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ON  THE  LOCALITY  OF  CANTHARIDIN. 
one  hand,  that  alcohol  is  not  destroyed  in  the  blood  because  it 
is  met  with  in  all  liquids  and  tissues,  which  do  not  contain  its 
products  of  oxidation,  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  it  is  secreted 
in  various  ways  by  the  lungs,  the  skin,  and  particularly  the 
kidneys. 
The  following  are  the  conclusions  at  which  they  arrive  : 
1.  Alcohol  merely  acts  upon  the  nervous  system  ;  it  is  no 
supporter  of  respiration. 
2.  Alcohol  is  neither  destroyed  nor  altered  in  the  body. 
3.  Alcohol  concentrates  chiefly  in  the  liver  and  brain. 
4.  These  facts  explain  the  pathology  of  certain  organic  and 
functional  mutations  of  the  liver,  brain  and  kidneys. — Cfaz. 
Med.  de  Paris,  1859,  No.  46,    Buchners  K  Repert.  viii.  518, 
519.  J.  M.  M. 
ON  THE  AMOUNT  OF  CANTHARIDIN  CONTAINED  IN  DIFFERENT 
PARTS  OF  THE  BODY  OF  THE  CANTHARIS  VESICATORIA. 
By  M.  Ferrer. 
Various  opinions  have  been  expressed  on  the  question  whether 
the  cantharidin  is  equally  distributed  all  through  the  body  of 
the  insect,  or  whether  it  exists  only  in  certain  parts  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  others.  Pliny,  Galen,  and  Aetius  believed  that 
the  elytra  had  no  action.  Hippocrates  recommended  that  the 
head  with  its  antennae,  the  elytra,  the  membranous  wings,  and 
legs  should  be  rejected,  as  he  considered  them  completely  inert. 
This  opinion  was  adopted  by  Schwilgue'  in  the  third  edition  of 
his  Materia  Medica,  which  appeared  in  1818.  Latreille,  Clo- 
quet,  and  Audoin,  on  the  contrary,  assert  that  all  parts  of  the 
body  contain  cantharidin. 
In  1826,  M.  Farines,  a  pharmacien  at  Perpignan,  having 
tried,  without  effect,  plasters  prepared  separately  with  the  powder 
of  the  elytra,  wings,  antennae,  and  legs,  returned  to  the  opinion 
of  Hippocrates,  and  in  a  note  addressed  to  the  Socie'te'  de 
Pharmacie  of  Paris  laid  down  the  follwing  conclusions  : — 
1.  That  the  active  part  resided  only  in  the  soft  organs. 
2.  That  the  hard  organs  do  not  possess  any  vesicating  power. 
In  1855,  M.  Courbon,  in  a  memoir  presented  to  the  Academy, 
also  said  that  the  vesicating  principle  of  cantharides  resided 
only  in  the  soft  or  internal  parts  ;  but  in  opposition  to  M.  Farines 
