358 ARANEIJLK — TRUE SPIDERS. 



powdered with flour, so as to resemble a pill, are also some- 

 times given for ague.^ Dr. Chapman, of Philadelphia, states 

 that in doses of five grains of Spiders' web, repeated every 

 fourth or fifth hour, he has cured some obstinate intermit- 

 tents, suspended the paroxysms of hectic, overcome morbid 

 vigilance from excessive nervous mobility, and quieted irrita- 

 tion of the system from various causes, and not less as con- 

 nected with protracted coughs and other chronic pectoral 

 aflfoctions.'^ 



Mrs. Delany, in a letter dated March 1st, lt43-4, gives 

 two infallible recipes for ague. 



1st. Pounded ginger, made into paste with brandy, spread 

 on sheep's leather, and a plaister of it laid over the navel. 



2d. A Spider put into a goose-quill, well sealed and se- 

 cured, and hung about the child's neck as low as the pit of 

 its stomach. 



Upon this Lady Llanover notes: "Although the pre- 

 scription of the Spider in the quill will probably create 

 amusement, considered as an old charm, yet there is no 

 doubt of the medicinal virtues of Spiders and their webs, 

 which have been long known to the Celtic inhabitants of 

 Great Britain and Ireland.""^ 



The above mentioned Dr. Graham states that he has 

 known of a Spider having been sewed up in a rag and worn 

 as a periapt round the neck to charm away the ague.* 



In the Netherlands, it is thought good for an ague, to in- 

 close a Spider between the two halves of a nut-shell, and 

 wear it about the neck.^ 



"In the diary of Elias Ashmole, 11th April, 1681, is pre- 

 served the following curious incident : ' I took early in the 

 morning a good dose of elixir, and hung three Spiders about 

 my neck, and they drove my ague away. Deo gratias I' 

 Ashmole was a judicial astrologer, and the patron of the 

 renowned Mr. Lilly. Par nobile fratrum."^ 



"Among the approved remedies of Sir Matthew Lister, I 

 find," says Dr. James, "that the distilled water of black 



^ N. and Q., 2(i ed. x. 138. 



2 Elements of Mat. Med. and Therap., Pliilad. 1825. 



3 Chamb. Bk. of Days, i. 732. 

 * Grah. Domest. Med. 



5 Thorpe's North. My thai, iii. 329. 

 ^ Brand's Pop. Antiq., iii. 287. 



