384 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LIV. No. 1399 



The next morning a fine rash appeared all over 

 the body, accompanied 'by some itching. The penis 

 ha,d returned ito nearly normal size. The heart- 

 rate was 60, the respiration was 18 and deep, tem- 

 perature 100. The rash disappeared in four days. 

 The patient was troubled with insomnia for sev- 

 eral days, and a stubborn constipation that took a 

 very active purge to affect. . . . 



Dr. Coleman, also tried various experiments 

 with spider poison, both, upon himself and 

 upon lower mammals; two of these are as 

 follows : 



Several experiments were tried on rabbits and 

 oats with very interesting- results. 



1. The dissected glands of one female Latro- 

 deotes containing the virus. The virus was 

 macerated in 10 drops of distilled water. The 

 same was injected subcutaneously into the albdomen 

 of a cat ajbout 8 months old. In about five min- 

 utes a series of convulsions set in of a clonic type, 

 quickly followed by tonic spasm and in ten min- 

 utes the animal was dead. 



3. A quantity of the eggs of Latrodectes was 

 macerated in 20 gtts. of water and diluted up to 

 10 c.c. The injection of this solution produced the 

 same typical symptoms and death to a cat 8 months 

 old in about three minutes. A rabbit was killed in 

 aibout two and one 'half minutes. ... 



It will be noted that the spider poison or 

 " arachnolysin " is not confined to the poison 

 glands but is found in the body fluids and 

 tissues as well. Kellogg says: 



A diadem spider of 1.4 gr. contains sufficient 

 poison to destroy completely all the corpuscles in 

 2.5 liters of rabbit blood. This puts arachnolysin 

 in the class of strongest kinds of blood poisons. 



He says also: 



Probably with Latrodectes, as with other animal 

 poisons, the physiological idiosyncrasies of the 

 particular man bitten play an important part in 

 determining the degree of seriousness of the 

 troutole produced. 



The most recent case brought to my atten- 

 tion, by the sister of the victim, occurred in 

 Oklahoma in the summer of 1920. The victim 

 was a strong healthy man of thirty-eight; he 

 died about thirty-two hours after being bitten, 

 in spite of the efforts of three physicians. All 

 three of the doctors were written to for details 

 of the case, but only one Dr. E. W. Reynolds, 



res]X)nded. His description of the case, so far 

 as he knew it, follows. 



I was called on the case shortly after Mr. L. was 

 bitten. He had gone to the toilet and while sitting 

 on the stool felt something like a pin stick him but 

 did not look until he was bitten again and then 

 discovered a little black spider whieih he killed. . . . 



He was bitten on the end of the penis and I 

 could not see any marks or swellings which prob- 

 ably meant that he received the poison directly 

 into a small blood vessel. 



When I saw him he was in great agony. The 

 pain traveled up the penis through the cords to one 

 group of muscles and another, shifting about all 

 the time. The usual amount of narcotic had no 

 effect a.t all. I was with him about one hour but 

 did not get to see him again. He could not lie 

 still, and when I left he was some easier and not 

 depressed. When I left I expected to have to go 

 back later and give him another hypo but wanted 

 to wait awhile to see what effect it already had. 



For some reason later other doctors were called 

 but I understand were unable to help him in any 

 way. 



It will be noticed that in this case also the 

 victim was bitten on the penis while using a 

 toilet, and that a " little black spider " was 

 killed. 



It would seem worth while for the public in 

 general, especially in the rural districts, to 

 become familiar with this rather formidable 

 little animal, whose colors and markings make 

 it easy to recognize. 



Since writing the above I have received 

 from Dr. V. L. Casto, the father of one of 

 my students, the following history: 



On the 30th day of last October I was called to 

 see Andy Coon, age 48, farmer and American, who 

 about two hours previous to my visit was bitten 

 by a small spider, black in color: he had been husk- 

 ing corn and had noticed several small black spi- 

 ders in the fodder and one of them seemed to get 

 tangled in his underwear and bit him four times, 

 about five inches above the left ankle. 



I found him in the following condition: suffer- 

 ing excruciating pain radiating from the place of 

 the bite to the top of his head; the leg swollen, a 

 severe pain around the heart, pulse 140 per minute, 

 and in about 30 minutes the pain passed to the 

 opposite side and the left leg and thigh began to 

 swell and he began to swell over the region of the 



