COCHINEAL, or COCHENEAL, a drug used by
the dyers, &c. for giving red colours, especially crim-
sons and scarlets, and for making carmine; and like-
wise in medicine as a cardiac, cordial, sudorific, alexi-
pharmic, and febrifuge.
The cochineal, in the state in which it is brought
to us, is in small bodies of an irregular figure, usually
convex, and ridged and furrowed on one side, and con-
cave on the other. The colour of the best is a purplish
grey, powdered over with a sort of white dust. All
that the world knew of it for a long time was, that it
was gathered from certain plants in Mexico; and
therefore it was naturally supposed to be a seed, till in
the year 1692 Father Plumier gave Pomet an account
of its being an animal. And this, though then dis-
regarded, has been confirmed by subsequent observa-
tions. Indeed, to determine the point, we have now
the means in our own hands, even in this part of the world.
—We need only moisten and soak in water, or in vi-
negar, a number of cochineals till they are swelled and
distended, to know that every one is the more or less
perfect body of an insect; the most imperfect and mu-
tulated specimens always show the rings of the body;
and from observing others, it will be easy to find the
number and disposition of the legs; parts, or even
whole ones, being left on several, and often complete
pairs. In this way the legs, antennæ, and proboscis,
may be discovered. See Coccus above.