#36 On Medical EntnmoIogT/. 



It is to cantharides that the vesicatory or blistering plaster 

 IS indebted for its properties. It is astonishing that a com- 

 position, in which the greater portion of the cantharides is 

 enveloped and rendered inert by fat and resinous bodies, 

 has not been long ago renounced. Being an enemy to all 

 polypharmic mixtures, I am satisfied w ith disposing, in the 

 form of plaster, a gcrtain quantity of good leaven, which 

 I besprinkle more or less with cantharides, according to the 

 indication I wish to fulfil ; and I take care to rub strongly 

 the part on which I intend to apply this topic, after having 

 moistened it with strong vinegar. This method is un- 

 doubtedlv the best ; nothing in it is useless; and I prefer it 

 to blistering plaster, from which it differs only in its great 

 simplicity. 



1$ it possible to read the enumeration of panaceas, poly- 

 chrest remedies, specifics, &:c. with which the materia 

 medicas and pharmacopoeias are filled, without exclaiming 

 ironically, with the immortal Rousseau, That it is entirely 

 malicious in men to be sick ? Let us, however, confess, 

 that there really exist noble remedies. There are three 

 which I cnuld mfjiiion ; and cantharides certainly are among 

 the number. To prove it, nothing is necessary bui to take 

 a cursory view of the diflferent cases in which the application 

 of them is requisite. To proceed with order in this exa- 

 mination 1 shall take as my guide the Nosographie Philoso- 

 phiqne ; and I shall frequently invoke the testimony of its 

 celebrated author, whom I have always seen to unite pre- 

 cept with example. 



The immense series of human infirmities commences 

 with fevers ; and the angiotenic, or inflammatory, occupy 

 the first place. The regular course which nature follows iu 

 the development, progress, and termination of these fevers, 

 amuounces a beneficent effort, which tends to remove some 

 obstacle and restore interrupted equilibrium. We must be 

 Cautious, therefore, of perverting this salutary movement, 

 and recollect that, if fever, under certain circumstances, is 

 a mean of cure, it is chiefly to angiotenic fevers that this 

 prrro2.ative belongs. The pretended success, I had almost 

 said the miracles, ascribed to Galen, Botal, Sydenham, and 

 Brown, in consequence of copious evacuations of blood from 

 their patients, do not impose on me, and I am far from ap- 

 proving, with Cullen, the conduct of IVingle, who caused 

 bleeding to be succeeded by vesicatories, notwithstanding 

 the fatal examples which oucjht to have made him pro- 

 scribe this destructive treatment. 



The 



