Bed Bugs
From the South-Western Flag, (Springfield, Mo.), February 4, 1850, page 4.
Bed Bugs
"Do not fail to treat these odoriferous marauders to mercury whenever they make their appearance. To prepare it for application, put a small quantity--say a teaspoon full--into a tumbler and break in the white of two eggs. Then make an egg-beater by splitting into the end of a stick crosswise and inserting two flat pieces of wood or goose quill. Put the wheel end of this into the tumbler, and taking the upper end of the stick into the palms of the hands, roll it as in beating eggs till mercury is fully incorporated. Apply in small quantities with a feather. It will remain for years and bedbugs will sooner take another pew than endure it an instant."
DO NOT USE MERCURY! For more up-to-date information read The bed bug survival guide by Jeff Eisenberg or The bed bug book by Ralph H. Maestre
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