Editing Cantharidin (section)

===Aphrodisiac preparations===
Preparations made from [[blister beetle]]s (particularly "[[Lytta vesicatoria|Spanish fly]]") have been used since ancient times as an [[aphrodisiac]], possibly because their physical effects were perceived to mimic those of sexual arousal,<ref>John L. Capinera, ''Encyclopedia of Entomology, Volume 4'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2008. p.2010</ref> and because they can cause prolonged erection or [[priapism]] in men.<ref name = aph>Peter V. Taberner, ''Aphrodisiacs: The Science and the Myth'', Springer Science & Business Media, 2012, pp.100ff</ref> These preparations were known as ''cantharides'', from the Greek word for "beetle".

Examples of such use found in historical sources include:

* The ancient Roman historian [[Tacitus]] relates that a cantharid preparation was used by the empress [[Livia]], wife of [[Augustus Caesar]], to entice members of the imperial family or dinner guests to commit sexual indiscretions (thus, providing her information to hold over them).<ref>{{cite book|title = Ancient Inventions| vauthors = James P |publisher = Ballantine Books|isbn = 978-0-345-40102-1|year = 1995|page = [https://archive.org/details/ancientinvention00jame/page/177 177]|url = https://archive.org/details/ancientinvention00jame/page/177}}</ref>
* The German emperor [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry IV]] (1050–1106) is said to have consumed cantharides.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/03/13/when-sparks-fly-aphrodisiacs-and-the-fruit-fly/ | title=When Sparks Fly: Aphrodisiacs and the Fruit Fly | work=Scientific American | date=13 March 2012 | access-date=18 November 2014 | vauthors=Eplett L | archive-date=29 November 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129060929/http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/03/13/when-sparks-fly-aphrodisiacs-and-the-fruit-fly/ | url-status=live }}</ref>
* The French surgeon [[Ambroise Paré]] (1510–1590) described a case in 1572 of a man suffering from "the most frightful [[hypersexuality|satyriasis]]" after taking a potion composed of [[Urtica dioica|nettles]] and a cantharid extract.<ref name="Milsten_1">{{cite book | vauthors = Milsten R |title=The Sexual Male: Problems and Solutions|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |year=2000  |isbn=978-0-393-32127-2 |page=170}}</ref> This is perhaps the same man of whom Paré relates that a [[courtesan]] sprinkled a cantharid powder on food she served to him, after which the man experienced "violent priapism" and anal bleeding, of which he later died. Paré also cites the case of a priest who died of [[hematuria]] after swallowing a dose of cantharides, which he intended to fortify his sex drive.<ref name = "Cabanès">{{cite book | author-link1 = Augustin Cabanès | vauthors = Cabanès A | url = https://archive.org/stream/b24878613#page/498/mode/2up | title = Remèdes d'autrefois | location = Paris | publisher = A. Maloine | date =  1910 | page = 498 }}</ref>
* Cantharides were in widespread use among the upper classes in France in the 1600s, despite being a banned substance. Police searches in connection with a rash of poisonings around 1680 turned up many stashes of "bluish flies", which were known to be used in the preparation of aphrodisiac potions.<ref name = "Cabanès"/>
* The French sorceress [[La Voisin|Catherine Monvoisin]] (known as "La Voisin," c. 1640–1680) was recorded in the 1670s as having prepared a love charm made from [[Lytta vesicatoria|Spanish fly]] mixed with dried mole's blood and bat's blood.<ref>Richard Cavendish, ''The Black Arts'' (London: Pan Books, 1969), p. 333.<!--Can someone check the page number on this? It was inherited from a previous inaccurate form of the citation.--></ref>
* Aphrodisiac sweets presumably laced with cantharides were circulated within [[libertine]] circles during the 1700s in France. They were multicolored tablets nicknamed "pastilles de Richelieu," after the [[Armand de Vignerot du Plessis|Maréchal de Richelieu]], a notorious libertine (not to be confused with his great-uncle, the [[Cardinal Richelieu]]) who procured sexual encounters for King [[Louis XV]].<ref name = "Cabanès"/><ref>Jacques Levron, ''Le Maréchal de Richelieu, un libertin fastueux'' (Paris, Perrin, 1971).</ref>
* The French writer Donatien Alphonse François ⁠— ⁠notoriously known as the [[Marquis de Sade]] (1740–1814) ⁠— ⁠is said to have given [[aniseed]]-flavored pastilles laced with Spanish fly to two prostitutes at a pair of orgies in 1772, poisoning and nearly killing them. He was sentenced to death for that (and for the crime of [[sodomy]]), but was later reprieved on appeal.<ref name="isbn0-394-54797-7">{{cite book | vauthors = Ford P, Howell, Michael M |title=The beetle of Aphrodite and other medical mysteries |publisher=Random House |location=New York |year=1985 |isbn=978-0-394-54797-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/beetleofaphrodit00howe }}</ref><ref name = sch>{{cite book | vauthors = Schaeffer N | date = 2000 | title = The Marquis de Sade: A Life | location = Cambridge, MA, USA | publisher = Harvard University Press | page = 58 }}</ref>
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