Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Cantharis"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Blister \Blis"ter\, n. [OE.; akin to OD. bluyster, fr. the same
root as blast, bladder, blow. See {Blow} to eject wind.]
1. A vesicle of the skin, containing watery matter or serum,
whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, or by a
vesicatory; a collection of serous fluid causing a
bladderlike elevation of the cuticle.
And painful blisters swelled my tender hands.
--Grainger.
2. Any elevation made by the separation of the film or skin,
as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the
surface, as on steel.
3. A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter,
applied to raise a blister. --Dunglison.
{Blister beetle}, a beetle used to raise blisters, esp. the
{Lytta (or Cantharis) vesicatoria}, called {Cantharis} or
{Spanish fly} by druggists. See {Cantharis}.
{Blister fly}, a blister beetle.
{Blister plaster}, a plaster designed to raise a blister; --
usually made of Spanish flies.
{Blister steel}, crude steel formed from wrought iron by
cementation; -- so called because of its blistered
surface. Called also {blistered steel}.
{Blood blister}. See under {Blood}.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cantharis \Can"tha*ris\, n.; pl. {Cantharides}. [L., a kind of
beetle, esp. the Spanish fly, Gr. kanqari`s.] (Zo["o]l.)
A beetle ({Lytta, or Cantharis, vesicatoria}), havin1g an
elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a
nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the
apothecary; -- also called {Spanish fly}. Many other species
of {Lytta}, used for the same purpose, take the same name.
See {Blister beetle}, under {Blister}. The plural form in
usually applied to the dried insects used in medicine.
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