$2 On Infetts which cure the Tooth-ache, 
depofited in thefe excrefcences, is, together with the exrculzo 
of the centaury, a new fpecies. It is of a longifh figure; 
covered below with fhort yellow hair, and aboye with golden 
yellow velvety fpots. Its corflet is variegated with {pecks ; 
and the covering of its wings with fpecks and ftripes. tt 
has a fhort probofcis, and fhews fome likenefs to the curculio 
villofus of Geoffroy. Its larva reprefents a fort of ichneumon. 
By chemical analyfis it exhibits fome traces of common falt; 
by diftillation with a {trong dry heat, fome volatile lixivious 
falts; and it contains, befides thefe, fome gelatinous, and a 
little febaceous and flimy extractive matter. If abouta . 
dozen or fifteen of thefe infects, when in the ftate of larva, 
or even when come to perfection, be bruifed and) rubbed 
flowly between the fore-finger and thumb until they have 
loft their moifture, and if the painful tooth, where itis hol- 
low, be touched with that finger, the pain ceafes fometimes 
inftantaneoufly, . This power or property the finger will re- 
tain for ayyear, even though it be oftemwafhed and ufed: 
A piece of fhamoy leather will ferve equally well: with the 
finger. Of 629 experimients, 401 were attended with com- 
plete fuccefs. . In two of thefe cafes the hollow teeth’ arofe 
from fome fault in the juicés: in the reft they were merely 
local. . 
If the gums are inflamed, the remedy is of no avail. Ac- 
cording to Profeffor Gerbi, the hollownefs in the teeth 
arifes from an acrid matter which irritates the nerves, and 
which is neutralifed by the juices of the infect. 
This property of curing the tooth-ache has been  difco- 
vered in other infects, as appears by a paper of Dr. Corra- 
dori, inferted in the Giornale fifcio-medico of Brugnatelli, 
Part I. . The experiments were made in the town of Prato, 
where the property of fome infects to eure the tooth-ache 
had been known among the peafants, even before any thing 
twas publithed on the fubje& by Gerbi and Comparini. A 
certain Luigi Mari is here made to affert, that he laid hold 
ef about a dozen of thefe infects with his fingers, and heaped 
them 
