0« Medical Entomology. 53 



under the ridiculous denomination of crab's eyes. A simi- 

 lar virtue is ascribed to the pincers of the larger species, 

 Cancer pagtirus, gammarus, &c. These inert and hurtful 

 substances have, however, been long since proscribed by 

 sound chemistry. Were it proved that a morbific affection 

 was produced by the presence of an acid in the primary or 

 secondary passages, pure and not carbonated magnesia 

 would be the most proper remedy. 



Oniscus — The lluml-lousc. — ^The body of this insect is 

 oval, and formed of articulated segments, the first seven of 

 wAich have each a pair of legs ; their eyes are compounded 

 and fixed, and their antennse setaceous. 



The common wood-louse, Oniscus a^ellus, the tail of 

 which is terminated by two filiform appendages, or the 

 armadillo, which is indebted for its denomination to the 

 property it has of folding itself double on the least danger, 

 is the one chosen for medicinal purposes. 



The trials made by Lister, Neumann, and Cartheuser, 

 to determine the constituent principles of wood-lice, were 

 only rude sketches. Thouvene! threw some light on the 

 chemical analyses of these insects, and on the use of them 

 in the art of healing. When distilled alone in a balneum 

 niariae, they gave a water sufficiently alkaline to render 

 syrup of violets greenish. Being then treated with water 

 and alcohol, they furnished a fourth part of their weight of 

 extractive and cirous matter, which ether separated from 

 each other, dissolving the latter without touching the 

 former. The expressed juice fjf wood-lice contains muri- 

 ates of lime and of potash, in which reside the dissolving 

 and aperient qualities, which cannot be refused to these 

 insects. Diobcorides and Entmuller extol the etlicacy of 

 them in obstructions of the abdominal viscera. Riviere has 

 confirmed the utility of them in arthritic affections, foul 

 ulcers, and tumors of the breasts of women. They are 

 killed by the steam of alcohol, and are then dried and pul- 

 verised. This preparation is superfluous, and even preju- 

 dicial, when these insects are employed in disorders of the 

 breast. 1 have observed the good effects of the juice of 

 these insects in two chronic pulmonary catarrhs. The 

 preparation I prescribed in spoonfuls was as follows : 

 li. Infusion of creeping ivy {\vii ounces. 



Expressed juice of 150 wood-lice, bruised alive. 



Kefined sugar, pulverised, one ounce. 



Syrup of poppies one ounce. 



Ethereous sulphuric alcohol twelve drops. 



D 3 VI 11. Short 



