?26 
THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
[March 15, 1873. 
endica, Linn., is similarly employed in India. The early 
settlers on the Atlantic sea-hoard of North America 
found A. serpentaria , Linn., held in high esteem by the 
Indians as a remedy for wounds inflicted by the rattle¬ 
snake and other venomous reptiles, a reputation perpe¬ 
tuated both by the trivial name and the popular designa¬ 
tion “Snake-root.” A very large number of species 
« «njoy an equal fame in the Caribbean Islands and 
throughout the entire South American continent, amongst 
which may be mentioned A. trilobata, Linn., A. pandu- 
rata, Linn, (the “ Raiz de Mato ” of the Venezuelans), 
A. odoratissima , Linn., A. cordiflora, Mutis, A. angui- 
•cida, Linn., A. fragrantissima, Ruiz (the celebrated “Be- 
iuco de la Estrella ” of the Peruvians), A. macroura , 
Gomez, A. cymbifera , Mart, et Zucc., A. ringens , Vahl., 
A. Galeata , Mart, et Zucc., etc. Dr. Weddell was as¬ 
sured by the Bolivians in the province of Yungas that 
the crushed leaves of the “Vejuco,” A. brasiliensis, 
Mart, et Zucc., used topically, are an infallible cure for 
snake-bites, and Senor Triana, the accomplished inves¬ 
tigator of the flora of New Granada, found A. tenera , 
Pohl, in daily use in similar cases, as a never-failing re¬ 
medy, under the name of “ Matos.” 
Modem physicians seem with one accord to regard 
these plants as diaphoretics, stimulant tonics, and emme- 
nagogues only ; but the array of testimony from all quar¬ 
ters of the globe, and extending over a period of more 
than two thousand years, in favour of their alexiteric 
properties, is so overwhelming, that it is in my judgment 
incredible that these virtues should be imaginary. In 
the words of Cicero, “ Utililate et ars est et inventor pro- 
batus,” and the subject seems to me to demand a very 
careful and dispassionate investigation. 
In a note appended to the article Mr. D. Hanbury 
remarks, “ To the very interesting article of my friend 
Dr. Hance on Green Putchuk may be added a few lines 
showing how large a trade there is in this drug. Mr. 
Bowra, in the report referred to by Dr. Hance, estimates 
the^total value of the export trade of Ningpo in 1868 at 
6,073, / 09 taels, or about £2,026,903, of which amount 
239,559 taels (£80,274), represent drugs ; and of these 
latter fully one-third (or to the value of, say, £26,700), is 
Green Putchuk. The drug, he says, is worth from 10 dols. 
to 15 dols. per picul, equal to, say, 4 d. to 6d. per lb. But 
the Chinese have several qualities, some of which are far 
deader.. The supplies are chiefly derived from the plant 
which is cultivated, but the root of the wild plant is also 
collected, though to a very small extent. 
CHINESE BLISTERING BUGS.* 
BY JOHN M. MAISCH. 
At the meeting of the American Pharmaceutical As¬ 
sociation in 1871, it was stated in the report on the drug 
market that twenty cases of blistering flies had been im¬ 
ported from China, and, although of a brown colour and 
not as good-looking as the European flies, proved to pos¬ 
sess equal vesicating powers and went into consumption. 
It was interesting to ascertain of what species these bugs 
consist; and soon after the meeting adjourned, the writer 
endeavoured to procure some of the commercial article, 
but was unable to obtain any; the whole amount that 
had been imported having apparently been consumed. 
Subsequently Dr. Squibb kindly sent me a specimen from 
his private collection, which proved to be the Mylabris ci¬ 
chorii of Fabricius. My thanks are especially due to Messrs. 
McKesson and Robins, who were kind enough to import 
a pound for me from London, to enable me to make the 
necessary experiments, with the view to ascertain the 
amount of cantharadin contained therein. 
The genus Mylabris comprises a large number of 
species, many of which were described in a monograph by 
* Reprinted from the ‘ Proceedings of the American Phr- 
maceutieal Association.’ 
M. C. Cooke. M.A., on ‘ Vesicating Insects,’ which was 
published in vol. II. third series of Pharmaceutical 
Journal and Transactions. 
In addition to the above, the following, taken from the 
Pharmacopoeia of India, may well deserve a place. 
Mylabris cichorii, Pabr., Telini fly. 
Habitat. —Southern Europe, extending from Italy 
through Greece and Egypt to China. It is of common 
occurrence throughout India. 
Officinal Part.—The dried insect ( Mylabris , Telini fly). 
It has the following characters: About an inch in length 
and a third of an inch broad; the elytra of an obscure 
yellow, with three large somewhat zigzag transverse 
bands. The first band is interrupted and sometimes re¬ 
duced to three or four spots. Active principle, canthari- 
din. 
Medical Properties and Uses. —The same as Cantharis 
vesicatoria, for which it affords a complete substitute as 
a vesicant. As an internal remedy it should not be sub¬ 
stituted for the tincture of cantharides, as the strength 
and operation of the latter is well ascertained, which is 
not the case with our present article. It is regarded as 
more powerful than the European article. 
The same authority also mentions a number of other 
East India blistering bugs of the genera Meloe , Lytta, 
Mylabris , and Epicauta ; but, it continues, with M. ci¬ 
chorii existing plentifully in most part of India, the ne¬ 
cessity of increasing the number of these vesicating 
agents is lessened. 
The Chinese bugs, which I received from Messrs. 
McKesson and Robbins, consist mainly of the M. cichorii , 
intermixed, however, with a considerable portion of M. 
phalerata , the latter perhaps not exceeding one-sixth of 
the whole weight, and readily distinguished by their 
much larger size, notwithstanding the similarity in the 
banded appearance of the elytra of both species. If 
ochraceous-yellow is taken to be the ground colour of the 
elytra of M. cichorii , the relative width of the three 
black bands is as follows: the one at the apex is the broad¬ 
est, next in width is the one just above the middle, leaving 
the one above the base as the narrowest. This latter 
band in some specimens is sometimes interrupted, leaving 
on each side of the suture an undulated semilunar 
figure, and occasionally merely a spot. In other speci¬ 
mens which appear to me to belong to the same species, 
the second band is removed to the centre, and the third 
one quite to the base, so that there are but two broad 
yellow bands left, against three of the same colour in the 
typical form. In the cabinet of the Philadelphia College 
of Pharmacy is a specimen marked Mylabris cichorii , 
female , in which the number of black bands is reduced to 
two, an apical and a basal one, the latter usually with 
two small yellow spots, and the yellow portion of the 
elytra occasionally with quite a small black dot on each 
side of the suture. 
In M. Phalerata the black colour predominates on the 
elytra, which are marked by two undulated bands, one 
j ust above, the other below the middle, both being of a 
brownish-yellow colour, of a deeper shade than in M. ci¬ 
chorii ; at the base and near the suture are two nearly 
circular spots of the same brownish-yellow, and two 
smaller ones on the lateral edges near the base, the basal 
spots rarely becoming larger and confluent at the suture 
with the lower band. The transverse impression on the 
thorax is pretty large, and the scutellum is punctate, but 
not hairy. In M. cichorii the impression on the thorax 
is smaller, and has scarcely a transverse direction, and 
the scutellum is often covered with hairs. 
The commercial article appears to be always a mixture 
of these two species (with occasionally a few individuals 
of other species), as has been pointed out by Mr. Cooke; 
the relative proportion of the two species must, there¬ 
fore, considerably influence the appearance of the com¬ 
mercial Chinese blistering flies. 
Canthari din was discovered in 1810 by Robiquet* in 
* •' Anuales de Cinmie,’ xlviii. 230. 
