464. SANITARY ENTOMOLOGY 



to the left arm pit and down to the elbow. He had no bowel action for 

 two days and the pupils were markedly dilated. His symptoms appeared 

 to him a perfect picture of angina pectoris. The symptoms subsided and 

 in three days he felt normal. He repeated this experiment twice with the 

 same results. 



Doctor Coleman had a patient aged 54 years suffering from angina 

 pectoris. During an attack he gave him a powder of one of the tritura- 

 tions of the spider venom and in ten minutes the symptoms passed leav- 

 ing the patient more comfortable than after any previous attack. 



At least one case of death is recorded from the bite of this species and 

 several cases of severe poisoning have come to the attention of the 

 Bureau of Entomology. 



Houssay gives quite a description of the symptoms and literature. 

 He counsels the use of morphine, bromide, or camphor oil. He cites 

 also the use of chloral and as cardiac tonics, cafFein, and acetate of 

 ammonia, aiding any of these by milk diet and theobromine. 



Doctor Coleman records treating a case by hypodermic injections of 

 strychnine 1/40, followed in ten minutes by nitroglycerine 1/100, and 

 local applications to the site of bite of crystals of potassium perman- 

 ganate. By repeated injections of strychnine the heart rate was increased 

 to 45. He then substituted the use of brandy hypodermically. Heat 

 was applied to the feet and back. Nine and one-half hours after the 

 attack the heart rate had been increased to 55 and the pains were still 

 severe. A ^4 morphine with 1/150 atropine was given. The pains eased 

 up and the patient dropped asleep. The next day he was covered with a 

 fine rash. The heart rate was 60. This rash disappeared in four days. 

 He suffered from insomnia for several days and a stubborn constipation 

 that took a very active purge to affect. After three years his heart rate ■ 

 was 64, he was troubled with insomnia, and a marked bulimia. 



Fatal spider poisoning has been recorded as caused by Latrodectes 

 geometricus Koch in California, L. hasseltii Thorell (scelio Thorell) (the 

 "katipo") in New Zealand, Theraphosa javanensis Walckenaer in Java, 

 Chirac anthum nutrix Walckenaer in Europe. Theridium 13-guttatwm 

 Pabricius in France and Italy, and T. lugubre Koch ("kara kist") in 

 Bussia. 



CENTIPEDE POISONING 



The centipedes, on account of their large size and many sharp legs, 

 have given rise to numerous popular legends as to their poisonous nature. 

 It is a common saying that when a centipede grips hold of a person, the 

 impression made by each claw gives rise to a sloughing of the flesh. This 

 opinion is quite erroneous as the centipede has only one pair of poison 

 glands, located in the head, having their external opening through a pair 



