VARIETIES. 
365 
solution  it  crystallizes  in  brilliant  quadrangular  long  prisms 
grouped  in  stars. 
This  salt  has  a  taste  slightly  bitter.  It  is  but  sparingly  so- 
luble in  water  ;  in  the  fixed  oils  slightly,  but  is  more  soluble  in 
alcohol ;  one  part  of  the  salt  requiring  500  parts  of  alcohol,  1000 
parts  of  almond  oil  and  6000  parts  of  water.  Ether  is  without 
action  on  it.* — Annuaire  Therapeutique,  1856. 
*[M.  Vander  Corput  suggests  formulge  for  the  administration  of  this  salt 
in  the  way  of  syrups,  pills,  powders,  suppositories,  liniments,  etc.,  but  so 
far  as  can  be  judged,  by  his  description  of  its  properties,  solubility,  &c, 
it  appears  to  have  little  merit  over  the  alkaloid  morphia.  He  gives  it  in 
doses  of  from  5  milligrammes  to  3  centigrammes  in  24  hours,  (l-14th, 
3-7 ths  of  a  grain.)— Editor  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
11  a  i  i  c  t  i  c  0 . 
On  Oils,  as  promoting  the  Poisonous  Action  of  CantJiarides.— -The  solu- 
bility of  cantharidin  in4oils  has  led  Orfila,  Taylor,  Christison,  Mitscherlich, 
Oesterlen  and  other  toxicologists,  to  promulgate  cautions  against  the  use  of 
fatty  matters  in  poisoning  with  Spanish  flies.  On  the  other  hand,  Clarus, 
in  his  "  Handbuch  der  Specielle  Arzneimittellehre,"  considers  that  there 
are  no  grounds  for  this  caution.  Professor  Schroff,  of  Vienna,  who  has 
performed  a  number  of  experiments  on  the  action  of  Spanish  flies  and  can- 
tharidin, has  published  the  results  of  the  administration  of  these  substances 
in  combination  with  oil.  Three  rabbits— two  of  four  and  six  months  old 
respectively,  and  one  full  grown- — had  the  poison  given  to  them.  To  the 
first  was  administered  15 1  grains  of  powdered  cantharides,  rubbed  up  with 
olive  oil ;  to  the  second,  7  J  grains,  prepared  in  the  same  way ;  and  to  the 
third  was  given  lj  grains  of  cantharidin,  similarly  prepared  ;  to  each  were 
also  administered  several  table-spoonfuls  of  olive  oil.  The  results,  com- 
pared with  cases  in  which  the  poison  was  given  without  oil,  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 
1.  The  symptoms  during  life  were  identical  in  both  classes  of  cases. 
2.  Death  occurred  soonest  in  the  cases  in  which  oil  was  given.  Fifteen 
grains  of  cantharides  with  oil  caused  death  in  four  hours  ;  without  oil,  in 
five  hours.  Seven  and  a  half  grains  with  oil  destroyed  life  in  nineteen 
hours  ;  without  oil,  in  twenty-six  hours,    One  and  a  half  grains  of  cantha- 
T 
