a well-known excruciating pain (see Encycl.), for the alleviation, and even the cure of which, many specifics have been offered to the public. Of one of the most extraordinary of these, there is an account, in a small work published at Florence in 1794, by professor Gerbi, who gives the description of an insect, a kind of curculio, which, from its property of allaying the tooth-ache, has received the epithet of antiodontalgicus, and which is found on a species of thistle, carduus spinosissimus. The flowers of this thistle, when analysed, gave the acid of galls, the muriatic acid, oxalat of lime, extractive matter, and a very little resin. On the bottom of the calyx, which supports the flowers, there are often found excrescences like the gall nut, which are at first spheroidal, afterwards cylindric, and at length assume the figure of two hemispheres; they consist of the like component parts with the flowers, but contain more resin, and far more oxalat of lime; as the gall apple of the osk, according to the experiments of M. Branchi, which are here mentioned, contains more of the acid of galls than the bark and other parts of the oak, in which he could discover no sulphuric acid. The insect, according to the author's observations, eats not only the parenchyma, but also the vessels and fibres of the leaves. The egg, before the worm makes its appearance, is nourished by the sap of the plant, and of the above excrescences, in which it resides, by means of the attractive power that the egg possesses for certain vegetable juices and substances. The excrescences arise by the accumulation of a solid substance, which is precipitated from the nourishing juices of the thistle, diminished by nourishing the egg and the worm. This insect, the eggs of which are deposited in these excrescences, is, together with the curculio of the centaury, a new species. It is of a length figure; covered below with short yellow hair, and above with golden yellow velvety spots. Its costlet is variegated with specks; and the covering of its wings with specks and stripes. It has a short proboscis, and shews some likenesses to the curculio villosus of Geoffroy. Its larva represents a sort of ichneumon. By chemical analysis it exhibits some traces of common salt; by distillation with a strong dry heat, some volatile lixivious salts; and it contains, besides these, some gelatinous, and a little fæbaceous and slimy extractive matter. If about a dozen or fifteen of these insects, when in the state of larva, or even when come to perfection, be bruised and rubbed slowly between the fore-finger and the thumb, until they have lost their moisture, and if the painful tooth, where it is hollow, be touched with that finger, the pain ceases, sometimes instantaneously. This power or property the finger will retain for a year, even though it be often washed and used. A piece of shamoy leather will serve equally well with the finger. Of 629 experiments, 401 were attended with complete success. To the truth of this tale the reader will give what credit he pleases; but it is surely very difficult to believe, that a living finger, continually perspiring, can retain for a year the moisture imbibed from this insect. But it seems there are other insects which have the property of curing the tooth ache; such as the *carabus chrysocephalus* of Roffi; the *carabus ferrugineus* of Fabricius; the *coccinella septem punctata* (the lady bird); the *chrysomela populii*, and the *chrysomela fuscipennis*. It would appear, therefore, that this property belongs to various kinds of the coleoptera.

The idea of these insects being endowed with the property of curing the tooth ache is not confined to Italy; for Dr Hirsch, dentist to the court of Weimar, affirms (*Verkündiger*, September 24, 1798) that he employed them with the happiest effect, except in some cases where his patients were females. He says, that he took that small insect, found commonly among corn, *coccinella septem punctata*, and bruised it between his fingers. He then rubbed the fingers with which he had bruised it, till they became warm at the points, and touched with them the unformed parts of the gums, as well as the diseased tooth. Dr Hirsch adds, that he made the same experiment a few days after with equal success, though he had not bruised a new insect with his fingers. He seems to think that, to insure the efficacy of the process, the insect should be alive; because, when dead, its internal parts, in which he pretends the virtue chiefly resides, become dried up, leaving only the wings and an empty shell; and therefore proposes to physicians to turn their attention to the finding out of some method for preserving the virtue of the insect, so that its efficacy may be in full vigour throughout the year.

Besides these beetles, charcoal has been recommended as an anodyne in the tooth ache; but whether it operates merely by filling the hollow of the tooth, and thereby preventing the access of atmospheric air to the nerve, or by any of its singular and hitherto unknown qualities, seems not to have been well ascertained.