THE SOAP INSECT. 159 



Astracan and Sicily : but the greatest quantity is 

 from St. Petersburgh, the Russian insects being 

 superior to those of Sicily and France. 



In using cantharides they are reduced to powder, 

 mixed with some fatty substance, and applied in 

 the form of a plaster to the surface of the body: 

 it begins to act immediately, and separates the 

 outer skin from the dermis with great rapidity. 



A singular employment of insects in the com- 

 position of soap is made in some parts of Africa. 

 Geoffrey the younger relates, that being at the 

 village of Postudal, some leagues from Sene- 

 gal, in search of insects, one of the negroes whom 

 he had employed in the same pursuit brought 

 him a vessel containing an immense quantity of a 

 small species of carabus, and informed him that 

 this insect entered into the composition of the 

 soap used in that country ; at the same time he 

 exhibited a ball of a dark-coloured soap, the pro- 

 perties of which are similar to the soap used in 

 Europe. It appears that the insect abounds in 

 alkali, which makes it useful for the purpose in 

 question. 



