Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/336

304&#93; ;04] F L £ pastures, and road sides, and is in flower from July to September. ' Cows,- horses, and swine, refuse this noxious and, according to Bkchstein, poisonous weed ; nor is it relished by sheep and goats, — ■ An infusion of the leaves, however, has been used as a diuretic, and purgative; ; a decoction of the flowers is said to be very efficacious in cu- taneous disorders. An ointment prepared from the leaves, is reputed to afford considerable relief in that painful malady, the piles. — In dye- ing, Suxkow and Dambourney remark, that the fresh herb, while la blossom, imparted an olive co- Jour to woollen cloth and silk. Bohmhr thus obtained only a weak yellow liquor, of a greenish shade. • FLEA, or Pulex, L. in zoologv, a genus of inserts requiring no par- ticular description. Want of cleanliness remarkably contributes to the generation of fleas ; as the females deposit their eggs, each from twenty to thirty, In damp and filthy places, within the crevices of boards, on rubbish, fce. whence they emerge in the course of six or eight days, in the form of greasy whitish naaggo&si When a fortnight old, they en- velope themselves in a small chry- salis, from which they saiiy forth, after ten days existence, in the form of fleas. In' the winter, these dif- ferent transformations require a period of six weeks, but in summvr only a month. They probably do not live longer than one year 3 though it is said, that fleas have been kept on little golden chains for six years. As I hey are able to draw a weight eighty times greater than that of their own bodies, some frivolous persons have, occa- sionally kept them harnessed to miniature carriages, &c. Leaping FLE also "is n singular proof of (heir muscular strength ; as, by pressing the belly downwards, expanding their legs, and then suddenly con- tracting them, these creatures dart forward to a distance of 10 or I'l inches. Children and females are re- markably liable to the attacks of this little enemy ; a circumstance which must be attributed to their more tender skin, their purer blood, longer clothes, and, in some indi- viduals, perhaps to a peculiar state of perspiration. — Cleanliness, and frequent sprinkling of the room with a simple decoction of worm- wood, will scon exterminate the whole breed of these troublesome vermin ; and the best remedy to expel them from bed-clothes, is a bag rilled with dry muss, the odour of winch is to them extreme- ly offensive — Others cover the floors of the rooms where fleas abound, with the leaves of the al- der tree, while the dew is on the foliage, to which these insects fondly adhere, and thus may be easily destroyed. Mercurial oint- ment, sulphur, and fumigation with the leaves of penny-royal, or the ircsh-gathered foliage of that plant, sewed up in a bag ; and laid in the bed, are also remedies pointed out lor the expulsion of fleas. Dogs and cats may be effectual- ly secured from the persecutions ei these vermin, by occasionally anointing their skin with sweet oil. FLEA-BANE, the Great, or Plowman's Spikenard, Conyza si/uarrosa, L. an indigenous bicn- n.al plant, growing in mountain- ous meadows and pastures, in a calcareous soil, and producing yel- low flowers in the months ol July and August. This