Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 3, 1802).djvu/36

iS3 INO that of August . The fruit-tree first inoculated, is generally the apricot, And at length the orange-tree, •which, however, ought not to be budded till the end of August. For this purpose, cloudy and moist weather is the naost propitious ; for, if the inoculation be attempted in the middle of the day, the sh(X)ts will perspire so rapidly as to leave the buds destitute of moisture. INOCULATION, in medicine, is the transferring of distempers from one subjeft to another, parti- cularly of the small, and cow-pox. The pra6tice of inoculation is of great antiquit}^ in the East, whence it was introduced into Britain, early in the 1 8th century j though not without many struggles, and violent opposition, vuider the frivolous pre- text, that it was contrary to the prin- ciples of Christianity, and usurping the sacred prerogatives of the Crea- tor. On account of its superior utility, however, it has at length triumphed, and is now almost ge- nerally adopted, excepting among a few fanatics, w^ho, from super- stitious motives, confirmed by ob- stinacy and ignorance, still object to it as an unlawful, and even sa- crilegious attempt. The curious reader, who is desirous to become acquainted with these objedions, will find them stated, together with a defence of inoculation, in Di. Lettsom's Medical Memoirs. Various methods have been adopt- ed, for the artificial communication of the small-pox ; the most effec- tual of which appears to be that of making a puncture in the skin, or removing the epidermis of the up- per arm with the point of a lancet, dipped in variolous matter. — For the proper treatment of persons during the progress of inoculation, ftje reader will consult the article INS Small-Pox, where the compars^ tive advantages of its recent sub- stitute, the cow-pox, will be con- cisely stated. -INSECTS, in natiual history, form the most diminutive class of animals, which are distinguished by certain incisures or indentations found in their bodies. — See also Animal Kingdom ; vol. i. p. 5S. Having already stated, under the articles Apple-tree, Cabbage, Corn, Caterpillar, Fruit- trees, Hot-house, &c. the most efficacious methods of destroying different kinds of inserts, we shall at present communicate such ex- pedients as have not yet been spe- cified, but which deserve to be more generally known. Blitb- insects, (aphides, or plant-lice), may be destroyed by the smoke of tobacco, or by scatter- ing on them Scotch snuf¥. Another method is, to place a few of the^ larvae of the beetles, called Lady- birds, or Lady-cows fCnccinellcs' septcm-punciatce) on the plants infested with the hlites, which, it is asserted, wiU be thtis in a short time destroyed. — I>r. Darwin, however, is of opinion, that the most ingenious, as well as the- most efiedtual mediod of prevent- ing the depredations of these itv- sefts, consists in aitificially pro- pagating the larvae of the aphidl- vorous riy, of which we have givea the annexed representation ; and which has been observed hf naturalists to deposit its eggs where the aphis abotuids.