Today in 1725, the pharmacist Étienne Louis Geoffroy was born in Paris, where he worked for nearly all of his professional life, having descended from three generations of apothecaries. He was also an entomologist whose only published work as sole author on the subject, Histoire abrégée des Insectes qui se trouvent aux environs de Paris — a short history of Parisian bugs — was published in 1762 (pictured). It’s possible to still find the two-volume history for sale, bound in marbled calfskin with ornately decorated and ribbed spine, and filled with detailed drawings. Notably, it was the first book published in France that classified beetles, or les coléoptère, as well as woodlice and crayfish. If, after reading this, your mind wanders to current events surrounding the bedbug epidemic in Paris nearly 300 years after Geoffroy’s birth, you can’t be blamed. Yes, there are bugs causing great distress in the capital city (during Fashion Week, no less), but bedbugs are not beetles, with one chief difference being their lack of wings.
NCPA
