a. [f. CANTHAR-IDES + -IC.] In Cantharic acid, a substance of the same composition as cantharidin (Syd. Soc. Lex.).
So Cantharidal a. Med., pertaining to, made with, or caused by cantharides. Cantharidate sb., a salt of cantharidic acid. Cantharidate v., to impregnate or treat with cantharides. Cantharidian, -idean, of the nature of, or composed of, cantharides. Cantharidic a., of the nature of cantharides, as in Cantharidic acid, a development of cantharidin by the absorption of one equivalent of water. Cantharidin, the vesicating principle of cantharides; also called Cantharidi·nic acid. Cantharidism, the poisonous action of cantharides. Cantharidize v., to affect or treat with cantharides (esp. as an aphrodisiac); also fig.
1871. Napheys, Prev. & Cure Dis., II. iv. 534. Cantharidal collodion can be applied evenly to the skin.
1875. H. C. Wood, Therap. (1879), 563. A constant symptom in cantharidal poisoning.
1881. Syd. Soc. Lex., s.v., Cantharidate of potash.
1786. Burns, Holy Fair, xiii. O how they fire the heart devout, Like cantharidian plasters.
1873. Morley, Rousseau, II. 29. He writes … like a pedagogue infected by some cantharidean philter.
1833. Carlyle, Misc. (1857), III. 268. His love-philtres, his cantharidic Wine of Egypt.
1877. Watts, Fownes’ Chem., II. 608. Heated with alkalis it [cantharidin] dissolves, forming salts of cantharidic acid.
1819. J. G. Children, Chem. Anal., 309. Cantharadin has the form of small crystalline plates with a shining micaceous appearance.
1861. Hulme, trans. Moquin-Tandon, II. III. iii. 131. Cantharidin … taken internally … is a virulent poison.
1812. Southey, Omniana, II. 223. He may … very probably have cantharidized it [the language of a book] to the taste of the French court.
1832. Mitford, Parnell’s Poems (Aldine ed.), Life, 37, note. He has cantharadised the story.
