Insects, hygiene and history / by J.R. Busvine.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed September 30, 2015).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-255) and index.

Busvine's introductory account of the evolutionary histories of insects and mites leads on to a fascinating study of human reactions to ectoparasites. It shows how the extent of man's curiosity about them and references to their prevalence provide a continuous commentary both on the history of biological science from Aristotle to the present day and on the modes and manners of ages past. Subjects of ribald verse, quack medicine and morbid imagination as well as literary symbols of piety, love and human insignificance, this is also the history of how medicine discovered that ectoparasites acted as transmitters for epidemic diseases.

Cover; Half-title; Title; Copyright; Preface; Acknowledgements; Contents; Introduction; 1 The World of Insects and Mites; Abundance; Size; Size and the Environment; 2 Origin and Evolution of Insects and Mites; The Arthropod Family Tree; Evolution of Mites; Evolution of the Ectoparasites; The Pre-historical Evolution of Bugs; The Pre-historical Evolution of Lice; The Pre-historic Evolution of the Itch Mite; 3 The Harmful Effects of Parasites; Ectoparasites as Disease Vectors; Louse-borne Relapsing Fever; Fleas and Plague; Allergic Skin Reactions; Loss of Blood, etc., to Parasites.

Normal Disgust and Neurotic Abhorrence4 The Prevalence of Ectoparasites in Different Epochs; Ancient and Classical Times; Late Mediaeval and Renaissance; The Seventeenth, Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; Modern Times; 5 Human Reactions to Ectoparasites; Personal Hygiene and Propriety; Insects and Hygiene; Vermin and Virtue; Ectoparasites Considered as Divine Afflictions and as Morbid Curiosities; Fleas and Moral Precepts; Insect Vermin and Weather Vanes; Lice and Love: Fleas and Fleshy Fantasies; Epitaphs for Insect Vermin; Fleas as Puppets and Performers.

6 Ectoparasites as Objects of Scientific CuriosityClassical Times; The Dark Ages; Arabian Interlude; The Late Middle Ages: Scholasticism; The Renaissance; The Seventeenth-Century Watershed; Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries; The Modern Era; Systematics and Morphology; Bionomics; Biological Peculiarities; 7 Medical Aspects of Ectoparasites; VERMIN AS MEDICINE; REMEDIES FOR ECTOPARASITES; Cleanliness; Magic and Religion; Trapping; Insecticidal Substances; PHTHIRIASIS OR THE LOUSY DISEASE; THE SCABIES STORY; ECTOPARASITES AS DISEASE VECTORS.

A Brief Account of Early Ideas on the Spread of PestilenceThe Elucidation of Plague; The Elucidation of Typhus; The Elucidation of Louse-borne Relapsing Fever; References; Index of Persons; Subject Index.

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