Gray's supplement to the Pharmacopoeia : being a concise but comprehensive dispensatory and manual of facts and formulae, for the chemist and druggist and medical practitioner / by Theophilus Redwood.

  • Gray, Samuel Frederick, 1766-1828.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Gray's supplement to the Pharmacopoeia : being a concise but comprehensive dispensatory and manual of facts and formulae, for the chemist and druggist and medical practitioner / by Theophilus Redwood. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

    183/1088 (page 167)
    tliey are destitute of wings. The males and females have wings, and do nothing but enjoy themselves; they copulate in the air, the males perish soon after, and the females deposit their ova in the ant-nest; but they do not live much longer than the males, for they perish at the approach of winter. The red ant contains a free acid in abundance. It also contains a resinous oil, acrid and odorous, which may be obtained, mixed with the acid, by means of alcohol; the resulting tincture is Hoffman's Water of Magnanimity, and has been supposed to possess aphrodisiac properties. The free acid of ants, or formic acid, has been taken by some chemists for acetic acid; but its particular and distinct nature was first ascertained by Arvidson and Oehrn. M. Doebereiner has shown that this acid is formed by a great number of re-actions on organic principles and more particularly by treating citric, or tartaric acid, sugar, starch, &c., with peroxide of manganese and sulphuric acid. The acid is hydrated, liquid, volatile, not crystalliz- able; the property which distinguishes it most readily from acetic acid is that of reducing, by the help of ebullition, the oxides and salts of mercury and silver. Combined with bases, and anhydrous, its composition is, C^, H^, O^. Vespa Crabo. (Linn.) The Hornet. This is the most formidable species of the genus met with in this country. It is much larger than the wasp, and its colours not so bright. The hornet's nest is usually built in hollow trees, or dry stony banks; it is composed of the bark of the ash-tree, detached in filaments, and ground by the mandibles of the insect into a paste, which hardens as the work goes on. The sting of the hornet causes much pain and inflammation. Vespa Vulgaris. (Linn.) The Wasp. The wasp's nest is made in much the same way as the hornet's nest. Both wasps and hornets frequently attack bee-hives, destroying the bees, and taking possession of, and consuming the honey. Order 10. LEPIDOPTERA. BoMBYX Mori. (Linn.) The Silkworm Bombyx. Description. The moth is whitish, with two or three obscure transverse rays, and a spot crossing the upper wings. Its caterpillar is the silk-worm. It feeds on mulberry leaves, and spins an oval cocoon of a serrated tissue of very fine silk, generally of a bright yellow colour, but some- times white. It will also feed on the lettuce and other plants, but it then yields silk of inferior quality. It was originally a native of the southern provinces of China. Hepialus Virescens. This moth is a native of New Zealand, and is found only at the root of the rata tree, (Metrosiderus robusta,) a myrtaceous plant. The fungus called Sphoeria Robertsii, is found growing on the larva of this insect.