266 
Wallace’s statements we cordially invite correspondence upon this sub- 
ject with veterinarians, stock-raisers, and farmers, and shall be pleased 
to compile-the result of this correspondence for a later issue of this 
journal. ; 
~ 
EXTRACTS FROM ‘CORRESPONDENCE, 
The Effects cf a Spider Bite on a Child. 
On the 5th of last October I returned home with my wife and infant child from a 
week’s visit in Boston, arriving about 7 o’clock p. m., and as soon as the cradle was 
ready the child was soon asleep, being very tired. We had been home nearly two 
hours and the child in bed an hour or a little less when we were startled by piercing 
cries from the bedroom. Taking up a lamp and followed by my wife I hastened into 
the room, much startled by the unusual severity of the crying. The little one was 
sitting up in her cradle and seemed to be in great pain and badly frightened; yet we 
could see no signs of illness nor cause for fright, and it was some time before my 
wife could quiet her. At last the crying gave place to sobbing, with less frequent 
spells of conyulsive trembling, that at first had been almost constant. So, thinking 
all was favorable, I returned to my letters, leaving my wife with the infant in her 
arms. I had been at my desk but a few minutes when I was called again to the side 
of the child, when my wife drew my attention to the child’s left eye, and there I 
noticed for the first time that the under lid was highly inflamed and somewhat swol- 
len, the swelling extending for nearly an inch along the lid, and with the exception 
of a slight tinge on the cheek the inflammation was confined at this time to the lid. 
Thinking it was the result of the bite of a mosquito, I bathed the swollen part 
with a solution of Hamamelis, and for a time this seemed to soothe the pain, and my 
wife soon felt warranted in again placing her in the cradle. Again I was calledinto 
the room by my wife, who informed me that a spider was on the pillow. Taking 
the lamp I examined the cradle, and, sure enough, there was a small and rather hand- 
some colored spider, which I secured and placed in a pill box for future identifica- 
tion. The child was very fretful, and the inflammation and swelling were rapidly 
increasing, and now (at 10:30 p. m.) it covered the whole under eyelid and extended 
to the side of the nose and cheek. The child was in a high fever, the skin dry and 
hot, pulse rapid, but seemed very weak. She no longer cried as before, but the rest- 
lessness increased, while there was almost incessant trembling, as if in great fear or 
very cold. A 5 per cent solution of carbolic acid was used two or three times, but 
later on was discarded for ammonia. No special benefit could be observed by the 
use of either, Hamamelis having the most soothing effect. A little past midnight 
the inflammation had extended to the upper eyelid, and it soon became evident that 
it was following a rapid course that would include the right eye, and had already 
worked downward halfway to the lip on the left cheek. Before 2 o’clock it had 
crossed the nose, and quite a severe swelling began on the eyelids, but before it 
reached the right eye it had extended on the left side of the forehead nearly to the 
hair. At 3 o’clock the inflammation remained the same; the left eye could scarcely 
be opened, and that only with great difficulty, the fever still high, but pulse more 
normal, nervous twitchings of the muscles less, and quiet sleep took the place of the 
uneasy naps. 
There was no nausea at any time, and after 3 o’clock food wastaken. Inthe morn- 
ing the fever had subsided, but the inflammation and swelling were as virulent as 
ever, and it was not until the end of the third day that it had subsided sufficiently 
to be considered much better, and nearly two weeks before no trace could be seen of 
it. The place where the spider inflicted the wound was very minute, scarcely noticed 
until after the inflammation had reached it limit, and looked more like the puncture 
