January 13, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



entitled "Tlie Truth, about Vivisection." Mr. 

 Baynes delivered the last lecture December 17 

 to a large and enthusiastic audience in Hunt- 

 ington Hall, Boston. It was an amplification 

 of the article V7hich he prepared for the Wo- 

 man's Home Companion, July, 1921, and 

 which at once aroused a howl of consternation 

 from all of the antivivisection groups in the 

 country. So much interest was aroused in the 

 general question that the lecture committee of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History re- 

 organized itself into the Committee for the 

 Protection of Animal Experimentation. An 

 appeal for funds, signed by President Charles 

 W. Eliot, Professor Eichard P. Strong, M. D., 

 Ernest Harold Baynes, Dr. John C. Phillips, 

 Dr. Edward Wigglesworth, Dr. Townsend W. 

 Thorndike and Dr. Thomas Barbour, brought a 

 most encouraging response. The committee has 

 published several statements, designed to in- 

 struct the community as to just what the re- 

 sults may be if the antivivisectionists succeed. 



Cardinal O'Connell was one of the first to 

 endorse the movement in a most inspiring let- 

 ter which was followed by letters of endorse- 

 ment from persons in all stations of life and 

 representing many different interests, parti- 

 cularly Life Insurance Companies, Agi-ieul- 

 tural Interests and Charitable Organizations 

 of many sorts. 



The newspapers gave the work of the com- 

 mittee generous publicity and its efforts as a 

 whole have become so successful that there is 

 now a widely expressed desire that the work 

 of the committee be carried forward by some 

 permanent organization. The committee has 

 studied carefully the organization and work of 

 the Research Defense Society in England and 

 it is probable that some organization of this 

 sort will be founded. 



To be really effective the Society should be 

 national in its scope and have an able, active 

 field secretary and should aim to protect the 

 public from the mischievous activities, not only 

 of the antivivisectionists, but the antivaccina- 

 tionists, the medical freedomists, so-called, and 

 all others who aim to lower the standards of 

 medical education or jeopardize the public 

 health in other ways. 



A correspondence is invited with those in- 



terested and our literature is available for free 

 distribution. 



Edwaed Wigglesworth^ Ph. D. 



J. C. Phillips, M. D. 



T. BARBoxm, Ph. D. 



FOE THE COMMITTEE 



POISONOUS SPIDERS 



One of the best reviews of our knowledge of 

 the poisonous properties of spiders is con- 

 tained in Dr. Henry C. McCook's beautifully 

 illustrated vokmies, "American spiders and 

 their spinning woriv." In Volume 1, page 274, 

 he concludes that most of the eases of serious 

 poison in the United States are caused by the 

 bite of the widely distributed Lineweaver, 

 Lactrodectus mactans, and tiie Saltigrade, 

 PMdippm morsitans. He cites an instance of 

 serious sickness resulting from the bite on a 

 man's back of Lactrodectus. He also thinks it 

 very probable that the large Mygales, com- 

 monly called tarantulas, on account of their 

 large fangs and exceptionally large supply of 

 poison, can inflict very serious bites. 



He cites instances of spiders killing fish and 

 birds, in one instance the victims teing two 

 sunfish about two inches long, which were 

 promptly killed by the poison of a spider I 

 saw at work. Prom my description Dr. 

 McCook thought this was a Dolomedes. 



In his third volume Dr. McCook quotes Pro- 

 fessor Bentkau of Bonn, who suffered very 

 serious pain and general swelling from being 

 twice bitten by a Chiraianthium nutrix on the 

 fingers. 



Dr. McCook thinks it most likely that even 

 the bites of the first two mentioned species are 

 in most instances of small consequence and that 

 the bites of the great majority of spiders are 

 of little more consequence than those of mos- 

 quitoes and not nearly as serious as the stings 

 of bees, hornets, etc. 



In instances that have come under my direct 

 observation of spiders biting human beings the 

 results have been comparable with mosquito 

 '"^''^- P. R. Welsh 



A LONG-LIVED WOODBORER 

 In Science, Friday, August 5, 1921, H. E. 

 Jaques, Iowa Wesleyan College, Mt. Pleasant, 

 Iowa, contributed a note, "A Long-lived Wood- 



