Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-05-03
USEFUL CRAWLERS.
MEDICINES WHICH ARE MANuFAc-
 TuRED FROM VARIOUS BUGS.

Aho List Includes Cockroaches Spiders,
 Snakes and Bees-AlI Said to be Efica.
 cious and Possess Many yirtues-Homeo.
 paths Favor the Use of Beetles.
 Many people will be surprised to learn that use has been found for our friend the cockroach. For years he has been branded as a pest, and we have dosed him with borax. plaster of paris and insect powder. Now the ta, oles are turned, and the insect physics us. American doctors say that tincture of eoekroach is good for asthma, and the preparation has been used lately in England. Anyone wishing to try the remedy can make it by soaking four large coekroaches in an ounce of spirit Of wine for few days. Twenty drops or this liquid on lump of sugar ought b charm away the worst attack. Of course, patients might object to the word cockroach, but the Latin name, l Llatta 0rientaiils, is sufficient to allay the fears of the most particular. Cock roach tea is favorite domestic medi- cine with the working classes in Rus sia. If eoekroaches will cure us, there IS no reason why spiders should not be tried also. As matter of fact, they have been used by the homoeopaths for 1 years. Solomon told us we could find spiders even in kings palaces, but now adays we can trace them in innocent. looking tinctures and sugar pills. Tar antula pilules is title that should be worth fortune if well advertised, and a tincture prepared from the mygale- the great bird-eating spider of Mexico ought certainly to possess equal yir- tues. Our choice, however, is not con, fined to giant spiders.
 The garden spider, with the gold or silver body, so common in the sum, mer, will yield a useful preparation- if We may trust to the homoeopa. thic pharmacopeia. A few of these insects rubbed down in a mortar with a little spirit, will make moth. CT tincture, from which countleEf dilutions can be prepared. If this will not suffice, the black euracoa spider, from West Indian orange groves, or the gray spider of Kentucky, may bs used. according to taste The homoeo- paths are fond of beetles, and they treat ladybirds in the same way as spiders. They also get an essence from the Colorado beetle-the insect which ruined the potato crops a few years back. It is one thing to rob the bees wholesale and secure their wax and honey, but it is rather hard lines on peor apis mellifca, to turn her into medicine as well. But she has to go in with the rest, and yield her life in the cause of science. Of course, anyone who has felt bees sting knows what B powerful drug it's poison must be. It's rather dangerous work robbing hive of bees of their stings and poison. The method recommended in books is simple, but exciting The bees are to be caught in a bottle as they leave their home in the morning. They are then deprived of their poison bags and stings by means of scissors, and the severed portions are soaked in spirit to make a tincture.
 Besides insects, other queer things are used in medicine a the present time. To give only two examples, rem@ edies are prepared from the starfsh and the crayfsh. Snake venom-n'o- tably that of the cobra, the rattlesnake and the adder-is sometimes used. 1 Nowadays a great many drugs of ani- nal origin are being experimented with, and some people prophecy that they will eventually ousI all the rest.