426 
Italian beggars sometimes claim to have 
been bitten and solicit alms while in a danc- 
ing fit. 
Spiders as Medicine 
Cobwebs are still used to stop bleeding, a 
thing which Bottom had in mind when he 
said to the fairy Cobweb ‘‘I shall desire of 
you more acquaintance, good master Cobweb. 
If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with 
you.” Ben Jonson said that a certain penuri- 
ous individual ‘“‘sweeps down no cobwebs 
here but sells ’em for cut fingers.’ 
Spiders’ webs have been taken internally 
forague. Chapman’s Materia Medica (1824) 
recommends doses of five grains of spiders’ 
web, repeated every fourth or fifth hour for 
“ obstinate intermittents, paroxysms of hectic, 
morbid vigilance from excessive nervous 
mobility, irritations of the system from many 
causes especially when connected with pro- 
tracted coughs and other chronic pectoral 
affections.” 
If cobwebs be burned on a wart it will be 
rooted out and never grow again. Pliny 
states that cobwebs, especially the part which 
forms the spider’s retreat is useful when 
applied to the forehead as a cure for watery 
eyes. The web must be taken and put on by 
a boy who has not reached puberty, who must 
not show himself to the patient for three days, 
and, furthermore, neither he nor the patient 
may touch the ground with bare feet during 
this time. He also recommends cobwebs 
moistened with oil and vinegar for cranial 
fractures. 
The spiders themselves seem to have been 
very efficacious. One sewed up in a rag 
or enclosed between two nutshells and worn 
around the neck will charm away ague. It 
should also be applied to the wrist or temples 
in the case of bad fevers. If a spider be 
taken when neither sun nor moon is shining 
and the hind legs be pulled off and wrapped 
in deer’s skin, the combination will, accord- 
ing to some, relieve gout. Moufet remarked 
that ‘we finde those people to be free from 
the gowt of hands or feet (which few medica- 
ments can doe) in whose houses the Spiders 
breed much, and doth beautifie them with 
her tapestry and hangings.” 
Pliny gives uses for spiders as well as for 
their webs. The thick pulp of a spider’s 
body, mixed with oil of roses, makes an ear 
lotion. Among the best remedies for spider 
bites are spiders left to putrify in oil. 
THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAI. 
Homeopathic treatment seems to have been 
much favored in cases of spider bites. Col- 
lections of dead spiders have been made 
because if a person bitten by a spider look at 
another specimen of the same species he will 
be cured. Dried spiders have been taken 
internally for the same purpose. 
Spiders as Food 
It seems that not every one is afraid of 
spiders. Lande, the French astronomer, 
proved by eating spiders as delicacies that 
he could raise himself above dislikes and 
prejudices. Spiders were eaten by the abo- 
rigines of America and Australia. A quo- 
tation from Molien’s Travels in Africa says 
that the people of Maniana ‘eat spiders, 
beetles and old men.” 
Doubtless quite a list could be made of 
uncivilized tribes that eat spiders and there 
is a number of recorded instances of more 
advanced persons who, like Lande have 
acquired the habit. One is given in verse: 
How early Genius shows itself at times, 
Thus Pope, the prince of poets, lisped in rhymes, 
And our Sir Joshua Banks, most strange to utter, 
To whom each cockroach-eater is a fool, 
Did, when a very little boy at school, 
Eat Spiders, spread upon his bread and butter. 
Economic Value of Spiders 
It is undoubtedly true that spiders catch 
and kill many injurious insects. In the 
fields good insects suffer with the bad, 
but as few good insects find their way into 
our houses the house spiders are almost en- 
tirely beneficial. However, since spiders 
are not encouraged to live in our houses it 
is doubtful whether the group as a whole 
helps us greatly in our fight against injurious 
insects. 
The strong supporting threads of cobwebs 
have been much used in telescopes for the 
purpose of making fine lines appear in the 
field of vision. 
Silk spun by spiders to cover their eggs has 
been woven into cloth. It is said that the 
fabric is so transparent that a young lady was 
once reproved by her father for the immodesty 
of her costume although she wore seven thick- 
nesses of it. Since it requires more than 
half a million egg-masses to yield a pound of 
silk the industry does not promise to become 
commercially profitable. 
