THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 141 



Dr. Mueller, Yackandandah, after referring to the case of a 

 child which is detailed in his pamphlet on " The Action of 

 Snake-poison and the Use of Strychnine as an Antidote," 

 p. ii, goes on to say : — "I have lately observed another 

 case, in an adult also, of a very interesting nature, although 

 the symptoms differed apparently from those the child showed. 

 The spider had bitten a young farmer, whilst loading wheat 

 during the late harvest, below the left ankle joint, where the 

 marks were visible when he was brought to me. With him it 

 was more an undue irritation than paralysis of the motor nerve- 

 centres. Only in the legs semi-paralytic symptoms were shown ;. 

 he was scarcely able to stand, and could not walk without assist- 

 ance ; pulse at the wrists was also unusually quick and somewhat 

 feeble. But the brain symptoms were the most interesting. He 

 had almost lost the sense of his own identity, and stared about 

 him like an idiot, having at the same time strange hallucinations 

 and illusions. The ideo-motor centres were completely upset, 

 and the man was for the time being a complete lunatic. I had 

 some difficulty in restraining him from leaving his bedroom in a 

 hotel without anything but a short shirt on, and, in trying to do 

 so, received an ugly slap from him in the face. He also com- 

 plained of violent pain in the bitten limb, extending right up into 

 the abdomen, and causing me to combine the strychnine with 

 cocaine. When I applied these remedies hypodermically, the 

 delirium gradually subsided, and he fell into a sound sleep, from 

 which he awoke next morning, so completely himself again, that 

 his wife, anxious to return to her children, had departed with him 

 before I could visit him again. I saw him since then, and was 

 told that beyond a certain weakness in the legs no unpleasant 

 symptoms were felt subsequently." 



Dr. Springthorpe, of Collins-street, Melbourne, has supplied 

 me with the following notes of a case treated by him : — " Mr. D. r 

 a gentleman in the prime of life, who had been an athlete, 

 was bitten on the right hand by a black and red spider. The 

 hand swelled, and the lymphatics became inflamed, and later 

 on ulcers broke out on his right leg, then on his left leg, beginning 

 from the size of a pin's head, and some of them increasing to the 

 size of a half-crown, and attended with considerable pain. He 

 progressively lost power in both hands, and also in both legs. In 

 his right hand the fingers became quite numbed. The muscles 

 in both arms became wasted, and all movements were interfered 

 with ; the same with the legs. He could not write his name, and 

 it was difficult to use his knife and fork. His feet became per- 

 manently cold and discoloured, and the sensation was impaired, 

 mainly in the tips of all the fingers and the soles of the feet. 

 He also temporarily lost his sight. The whole case has extended 

 over two years, during which time the patient has never been free 



