1-24 Obfervat'ions on Spiders, 



fpiders infufed or bruifed in wine employed with an inten- 

 tion of poifoning. What is related on one hand, of fpider^ 

 eaters, and on the other, of thofe who have been poifoned 

 by drinking wine in which fpiders have been infufed, feems 

 to be contradictory : but it, however, is not fo : the differ- 

 ence arifes, no doubt, from the difference of the fpiders, and 

 the different conftitution of the fubjefts. 



It i^^pretended alfo, that fpiders diff"ufe a noxious vapour 

 when burnt, and that, when they burft on being applied to 

 a flame, they fpurt out a noxious liquor. I (liall here relate 

 what is faid on this fubjed by Turner in his Treatife on 

 the Difeafes of the Skin *, " When a young pratlitioner," 

 ftys he, " I was fent for to vifit a woman who had been ac- 

 cuftomed, every time flie went to the cellar with a candle, to 

 burn all the fpiders' webs which ffie could find. It happened, 

 hott-ever, that one of thefe infcfts fold its life much dearer 

 than the reft. Its feet having got entangled in the tallow, and 

 its body burfting, its venom and juices were thrown out into 

 the eyes of its pcrfecutor, and particularly on her lips. The 

 latter fvvelled up prodigioufly in the night-time; one of her 

 eyes became exceedingly inflamed, and her tongue and gums 

 were alfo affected. At laft thefe affections were accompanied 

 with continual vomiting, &cc. I ordered at firft a fmall glafs 

 of Spanifh wine burnt with a fcruple of fait of worm-wood, 

 and fome hours after a boluj of theriac, which flie afterwards 

 threw up. I rubbed her lips with oil of fcorpions and oil of 

 rofat. Sec. ; I applied leeches to the temples, by which the 

 inflammation of the eye was much diminiflied ; and I allayed 

 the pain by the ufe of a very bright mucilage of the feeds of 

 quinces and white poppies, e.xtrafted in rofe-watcr. But as 

 the fwelling of the lips ftill increafed, I applied a cataplai'm, 

 made with a deoo6lion of fcordium, rue, and elder-flowers, 

 thickened with the farina of vetches. Sec." The author, 

 however, notwithftanding his care, had not the honour of 

 performing a cure. An old woman, as is often the cafe, 

 interfered^ and had all the glory, after fifteen days applica- 

 tion of the leaves and juice of plantain, and fpiders webs, 

 'furner relates that before this accident, the patient had 



' Vol. II. p. igi. of tlie French t-ditioii. 



told 



