ECONOMIC AND MEDICAL IMPORTANCE 239 



medical significance is not very great. Unlike their ubiquitous 

 relatives, the mites, none of the spiders is parasitic on the bodies of 

 man and his domestic animals. Furthermore, there is no evidence 

 that spiders are the vectors of any of man's disease. From time im- 

 memorial spiders have been used as charms to ward off disease, and 

 they have contributed their bodies and silk for concoctions deemed 

 of medicinal value. At the present time such primitive remedies 

 are scorned, and we substitute instead, with like faithfulness, var- 

 ious patent medicines and an alphabet of vitamins. 



Spiders once held an honored position among household rem- 

 edies. The wearing of a spider in a nutshell hung around the neck 

 was current in Longfellow's time, and brings to mind the more 

 recent practice of using asafoetida or some other foul-smelling sub- 

 stance in the same way to ward off disease. One hundred years 

 earlier, the belief was general that spiders, and their products, could 

 alleviate many ailments. Indeed, this medical reputation produced 

 a reasonable tolerance of house spiders. In rural communities it was 

 believed that wherever they were abundant the human occupants 

 enjoyed a relative immunity from certain diseases. The Italian 

 peasants still hold that cobwebs in stables are directly concerned 

 with the healthiness of the cattle. Perhaps, since spiders carry on 

 such efficient warfare against stable flies, houseflies, mosquitoes, and 

 other disease carriers, these old beliefs have some basis in fact. 



Spider concoctions were administered by mouth or applied ex- 

 ternally. Warts and gout, constipation and jaundice, leprosy and 

 all the communicable diseases, were treated in varying ways. Spi- 

 ders were eaten alive or dead, were rolled up in pills of various 

 kinds, were made into ointments to be rubbed on the body, were 

 brewed into liquors to be drunk. Less than a hundred years ago 

 one Mexican doctor prescribed as a specific a brew of alcohol and 

 tarantulas. 



The use of the silk of certain spiders to stop the flow of blood 

 still persists in rural areas of Europe and the Americas. References 

 to the cobweb in this connection are frequent in literature, and in- 

 dicate a wide application. The clean web of our domestic funnel- 

 web spiders was placed over the wound much as sterile pacfs are 

 applied, and the numerous fine threads acted (largely in a mechan- 

 ical way) to halt the flow. Unfortunately, ordinary cobweb is not 

 sterile and its use often resulted in infection. 



Spider silk was also supposed to be of great benefit in the treat- 

 ment of fevers. In 1821, N. M. Hentz commented as follows: "It 



