What a ludicrous picture has Sydney Smith drawn of the animal annoyance
of tropical climates. "Insects," he says, "are their curse. The bete
rouge lays the foundation of a tremendous ulcer. In a moment, you are
covered with ticks. Chigoes bury themselves in your flesh, and hatch a
large colony of young chigoes in a few hours. They will not live
together, but every chigoe sets up a separate ulcer, and has his own
private portion of pus. Flies get into your mouth, into your eyes, into
your nose; you eat flies, drink flies, and breathe flies. Lizards,
cockroaches, and snakes get into your bed; ants eat up the books;
scorpions sting you on the foot. Everything bites, stings, or bruises.
Every second of your existence, you are wounded by some piece of animal
life, that nobody has ever seen before, except Swammerdam and Merian. An
insect with eleven legs is swimming in your tea-cup; a nondescript, with
nine wings, is struggling in the small-beer; or a caterpillar, with
several dozen of eyes in his belly, is hastening over the bread and
butter. All nature is alive, and seems to be gathering all her
entomological hosts to eat you up, as you are standing, out of your
coat, waistcoat, and breeches. Such are the tropics. All this reconciles
us to our dews, fogs, vapours, and drizzle; to our apothecaries rushing
about with gargles and tinctures; to our old British constitutional
coughs, sore throats, and swelled faces."
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