ARANEID^ — TRUE SPIDERS. 351 



have died from the effects of drinking wine from a vessel in 

 which there was afterward found a drowned Spider.^ 



There are two animals to which the Italians give the 

 name Tarantula: the one is a species of Lizard, whose bite 

 is reputed mortal, found about Fondi, Cajeta, and Capua; 

 the other is a large Spider, found in the fields in several 

 parts of Italy, and especially at Tarentum — hence the name, 

 " Such as are sUmghj this cveaiure (the Ai^ajwa Tarantula) ,^^ 

 says Misson, ''make a thousand different gestures in a mo- 

 ment ; for they weep, dance, tremble, laugh, grow pale, cry, 

 swoon away, and, after a few days of torment, expire, if 

 they be not assisted in time. They find some relief by 

 sweating and antidotes, but music is the great and specific 

 remedy. A learned gentleman of unquestionable credit told 

 me at Rome, that he had been twice a witness both of the 

 disease and of the cure. They are both attended with cir- 

 cumstances that seem very strange; but the matter of fact 

 is well attested, and undeniable."^ Such is the story gen- 

 erally told, believed, and unquestioned, that has found its 

 way into the works of many learned travelers and natural- 

 ists, but which is without the slightest shadow of truth. 



"I think I could produce," continues the deluded Misson, 

 "natural and easy reasons to explain this effect of music; 

 but without engaging myself in a dissertation that would 

 carry me too far, I shall content myself with relating some 

 other instances of the same kind : Every one knows the 

 efficacy of David's harp to restore Saul to the use of his 

 reason. I remember Lewis Guyon, in his Lessons, has a 

 story of a lady of his acquaintance, who lived one hundred 

 and six years without ever using any other remedy than 

 music ; for which purpose she allowed a salary to a certain 

 musician, whom she called her physician ; and I might add 

 that I was particularly acquainted with a gentleman, very 

 much subject to the gout, who infallibly received ease, and 

 sometimes was wholly freed from his pains by a loud noise. 

 He used to make all his servants come into his chamber, 

 and beat with all their force upon the table and floor ; and 

 the noise they made, in conjunction with the sound of the 

 violin, was his sovereign remedy."^ 



In the Treasvrie of Avncient and Moderne Times, printed 



1 James's 3Ied. Diet. 



2 Harris's Coll. of Voij. and Trav., ii. 586-7. ' Ibid. 



