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Cantharid plaster

A cantharid plaster is a plaster that is coated with an ointment from the dried and ground "Spanish beetle" (also "Spanish fly") Lytta vesicatoria or Cantharis vesicatoria. Cantharid plasters came to Europe through Arabic medicine, where they have been used since the Middle Ages as a so-called diversion procedure.

The "Spanish fly" is a southern European representative of the oil beetle and produces a strong irritant, the essential component of which is cantharidin. In addition to local application, the use of beetle extracts as a deadly poison (as a replacement for the hemlock) in ancient Greece and the widespread belief in the aphrodisiac effect of the substance in southern Europe are also known.