G. I. S.
Fleas and Bugs.—Has the following explanation of an old saying ever been brought forward, and is it satisfactory? When a person is sent off "with a flea in his ear," the luckless applicant is peremptorily dismissed with an imperative "flee," with the word "flee" sounding in his ear, or, facetiously, "with a flea in his ear."
Apropos of proverbial domestic entomology, is there more than lies on the surface in the elegant simile "As snug as a bug in a rug?" A rough variety of dog was termed a "rug" in Shakspeare's time; quartered on which, the insect might find good entertainment—a plentiful board, as well as a snug lodging. It appears, however, that the name has not long been applied to the Cimex, so that the saying may be of greater antiquity, and relate to bugbears.
C. T.
Zeuxis and Parrhasius.—In the Preface to Mr. Grote's History of Greece, there occurs the following passage:
"If the reader blame me for not assisting him to determine this—if he ask me why I do not undraw the curtain, and disclose the picture?—I reply in the words of the painter Zeuxis, when the same question was addressed to him on exhibiting his master-piece of imitative art: 'The curtain is the picture.'"
Compare this with Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXXV. 36. § 3.; from which it appears that Parrhasius, not Zeuxis, painted the curtain.
Arch. Weir.
Cure for Hydrophobia.—A gentleman named Monsell, who lived at Kilrush in the county Clare, possessed a cure for hydrophobia which was never known to fail. He required that the patient should be brought to him within nine days from the time of being bitten, and his first proceeding was to cause the person to look in a looking-glass or pail of water: if the patient bore that trial without showing any uneasiness, he declared that there was no doubt of his being able to effect a cure. He then retired to another room, leaving the patient alone for a short time; and when he returned, he brought two bits of cheese which he said contained the remedy, and caused the person to swallow them. He then desired that the patient should return home, and for nine days frequently drink a few sips of water; and also take opportunities to look at water or a looking-glass, so as to accustom the nerves to be under control. I knew a case of a peasant girl, who was bitten by a mad dog, and who had to be brought to him tied on a car, whom he cured. The dog, before he was killed, bit several valuable dogs, all of
which had to be destroyed; he also bit two pigs, which, after showing most frightful symptoms of hydrophobia, had to be shot and their flesh burned. Mr. Monsell always refused to declare what his remedy was, "lest it might be used for anything but a human being." It would appear that in a great measure he worked on the imagination of his patients: still some other means may have been used, and, as he has been dead some time, it is to be hoped he did not let his secret die with him. He never would take any remuneration from those he cured, or their friends. I never heard any person in that part of the country express the least doubt of the efficacy of the remedy he used.