Abstract

SELLEN, Adam T.. “Mexican Cantharides”: A Source for the History of Natural Medicine. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2017, vol.38, n.151, pp.161-191. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v38i151.331.

This paper analyzes an anonymous, unpublished manuscript that sheds light on a relatively unknown chapter in the history of 19th-century medicine: Mexican scientists’ search for a cheaper and more effective native substitute for imported cantharides, species of insects that have medicinal properties. This scientific enterprise is situated in its historical context, where local knowledge, contemporary medicine and imperial politics converged to fuel an international competition to procure American species for the pharmaceutical industry. Finally, the study reveals the identity of the author of that anonymous study, a humble country doctor whose writings inspired this research.

Keywords : cantharides; 19^th-century medicine; local knowledge.

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