How to Kill Fleas, 1688

Robert Hooke, Micrographia (1665)

Take an Earthen Platter, that is broad and shallow, fill it half full with Goats Blood, and set the Platter under the Bed, and all the Fleas will come into it like a swarm of Bees. Or take the Blood of a Bear or Badger, and put it under the Bed, as before, and it gathers the Fleas to it, and they die immediately.

R. W., A Necessary Family Book

Just keep in mind that if you are going to invite any guests into your bedroom, you should probably move your miraculous flea-killing apparatus beforehand. A platter of bear’s blood under the bed can be kind of a turnoff for some people.