40 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 134 
he administered Blatta. The edema was caused in 15 instances by 
heart failure, in 52 instances by kidney disease, and in 3 cases by 
liver disease. In 19 cases Bogomolow observed sweating ; in 61 cases 
the volume of urine was increased significantly; in 13 instances 
diarrhea was increased by augmented transudation through the walls 
of the gut. No irritation or other unfavorable symptom was seen. 
Tschernyschew (1882) investigated the physiological effects of an 
organic acid that he obtained from Blatta orientalis. In frogs there 
was an increasing retardation of heart action in which the heart re- 
mained in diastole with the ventricles distended with blood. The effect 
was not accomplished through the central nerve system but was a 
result of paralysis of the heart and its motor ganglion. In warm- 
blooded animals small doses retarded the pulse and large doses stopped 
heart action. The first effect appeared to depend on excitation of an 
inhibitory apparatus, but the latter appeared to depend on possible 
paralysis of the inhibitory apparatus, with some participation of the 
motor nerve of the heart. The acid effected strong diuresis in which 
the secretory elements of the kidney were stimulated. 
The flurry of interest in cockroaches as a remedy for dropsy was 
confined to a relatively brief period. Although the professional medi- 
cal papers describing this use appeared in Europe, interest in the 
subject was reflected in the lay press in the United States at the same 
time (Anonymous, 1877, 1877a, 1879, 1881; Landerer, 1879). After 
1883, the medicinal use of cockroaches dropped from the literature, 
except for occasional references, until quite recently. 
In 1933, in Helsinki, Vartiainen et al. reinvestigated the diuretic 
effects of Blatta orientalis. These workers examined the effects of the 
cockroach on the excretion of urine in rabbits. Powdered cockroach 
was administered by mouth and also subcutaneously as an infusion. 
Urine excretion was measured partly as excreted by rabbits kept in 
metabolic cages, partly by withdrawal by catheter from the bladder, 
and partly by taking urine from canulae inserted in the ureters of 
narcotized rabbits. Although some animals did not respond, there was 
sufficient increase in the excretion of urine in others to convince the 
authors that B. orientalis possesses diuresis-increasing effects, even 
though these may not have been particularly strong. 
Apropos of the reputed diuretic properties of cockroaches, it is 
noteworthy that Stutinsky (1953) has reported evidence for an anti- 
diuretic substance in the brain and retrocerebral complex of Blaberus 
fuscus. These organs from male cockroaches were ground to a pow- 
der. An extract of the powder, when injected into rats, caused a 
reduction in the quantity of urine eliminated. However, tests to de- 
