Page:In defense of Harriet Shelley, and other essays.djvu/354

 MARK TWAIN

The Spider which some call the Catcher, or Wolf, being beaten into a Plaister, then sew d up in Linen, and apply d to the Forehead or Temples, prevents the Returns of a Tertian.

There is another Kind of Spider, which spins a white, fine, and thick Web. One of this Sort, wrapp d in Leather, and hung about the Arm, will avert the Fit of a Quartan. Boil d in Oil of Roses, and instilled into the Ears, it eases Pains in those Parts. Dioscorides, Lib. 2, Cap. 68.

Thus we find that Spiders have in all Ages been celebrated for their febrifuge Virtues; and it is worthy of Remark, that a Spider is usually given to Monkeys, and is esteem d a sovereign Remedy for the Disorders those Animals are principally sub ject to.

Then follows a long account of how a dying woman, who had suffered nine hours a day with an ague during eight weeks, and who had been bled dry some dozens of times meantime without apparent benefit, was at last forced to swallow several wads of &quot;Spiders- web,&quot; whereupon she straightway mended, and promptly got well. So the sage is full of en thusiasm over the spider-webs, and mentions only in the most casual way the discontinuance of the daily bleedings, plainly never suspecting that this had anything to do with the cure.

As concerning the venomous Nature of Spiders, Scaliger takes notice of a certain Species of them (which he had forgotten) whose Poison was of so great Force as to affect one Vinccntinus thro the Sole of his Shoe, by only treading on it.

The sage takes that in without a strain, but the following case was a trifle too bulky for him, as his comment reveals:

In Gascony, observes Scaliger, there is a very small Spider, which, running over a Looking-glass, will crack the same by the Force of her Poison. (A mere Fable.}

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