174 THE UNIVERSE. 



attended with danger, and the results of its bite, although 

 some cases are related in which it has been fatal, are 

 limited to a sharp pain and some swelling and inflamma- 

 tion. 



The notorious Tarantula itself, when more closely studied, 

 loses its strange prestige; its bite has ceased to produce 

 the furious dancing mania so much spoken about, even in 

 medical works. ^ 



The poison apparatus of spiders is precisely analogous to 

 that of serpents, only that it is of microscojiic size. It 

 possesses mobile teeth, hollow fangs which distil the j^oison 

 into the wound, and this is secreted by a peculiar gland, 

 situated in the interior of the palpi attached to the under- 

 jaws Avhicli effect the bite. 



In the large trojiical species this lethal fluid is so active 

 that it kills in an instant animals of a far superior bulk, 

 and is often emjoloyed against the birds which they seize 



1 The Tarantula is a large hunting sjjider, which inhabits a hole it scoops out 

 of the earth, from whence it throws itself upon its prey. It is met with all 

 through Italy, but especially in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, from whence 

 its name comes. It is found along the coasts of the Mediterranean, in Sicily, 

 Barbary, and Pro\enee. 



This Arachnis was formerly much dreaded, and the sj'niptoms produced by 

 its bite were compared to those of hydrophobia, which procured for it the name of 

 the "mad spider." 



Old authors maintained that those who were bitten by it fell into a profound 

 stupor 01" were seized with convulsions, for which music was a sovereign remedy, 

 by inducing them to dance, which they did till they were exhausted and fell 

 down senseless. 



Baglivi, though a learned physician, was j'et deceived as to the Tarantula 

 disorder, about which he wrote a special treatise, in which we find set down the 

 airs most suited to effect a cure. — Baglivi, Dissert, de Anat. Morsu et Affectibvs 

 Tarentula;, 174,0. 



Since the days of Abbe Nollet in Italy men have ceased to believe in this 

 pretended malady. This learned observer says that it was only vagabonds 

 and charlatans who said they had been bitten by the Tarantula, iu order to 

 have a pretext for dancing and soliciting alms. The learned Dum6ril also 

 assures us that tlie disorder is a fable. — Dictionnaire des Sciences Natnrelhs, 

 t. ii. p. .327. 



