THE 
AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY, 
MAY,  185G. 
ON  THE  MEDICINAL  VALUE  OF  THE  CANTIIARIS  VITTATA 
AND  MYLABRIS  CICIIORII,  AS  COMPARED  WITH  THE 
CANTIIARIS  VESICATORIA. 
By  William  R.  Warner,  of  Maryland. 
{An  Inaugural  Essay  presented  to  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy.') 
A  peculiar  neutral  proximate  principle,  cantharidin  (C10ELO4) 
is  found  to  reside  in,  and  render  valuable  as  a  therapeutic  agent, 
several  species  of  coleopterous  insects. 
The  blistering  fly  is  of  incalculable  importance,  and  almost  any 
article  of  the  materia  medica  could  be  better  dispensed  with. 
The  Cantharis  vesicatoria  of  the  division  Coleoptera  Hetero- 
merans,  abundant  in  France,  Spain,  and  other  parts  bordering 
on  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  is  chiefly  employed  in  Europe,  and 
especially  in  America,  as  the  vesicant ;  although  the  Mylabris  of 
China  and  the  Cantharis  vittata,  the  most  important  of  the 
American  species,  possess  similar  valuable  properties  dependant 
upon  the  same  proximate  principle. 
They  have  not  as  yet  been  used  to  any  great  extent  on  this 
continent.  Perhaps  it  has  not  been  satisfactorily  proven  that 
they  are  equally  efficacious  with  the  C.  vesicatoria. 
To  ascertain  their  comparative  value  with  the  latter,  it  occurred 
to  me  that  the  most  accurate  and  satisfactory  method  would  be 
to  isolate  and  ascertain  the  relative  percentage  of  cantharidin 
in  each. 
Having  made  many  preliminary  experiments,  for  the  purpose 
of  discovering  the  most  eligible  method  to  gain  satisfactorily  the 
object  in  view,  and  having  procured  a  quantity  of  the  C.  vesi- 
catoria and  vittata  of  standard  quality,  and  the  Mylabris  through 
the  kindness  of  Prof.  Procter,  I  proceeded  in  the  following 
manner  with  the  Cantharis  vesicatoria. 
1  Q 
J  O 
