TELA ARANE^. 



vorites. Let us quote from lames' New English Dispensatory, Lon- 

 don, 1747: 



"The -web astringes and conglutinates, and is, therefore, vulnerary; 

 restrains bleeding, and prevents inflammation. The country people have 

 a tradition, that a small quantity of spider's web, given about an hour 

 before the fit of an ague, and repeated immediately before it, is effectual 

 in curing that troublesome, and sometimes obstinate distemper. This 

 remedy is not confined to our own country, for I am well informed that 

 the Indians about North Carolina have great dependence on this remedy 

 for agues, to which they are much subject; and I am acquainted with a 

 gentleman long resident in those parts, who assures me he was himself 

 cured by it of that distemper. And, indeed, experience confirms the effi- 

 cacy of this medicine in the cure of agues." — James, New English Dispensatory, 

 London, 1747. 



To the above we add from- Motherby's Medical Dictionary, Lon- 

 don, 1775: 



Aranea, called also arachne, araneus, the catcher, the wolf, and spider. 



As is common to most insects, spiders abound with volatile oils, in 

 consequence of which they are sometimes useful in agues, if taken in- 

 wardly. A scruple of the spider's web hath, in many instances, been given 

 with success, an hour before the fit of an ague, and an hour after it. This 

 produces no sensible effect, and may be given when the bark is not safe. — 

 Motherby's Medical Dictionary, London, 177S. 



This opinion concerning the harmlessness of cobweb, and its 

 efficiency where cinchona is "not safe," voiced in different wa3's 

 threads both domestic and professional publications preceding 1800. 

 Together, it all forms the foundation for the more rational and re- 

 stricted use of cobweb, or Specific Medicine Tela Arenese, which may 

 be traced to and into recent literature, as follows : 



In 1821, N. M. Hentz published, in the Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci- 

 ences, pp. 53-56, an article on "The Spider whose webb is used in 

 medicine," from which we quote the introductory paragraph: 



"It has been found lately, that the webb of a species of spider, common 

 in the cellars of this country, possesses very narcotic powers, and it has 

 been administered apparently with success in some cases of fevers." 



In his paper, Mr. Heijtz not only adds nothing to previous re- 

 corded uses of cobweb, but, by mistake, the wrong spider is figured 

 in the plate. accompanying his paper. 



Close following, in 1831, John Redman Coxe, in his American 

 Dispensatory, gives to cobweb a full page of fine print, from which 

 we extract as follows: 



"It would scarcely be supposed that this article would have engaged 

 the attention of physicians, as useful in the Materia Medica; and it may 

 serve to show how little capable we are of estimating the Value of any- 

 thing in this respect, except by experience and observation. It seems to 

 have been long overlooked that it was formerly employed — and has lately 

 ■ been again introduced to notice. The following notices from different 

 works contain the principal facts I can collect relative to it: 



"In the Medical and Physical Journal, vol. 21, p. 353, will be found 

 an interesting paper on this subject, by Dr. R. Jackson, in which he states 



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