THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE APPEARED IN THE

MARCH 1997 ISSUE

THE POISON SLEUTHS

THE MYTH OF THE SPANISH FLY

-Dr. Anil Aggrawal

"Good morning doctor. Oh, my God, what are you doing with the dead body of this young woman? "

"Good morning Tarun. This is the body of an unmarried 20 year old girl Rita. She was in love with one Suresh, who is a student of Ayurvedic medicine. It is suspected that they had secret relations and Rita was pregnant. In order to get rid of this unwanted pregnancy, Suresh secretly administered some drug to her. Immediately thereafter Rita complained of severe cramps in her abdomen. She vomited blood, passed blood in her urine, and died in about 4 hours."

"So her body has been brought to you, so you can tell the police how she died?"

"Exactly. The police apprehended Suresh, but he has alleged that he did not give anything to her. He has also alleged that she had an ulcer in her stomach which might have perforated and given rise to these symptoms. So it has become extremely important for me to find out the truth. Stomach ulcer does give rise to some of the symptoms exhibited by her, but at her age one does not generally get stomach ulcer. Moreover a patient of perforated stomach ulcer does not pass blood in the urine. To me it seems more like a case of Spanish Fly poisoning..."

"What! Spanish Fly!! What kind of a poison is that? To me it appears the name of some insect rather than poison."

"Yes Spanish Fly indeed is an insect. But the name is rather a misnomer. It is neither strictly Spanish nor a fly. It is a beetle belonging to the order Coleoptera, and Family Meloidea. Besides Spain, it is also found in several other Mediterranean countries such as southern France, and Italy and also in Russia. In Europe, it is usually found clustered on privet (an evergreen shrub, bearing small white flowers, much used for garden hedges) or such trees as ash or elder. Also known as blister beetle, it is about 2 cm long and 0.75 cm broad and is usually found on olive trees. Its body and wings have a shiny metallic green color. Its biological name is Cantharis vesicatoria. It is the most celebrated of all aphrodisiacs. When an average person thinks of an aphrodisiac, Spanish Fly comes immediately to his mind.

"Just a minute doctor. You have introduced certain terms which I don't quite understand. You say that Spanish Fly is also known as the blister beetle. Why is that? And what is an aphrodisiac?"

"Tarun, Spanish fly has a chemical in its body known as Cantharidin. It is an irritant. When it is rubbed over the body, it produces blisters. That is why it is known as blister beetle. The term aphrodisiac comes from Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love and beauty. When the dried and crushed body of Spanish fly is ingested, it causes severe inflammation in kidneys, ureters and all other organs of genital tract. Because of this property there is a swelling in genital organs. This gave rise to a false belief that Spanish fly could be used for the treatment of impotent people. There is however no truth in this. The swelling of the genital organs, instead of being pleasurable, is extremely painful. Moreover, the dose required to produce such swelling is close to the fatal dose. In women, it may cause violent and painful contractions of the uterus. Because of this, the beetle is sometimes administered by quacks for inducing clandestine abortions."

"Are there several types of Spanish flies doctor?"

"Tarun, Several different genus and species of beetles are known to contain Cantharidin. All of them have been called the Spanish fly. In the USA, Epicauta and Nemognatha genuses are commonly encountered, of which Epicauta vittata is very well known. In India, three different varieties are found. One variety known as Telni Makkhi (Mylabris cichorii), occurs abundantly in the rainy season in certain parts of North India, especially Kashmir. Another variety (Mylabris pustulata), is found in the fields of cereals and vegetables in the neighborhood of Bangalore. The third species known as Mylabris macilenta is found in southern regions of our country. In Morocco it is available freely in pure form or as an ingredient in the melange of hot spices called ras el hanout, which is usually taken to increase the libido. In 19th century France, it was commonly available as philtre amoureux or love philtre.

"Doctor, how is the so-called aphrodisiac made from these flies?"

"Tarun, by tradition the beetles were gathered before sunrise while still torpid and unable to fly, the collectors veiling their faces and hands before shaking them down on to cloths laid on the ground. This method may still be in use today. The insects were then dried and heated until they disintegrate into a fine powder. The powder can be easily recognized from its bright green metallic lustre. Several proprietary medicines are made from this powder. In USA, cantharides collodion is in recognized topical use for wart treatment. Cantharidin is used in several hair oils in India. The belief is that the cantharidin stimulates the hair roots and induces them to grow, but this belief has little scientific sanction. Sometimes a tincture is produced by dissolving the powder in alcohol. A vinegar type preparation may also be produced by percolation with acetic acid and water. Aphrodisiac sweets were made by impregnating sugared sweets, and were widely used under the name pilles galantes. They were also sometimes called pastilles de Richelieu, because Duc de Richelieu (1585-1642) administered them to his mistresses. As you must surely be knowing, he was chief minister to the French king Louis XIII from 1624 till his death in 1642. It was said that Madame du Barry, a famous French courtesan, referred to them as pastilles de sérail (pastilles of the seraglio), using them on herself, or perhaps administering them to young women to prepare them for their amorous duties with the ageing Louis XV.

" Doctor, earlier you said that Spanish Fly contains a chemical known as cantharidin. Could you please let me know a little bit more about it?"

"Yes, certainly. Cantharidin was isolated in 1810 by a French chemist, Roviquet. It is present in the ovaries, soft tissues and blood of the beetle. Cantharidin is a comparatively simple organic compound which occurs as colorless, odorless crystals..."

"But doctor, you have just said that Spanish Fly powder is bright metallic green...?"

"Tarun, although the Spanish Fly powder has a bright green metallic lustre, cantharidin- its active chemical constituent- is colorless. These crystals glisten in light yet give no color reactions and can not be detected by any simple chemical test. The old powdered preparations of Spanish Fly can however be identified by using a microscope to show the characteristic fragments of insect in the powder.

"What is its fatal dose doctor?"

"Tarun, about 1.5 grams of powdered Spanish Fly or 50 mg of pure crystalline cantharidin is enough to cause death. I must tell you that although Spanish fly is not an aphrodisiac at all, it has been used effectively in veterinary medicine in breeding farm animals."

"What symptoms does one experience on swallowing the poison?"

"When swallowed, there is a burning sensation in the throat and stomach, difficulty in swallowing, nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting of blood stained material, intense thirst, and diarrhoea with blood and mucus. As time passes, kidneys get damaged. There is a dull heavy pain in the loins, and a constant desire to pass urine, but only small amount of blood stained urine is passed This last symptom is known as strangury. After some time, convulsions occur and death occurs in 24 hours. Occasionally, blister formation may take place in the mouth and other parts of the gut with which the poison has come in contact. You will remember that Rita had several of these symptoms."

"Yes, I do. Suresh probably gave it to her for abortion. But you told me earlier that it has a great - although false - reputation as an aphrodisiac. Has anyone administered it to someone to increase the desire"

"Tarun, there is a very interesting case in which a married man Arthur Ford deceptively administered Spanish fly powder in coconut candies to two female colleagues, both of whom had earlier spurned his advances. He approached a pharmacist he knew personally to provide him with some cantharidin. It was used in those days in some lotions, so it was usually available with pharmacists. He gave the reason as administration to a neighbor's rabbits which were not breeding fast enough! Although the pharmacist was known to him, he refused to oblige. Ford returned during the lunch hour when the pharmacist was absent and stole some cantharidin. With a pair of scissors he inserted the powder in coconut candies and gave it to his female colleagues. His idea was to increase their desire, so that they may come running to him in his arms, but quite predictably both of them died and Ford got six years in jail! This celebrated case of Spanish fly poisonings occurred in UK in 1954. But about two centuries earlier another famous case occurred..."

"What was that case doctor? Please tell me about it."

"Tarun this case is most interesting. It is a very long and interesting one, but I shall tell you only the gist. On Saturday, 27 June 1772, the notorious French sex pervert Marquis de Sade (1740-1814) with the help of his valet Latour, arranged for four French prostitutes to gather at a place where he wanted to have fun with them...."

"Sorry to interrupt you doctor, but isn't he the same man after whom the word Sadism has been coined?"

"Yes, you are right Tarun. Although de Sade was a sex pervert, he was a great writer too, and has written such classical books as 120 Days of Sodom, Justine and Juliette. His writings revolved around a single dominant theme: cruelty of every kind performed for the purpose of achieving sexual excitement. This practice was later named "sadism".

"Yes, so we were talking about Marquis de Sade...."

"Oh yes Tarun. After he had called the prostitutes, he gave them sweet aniseed (saunf) balls laced with Spanish Fly, in the belief that it would "set them on fire". Later on the same day evening he met another - the fifth- prostitute and repeated the same practice with her. She as well as one of the earlier 4 prostitutes started having incessant and uncontrollable vomiting. You might wonder why the other girls did not get poisoned. Well, they had secretly dropped the sweets on the floor after suspecting something black at the bottom. A written complaint of poisoning was formally lodged on Tuesday, 30 June 1772. The investigating officer was Jean-Pierre Chomel, Lieutenant Général criminel at the Seneschal's Court in Marseille. He collected the sample of vomit and sent it for chemical analysis to two toxicologists, André Rimbaud and Jean-Baptiste Joseph Aubert. The first suspicion was that the poison was arsenic. We have already discussed about this poison in our last meeting. It may be interesting to note that in 1772, the methods of chemical analysis of poisons were extremely primitive, the first reliable chemical test of note for any poison being developed in 1836 for arsenic."

"Yes, we talked about that last time. That was the Marsh test. Were these toxicologists able to detect cantharidin from the vomitus?"

"No, they used very primitive methods, which could not determine the nature of the poison. The maximum they could say was that it was neither arsenic nor corrosive sublimate, the two poisons known in those times to cause severe vomiting."

"This means that de Sade and Latour must have gone scot free."

"Tarun, as we discussed in our very first meeting, in those times poisoning was considered a very grave offense, and the tendency of the authorities was to punish the suspects irrespective of the presence of evidence. The failure to detect poison did not, therefore, deter the legal authorities. Police teams were dispatched to arrest both de Sade and Latour, but they had fled. On 3 September the same year, despite the absence of both Marquis de Sade and his valet, the case was brought to trial. Both de Sade and his valet were found guilty of poisoning and sodomy. They were sentenced in absentia. The Marquis de Sade was to have his head struck off while Latour was to be hanged or strangled by the public executioner. Afterwards their bodies were to be burnt and the ashes scattered. However as both of them could not be caught, their straw effigies were hanged on 12 September 1772. For an utterly wrong belief, two innocent girls were in agony for almost a week, and almost lost their lives. This case occurred almost two and a quarter centuries back. But it is indeed unfortunate that Spanish fly still enjoys a reputation as an aphrodisiac and figures largely in lavatorial jokes and bawdy ballads. Its use is to be actively discouraged.

"Yes, surely it must. But doctor, in the second case, which occurred in 1954, doctors must have been able to detect the poison quite successfully?"

"Tarun, it is interesting to note that although almost two centuries had elapsed between the two cases, the advances in knowledge and technique brought about during this period still seemed scarcely sufficient for the task of solving it. The chemical analysis of the poison in Arthur Ford's case was done by Dr. Lewis C. Nickolls, director of the Metropolitan Police Laboratory at New Scotland Yard. He also could not find an infallible chemical test for it. He concluded that there were only three ways in which one could arrive at a positive identification for cantharidin: by its melting point; by the X-ray diffraction pattern obtained from its crystals; and by the standard observation that, when cantharidin is applied to human skin, pain and blistering are produced. But these tests can not be called ideal. For instance, applying cantharidin to skin can be dangerous....."

"Really? How? Tell me doctor."

"Tarun, in 1953- just one year before the notorious Arthur Ford case- an important case of accidental death with Spanish Fly had occurred, in which the poison seeped through the skin. A keen 43-year old fisherman had managed to obtain some cantharidin, believing it would attract fish...."

"It is indeed remarkable how such bizarre beliefs have centered around Spanish Fly. Isn't it doctor?"

"Yes, sure, and all of them are wrong. Well, we were talking about that fisherman. After shaking up the powder with water, he stopped the mouth of the bottle with his thumb, and then, within minutes, unfortunately pricked his thumb with one of his fish hooks. Within half an hour he was ill, within three days dead. This shows that the drug can penetrate broken skin, and possibly unbroken skin too, with toxic if not fatal results."

"Oh, that certainly is most interesting. Doctor what have you found in the post-mortem of Rita?"

"Tarun, Rita's mouth showed blisters, which at once made me suspicious about Spanish Fly. The whole alimentary tract from the mouth downwards is inflamed. You can see it is completely injected with blood. But the finding that has nabbed Suresh is the presence of bright green particles in Rita's stomach and intestines..."

"Oh, yes sure. I can see bright metallic green particles sticking on the walls of stomach. Are there more clues doctor?"

"Oh yes there are, but none as specific as the finding of green particles in the stomach. You can see that the kidneys and ureters are congested. The uterus is congested and it shows a fetus about 2 months of age. It is almost sure that Suresh administered Spanish Fly to abort this fetus to save her from the ignominy of childbirth before marriage."

"Great, let us go and tell about this to the police."

"Oh, I have already done that Tarun, and have instructed the police specifically to look for some bright metallic green powder in his possession. I knew that if this powder is found in his possession, Suresh's lawyers would find it very difficult to save him. And do you know what? Police specifically looked for this powder and has actually been able to locate it in one of the shelves of his house. Had I not informed them about it, they would probably have left it untouched. So Forensic medicine has indeed been able to nab Suresh."

" Oh, Great, and thank you doctor for telling me about such an interesting poison. What are you going to tell me the next time?"

"Tarun, next time I shall tell you about Boron, which as you shall see is a very important poison. "