Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1899-05-25
USEFUL CRANLERs.
MEDICINES WHICH ARE MANuFAc-
 TuREo FROM VARIOUS BUGS.

The LisH Includes CoCkroaches. Spiders,
 Snakes and Beea-All Said to be Enica.
 ei0us and Possess Many virtuss-Homso.
 paths Favor the Use of Beetles.
 Many people will be surprised to learn that a use has been found for our friend the eockroach. For years ne has been branded as a pest, and we have dosed him with borax. plaster of paris and insect powder. Now the ta. Dies are turned, and the insect physics us. American doctors say that tincture oI coeHroach is good for asthma, and fEe e9aration has been used lately in EHE,2nd. Anyone wishing to try the feAedy can make 1t by soaking four large cockroaches in an ounce of spirit or wine for few days. Twenty drops or tnls liquid on lump of sugar ought to charm away the worst attack. Of course, patients might object to the word cockroaeh, but the Latin name, Lfatta Orientaills, is sufficient to allay the fears ot the most particular. Cock roach tea is favorite domestic medi- cine with the working classes in Rus- sIa. If cockroaches will cure us, there Is no reason why spiders should not be tried also. As a matter of fact, they have been used by the homoeopaths for 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 q tineture prepared from the mygale- the great bird-eating spider of Mexico ought certainly to possess equal vir. 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 pharmaeopeia. A few of these insects rubbed down in a mortar with little spirit, will make a moth CT tincture," from which countless dilutions can be prepared. If this will not suffice, the black euraeoa 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 Iadybirds 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 oaI~ s- To TO, wholesale and secure their wax and honey, but it is rather hard lines on poor apis mellifea, to turn her into medicine as well. But she has to go iu with the rest, and yield her life in the cause of science. Of course, anyone who has felt bees sting knows what a powerful drug it's poison must be. It's rather dangerous work robbing a hive of bees of their stings and poison. The method recommended in books is simple, but exciting. The bees are to be caught in 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 tincture.
 Besides insects, other queer things are used in medicine at the present time. To give only two examples, rem- edies are prepared from the starfish and the crayfsh. Snake venom-n'o. tably that of the cobra, the rattlesnake and the adder-is sometimes used. Nowadays a great many drugs of anl- nal origin are being experimented with, and some people prophecy that they will eventually oust all the rest.