Tela Araneae. 



(COBWEB.) 



History. — Both cobweb and spiders have been generally usee 

 substance, by primitive peoples as an application to bleeding wounds 

 r the purpose of stopping hemorrhage, as is recorded in the earlies 

 Drks of medicine, as well as by travelers, and as recited in most book 

 I domestic medication. Their use was known to the American In 

 ans, as well as to aborigines generally. 



Cobweb was mentioned by Dioscorides {Aldine Edition, 1518 

 50) as a remedial agent, as shown by the following passage, trans 

 ted by Miss Margaret Stewart, M. A. : 



"The Spider, which some call holcus or lycos, that is, robber, or wol: 

 den made into a plaster and spread upon a small linen cloth and place 

 ion the forehead or temples, thoroughly cures tertian agues. Its we 

 ecks the flowing of blood, and heals the inflammation arising from ol 

 cers, which have attacked a large area of the skin. There is also anothe 

 ecies of spider which spins a white, slender, and abundant web. Thii 

 Ided in a leather pouch, and su-spended from the shoulder, is said to cur 

 lartan agues. A decoction or infusion with roses relieves pain in the ear. 

 ■Dioscorides, II: 68. 



Came then the extravagances of "authoritative" Medieval medi 

 ne, as shown in the following: 



"The jfly-catching spider, wrapt in a linen cloth, and hanged on th 

 ft arm, is good to drove away a Quotidian, saith Trallianus (sixth cer 

 ry, A. D.). But better if any of them be boiled with oil of bay to th 

 insistence of a liniment; if you anoint the arteries of the wrists, the arm 

 id temples before the fit, the fever abates and seldom comes again. Kc 

 nides or Koranus.* A spider bruised with a plaister and spread on 

 oth and applied to, the temples, cures a tertian. Dioscorides (first or sec 

 id century, A. D.) ' The spider called Lycos, put in a quill, and hange 

 I the breast doth the same. Pliny (first century, A. D.). That hous 

 ider that spins a thick fine and white web, shut up in a piece of leathe 



a nut-shell, and hanged to the arm or neck, is thought to drive away th 

 :s of a quartane. Dioscorides saith he proved it to be true. Three livin 

 liders put into oil, let them presently boil on the fire, drop some of th; 

 1 warm into the ear that is in pain, and it profits much. Or press 01 

 e juice of spiders with juice' of roses, and put it in with wool. Marcelk 

 mpiricus (380-408 .A. D. or later). Pliny bids infuse them in vinegar c 

 I of roses and stamp them and then drop soipe into the ear with saffroi 

 id' it will still the pain certainly: Dioscorides affirms as much. Sofratv 



. . saith, that Cranocolapsus (a certain spider) drowned in oil, is 

 esent remedy against poisons, as the Scholiast of Nicander (second cei 

 ry, B. C.) professeth. 



* A king of Persia, who wrote a work on natural history. 



