THE BROWX-TAIL MOTH. 3.5 



brush them oflf. My wrists aud arms were poisoned, and soon 

 became a sight. Some of my men were also badly affected, and 

 all of them were more or less poisoned. It was terrible, — simply 

 terrible ! I had to go to a doctor for relief, and he gave me an 

 ointment to allay the irritation. A neighbor of mine whose family 

 had suffered severel}- from the poison of the brown-tail moth sug- 

 gested the application of alcohol, as it had relieved her. This 

 neighbor stated that each week they were freshly poisoned by the 

 clothes, which, hanging on the line, came in contact with the hairs 

 of the caterpillars ; as a result, the skin was irritated when the 

 clothes were worn. 



In my own case, not only were my arms and wrists poisoned, but 

 my whole body. The alcohol allayed the irritation so that I could 

 get a little sleep, but the trouble lasted over a month, and was 

 simply torture, the heat greatly intensifying the suffering. If I 

 had known about it, I would not have painted the house for 

 double the price of the job. 



A more serious case, no doubt coinplicatcd with other 

 aihiients, has been described to us by Mrs. John H. Mc- 

 Garr, 80 Vine Street, Somerville, as folloAVs : — 



I first noticed the brown-tail moth in JMay, 1897. My mother 

 discovered it, and called my attention to it. She saw the little 

 caterpillars crawling about, and began killing them ; but the more 

 she killed, the more numerous they seemed to grow. Soon little 

 white blisters began to come out upon her neck, and at last, about 

 the 20th of May, she became very sick, and we were obliged to 

 get her away from here, because she was in such a bad state. 

 The poison seemed to affect her entire bod}'. After she had gone 

 I became quite sick, also, and could not stay here, but was obliged 

 to be removed. I was quite weak from the irritation caused by 

 the eruption. When I scratched the irritated spots, little blisters 

 would form. The doctor who was called in to attend my mother 

 said they had poisoned her blood. She grew worse, aud finally 

 died of this poison about the middle of August. The doctor said 

 her age was against her recovery ; bnt she was a remarkably well- 

 preserved woman, and in fairly good health before this occurrence. 

 My son also was taken quite sick, and finally became so ill that he 

 also had to be removed from this house. Everything I touched 

 in the house seemed to be poisoned by the caterpillars. When 

 the cold weather came I began to get better, but I have never 

 entirely recovered from the effects of the poison. We had the 



