[(46)] Micrograph. Observ. 34.
[(47)] Ibid. Obs. 25.
ESSAY II.
OF THE BITE OF THE TARANTULA AND MAD DOG.
I Join these Two Poisons together, because tho’ they differ very much in their Effects, yet both do agree in this, that they induce a particular Delirium sui generis, attended partly with Maniacal, partly with Melancholy Symptoms.
The Tarantula (of which the Figure may be seen in Baglivi’s Dissertation [(48)],) is a Spider of Apulia of the Octonocular kind; that is of that Species that has eight Eyes, and spins Webbs; it has eight Legs, four on each side, and in each Leg three Joints; from the Mouth proceed two Darts, in Shape just like to a hooked Forceps, or Crab’s Claws; these are solid, and very sharp, so that they can easily pierce the Skin; and between these and the Fore-Legs there are two little Horns, which I suppose do answer to those Bodies call’d from their Use in Flies the Feelers; because as they do, so this Creature is observed to move ’em very briskly when it approaches to its Prey.
This, as other Spiders do, propagates its Species by laying Eggs, which are very numerous; so that there are found sometimes in the Female, when dissected, a hundred or more; and these are hatched partly by the Heat of the Mother, partly by that of the Sun, in about twenty or thirty Days Time.
There is also a Spider of the like Nature with the Tarantula in the West-Indies, which Fr. Hernandez [(49)] describes by the Name of Hoitztocatl, or the Pricking Spider; and says, that its Bite induces Madness.
In the Summer Months, especially when the Heats are greatest, as in the Dog-Days, the Tarantula creeping among the Corn in the Fields, bites the Mowers and Passengers; in the Winter it lurks in Holes, and is scarcely seen; and if it does bite then, it is not venomous, neither does it induce any ill Symptoms.
But in the hot Weather, altho’ the Pain of its Bite is at first no greater than what is caused by the Sting of a Bee, yet the Part quickly after is discoloured with a Livid, Black, or Yellowish Circle, and raised to an inflam’d Swelling; the Patient within a few Hours is seized with a violent Sickness, Difficulty of Breathing, universal Faintness, and sometimes Trembling, with a Weakness of the Head; being asked what the Ail is, makes no Reply, or with a querulous Voice, and melancholy Look, points to his Breast, as if the Heart was most affected.