls: for tho’ my Liquor has an attractive as well as the destructive Quality, and thereby does bring out and destroy every live Bugg; yet their Nits being inanimate, cannot come to the Liquor, nor the Liquor at them. Such Nits therefore will come to life by heat, and quit the Walls and Wainscot for better Quarters and Food in the Bed, and so become troublesome to you.
Having thus given, I hope, a satisfactory Account of this nauseous, venomous Vermin, I shall proceed to shew how they are daily brought to England, and into Houses commonly; then give some necessary Cautions how to avoid them, and Directions how to destroy them.