lELA AKAJNE/ii. 



■n-et, and my duties in my home town were strenuous, in addition to which 

 1 had patients in the adjoining towns. To get there I had to cross a marsh, 

 where for some years scavengers had dumped city refuse. The excessive 

 rain seemed to cause a bad stench from this rotting mass, which the 

 breezes from the Pacific Ocean were powerless to neutralize while the rain 

 lasted; and it was this exposure, day after day, which I believe was the 

 cause of my trouble. 



"Now, for the modus operandi of its action, let me say: The poison 

 affects seriously the nervous system, acting, it seems to m^ on the heart 

 through the cardiac plexus, thus weakening the central circulatory organ, 

 and giving rise to a poor peripheral and capillary circulation. Hence blood 

 depravement; hence cold surface. Tela Araneje, by strengthening the heart, 

 improves the condition of the nervous system. Dr. Webster has well 

 pointed out the specific indications for the use of this remedy. Use Spec. 

 Medicine Tela Araneje under these conditions, and you will succeed." — 

 Eclectic Medical Journal, Dec, 1907. 



After the advent of the Eclectic school of medicine in America 

 (as indicated in the extract from Jones and Scudder's Materia Medica, 

 and the articles by Drs. Webster, Fearn, and others, pp. 31-37), came 



the restudy of cobweb, or 

 rather, led finally to its more 

 definite as vi^ell as restricted 

 application, as shown in its 

 method of employment at the 

 present time. Nor, as shown 

 by the article of Dr. Jones, from 

 the Lancet and Observer, (pp. 

 3i"33). has the remedy been 

 altogether neglected by the 

 dominant school. 



SPECIFIC MEDICINE 

 TELA ARANE^. 



The form of the remedial 

 preparation commended by phy- 

 sicians named in this Treatise 

 is the Specific Medicine, de- 

 scribed herein. This has ever 

 THERiDiuM TEPiDARioRUM. been made from the web of 



(From Black-well's British Spiders.) Theridium tepidariorum {see 



The Spider that spins the web used in '""O , which builds its web in 

 making Specific Medicine Tela Araneaa. barns and similar locations. We 



have no personal experience 

 with the web of the spider inhabiting cellars, often named in the fore- 

 going pages as being employed by early investigators. 



Characteristics. — Two minims of this preparatfon represent one 

 grain of cobweb. It has a rich straw color, an odor of alcohol, and 

 its evaporation is accompanied by vapors of an offensive, stifling" odor. 

 Successive evaporations of 10 Cc. each gave an average residue of 

 0.058 Gm. (58-100 of one per cent), a result which varies somewhat 

 in different batches. The residue is of a resinous appearance, and is 

 destitute of alkaloids. It is largely soluble in chloroform, less so in 



36 



