noun
definition
Spanish fly Lytta vesicatoria (syn. Cantharis vesicatoria).
definition
Spanish fly; a vesicant extracted from the beetle, popularly held to have aphrodisiac properties.
Examples of cantharides in a Sentence
Cantharides owe their value to the presence of a peculiar chemical principle, to which the name cantharidin has been given.
Cantharidin constitutes from z to r% of cantharides.
The British Pharmacopeia contains a large number of preparations of cantharides, but the only one needing special mention is the tincture, which is meant for internal administration; the small dose is noteworthy, five minims being probably the maximum for safety.
The external action of cantharides or cantharidin is extremely characteristic. When it is applied to the skin there are no obvious consequences for some hours.
When applied in this fashion a certain quantity of the cantharides is absorbed.
Cantharides is used externally for its counter-irritant action.
It is very rich in cantharidin, yielding fully twice as much as ordinary cantharides.
Several green-coloured beetles are, on account of their colour, used as adulterants to cantharides, but they are very easily detected by examination with the eye, or, if powdered, with the microscope.
His disorder was an oedematous affection of the wind-pipe, contracted by exposure during a long ride in a snowstorm, and aggravated by neglect and by such contemporary remedies as bleeding, gargles of "molasses, vinegar and butter" and "vinegar and sage tea," which "almost suffocated him," and a blister of cantharides.