oSobeTi9^2a''°'  }  Insects  Used  in  Medicine.  715 
monotony  of  a  scanty  primitive  diet.  In  the  arts  we  all  know  that 
certain  products  of  insects  are  of  great  importance — every  house- 
hold uses  beeswax,  every  painter  uses  shellac — both  are  produced 
by  insects.  Perhaps  however  it  is  not  so  well  known  to  the  layman 
as  to  the  physician  that  a  few  insects  play  an  important  r61e  in 
the  modern  practice  of  medicine. 
Chief  among  insects  of  medicinal  value  may  be  mentioned  Apis 
(the  honey  bee)  and  Cantharis  (a  blister  beetle).  These  almost 
alone  from  a  host  of  insect  preparations  of  ancient  times  retain 
their  place  in  modern  practice. 
That  a  multitude  of  insects  found  their  way  into  the  practice  of 
medicine  during  the  medieval  age  seems  to  have  been  due  not  to 
their  tried  and  proven  therapeutic  value,  but  to  the  fact  that  the 
people  of  the  time  were  devoutly  religious.  They  believed  that  the 
earth  and  all  upon  the  earth  were  created  to  serve  the  interests  of 
Man.  Following  this  line  of  argument  it  was  an  easy  matter  for 
them  to  account  for  the  Creator's  purpose  in  making  such  important 
foods  as  wheat;  fruit  and  vegetables  but  it  sometimes  became 
exceedingly  difficult  to  find  an  ample  reason  for  the  creation  of  some 
of  the  lower  forms  of  life.  One  has  but  to  read  some  of  the  old 
volumes  to  realize  to  what  absurd  extremes  men  were  driven  to 
explain  the  Creator's  wisdom  in  giving  to  Man  some  of  the  insects. 
For  example  according  to  the  old  authors,  ants  were  made  to  set  an 
example  of  industry  to  Man  and  lice  were  good  because  they  kept 
him  from  sleeping  too  much  and  becoming  lazy.  Nevertheless, 
after  taxing  their  ingenuity  to  the  utmost,  they  seemed  to  be  unable 
to  find  the  reason  for  the  creation  of  many  insects.  These  they 
assigned  to  medicine,  and  it  is  likely  that  because  they  were  thus 
assigned  to  medicine  their  therapeutic  values  were  learned.  If 
anyone  doubts  that  small  quantities  of  a  certain  insect  can  have  a 
definite  physiological  reaction  on  the  human  body  he  has  but  to 
take  the  prescribed  dose  of  Apis  to  be  convinced,  or  if  this  be  not, 
at  hand  let  him  try  the  sting  of  a  bee. 
That  more  insect  remedies  are  not  now  used  in  the  practice  of 
medicine  is  due,  possibly,  rather  to  the  objectionable  form  in  which 
they  were  administered  in  the  old  prescriptions,  than  to  the  lack  of 
value  of  the  material.  For  example,  what  modern  physician's 
patients  would  submit  to  swallowing  a  "spider  wrapped  in  dough," 
or  the  "oil  of  angle-worms  macerated  a  week  in  the  sun?"  If  plant 
products,  such  as  alkaloids  and  resins,  have  therapeutic  value,  why 
