2d. A Spider put into a goose-quill, well sealed and secured, and hung about the child’s neck as low as the pit of its stomach.
Upon this Lady Llanover notes: “Although the prescription of the Spider in the quill will probably create amusement, considered as an old charm, yet there is no doubt of the medicinal virtues of Spiders and their webs, which have been long known to the Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland.”[1223]
The above mentioned Dr. Graham states that he has known of a Spider having been sewed up in a rag and worn as a periapt round the neck to charm away the ague.[1224]
In the Netherlands, it is thought good for an ague, to inclose a Spider between the two halves of a nut-shell, and wear it about the neck.[1225]
“In the diary of Elias Ashmole, 11th April, 1681, is preserved the following curious incident: ‘I took early in the morning a good dose of elixir, and hung three Spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague away. Deo gratias!’ Ashmole was a judicial astrologer, and the patron of the renowned Mr. Lilly. Par nobile fratrum.”[1226]
“Among the approved Remedies of Sir Matthew Lister, I find,” says Dr. James, “that the distilled water of black
Spiders is an excellent cure for wounds, and that this was one of the choice secrets of Sir Walter Raleigh.…
“The Spider is said to avert the paroxisms of fevers, if it be applied to the pulse of the wrist, or the temples; but it is peculiarly recommended against a quartan, being enclosed in the shell of a hazlenut.…
“The Spider, which some call the catcher, or wolf, being beaten into a plaister, then sewed up in linen, and applied to the forehead and temples, prevents the return of the tertian.… There is another kind of Spider, which spins a white, fine, and thick web. One of this sort, wrapped in leather, and hung about the arm, will, it is said, avert the fit of a quartan. Boiled in oil of roses, and distilled into the ears, it eases (says Dioscorides, ii. 68) pains in those parts.…
“The country people have a tradition, that a small quantity of Spiders’ web, given about an hour before the fit of an ague, and repeated immediately before it, is effectual in curing that troublesome, and sometimes obstinate distemper.… The Indians about North Carolina have great dependence on this remedy for ague, to which they are much subject.”[1227]