I hadn’t realized how much I’d internalized the modern bed bug control mantra, it’s not the pesticide but the skill of the technician, until I realized it’s pretty standard for times in history such as ours, when nothing really works very well.
But any of the various means employed, from the old and far-famed two wooden blocks between which the enemy is crushed after capture, to the latest well-advertised spray that causes the unborn generations of bedbugs to arise and shout “Morituri te salutamus,” is of value to just the extent that it is consistently, energetically, and systematically applied.
The nature of the agent employed is of less importance than the proper application.
But whatever means used, the hospital corpsman must remember that eternal vigilance is the price of safety, and that the eggs are highly resistant to all ordinary solutions, making it necessary to continue the warfare after the apparent extermination of the adults.
K.M. Smith, Chief Pharmacist, The Acanthia Lectularia, U.S. Navy Department Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, Hospital Corps Quarterly, 1921, p. 29
Yes, but this guy was writing at a time when bed springs were “flamed with a gasoline blow torch” — and that was before a surface application of something a bit stronger. It stands to reason some would be better at it.
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