The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-10-21

little doubt that certain eases of mur- der lie charged to her on good evidence.
 According to Shakespeare, There may be in the cup a spider steeped. and one may drink; depart and yet partake no venom. If Frederick the Great was aware of this, il was per haps simply me.iculOusness which caused him to refuse a cup of coffee into which a spider had fallen and drowned itself. We can assume, in the absence of knowledge. that Frederick was ignorant of Shakespeare repudia- tion of the fatal results of taking spider-contaminated refreshments, and that he thought only of the old legend. Probably, however, there was a more recondite influence than this at work. For whatever webs of destiny that par ticular spider may have woven in it's past it never aimed more surely at the future than in that act of self-fmmola- tion. The cup of coffee had been treacherously poisoned, and the cook into whose hands it WAS returned, fear full of certain discovery, shot himself without more ado. This is but a case
 
 said that the salutary qualities of spid- CTS appear to have been more actively employed than their much advertised toxic powers. Their reputation as re- gards the latter is considered by some to be quite an undeserved stigma, and we hear comparatively little of it.
 There are others also who constitute themselves the special defenders of the spider Scott tells us that no one of the name of Bruce, 'of happy mem- ory,' would dare, in wantonness, to kill a spider. Similar scruples should att 1 tach to many another whose name | sakes have been indebted. The cave of Adullam, historic in more than one 1 way, offered a very secure retreat for David when "all his hope was cut off. y | But we are asked to believe that he owed his preservation ito the interven- tion of a spider, which, with the ut- most alacrity, spun it's web over the mouth. Beyond such-an effective bar rier Saul's men would not penetrate. Its presence was to them sufficient wit ness to the unviolated sanctity of the cave. and they passed on. Mohametan zeal embellishes the same story and sets it in new surroundings.
 Mohomet, driven from Mecca by the Koreishttes, sought refuge in a cave lured thereto, perhaps, by the ramem- 1 brance of the older incident. And, i'm partially enough, up sprang an acacia tree at the very entrance, in the branches of which wood pigeon built her nest and a spider her web. This lacks both the incisiveness and concise ness of the first story, but it has its own value as helping to swell the evi- dence which would invest the spider i with the character of a good fairy.
 As to the ancient position of the spider in the pharmacopoaia of the day i too much could easily be said. Wher Basil the blacksmith enumerated to tho Acadian wanderers all the advantages of the Canadian climate, he took occa. sion to add, in words "milder and gayer,'' "only because of the fever, my friends, beware of the fever! For il is not like that of our cold Acadiar climate, cured by wearing a spider hung round ones neck in a nutshell,' a warning that was taken without any comment. It can only be said that this fever was of an exceptional kind, fol the warning conveys an idea contra i dictory to many of the eagerly accepted nostrums which were chiefly com pounded of spiders. Old wives tale! and others declare that all levers art altogether beyond the reach of the 1 therapeutic powers of a regular doc tor Something more superstitious ant less scientific was found more effective An infallible cure for ague is said to bo a spider put into 8 goose quill, wei sealed and secured, and hung about tht patients neck. Or, when the fit is com ing on, catch spider, roll it up likt pill and swallow it without delay As perpetual guarantee against ague however it is necessary to sew spide up in rags and wear it round the neck This is most efficacious as a periapt If the sufferer is prevented by his pc
 culiar psychological attitude from swal lowing pills, he is advised to mak powders of spiders, which may be talk
 en with water. This seems at first tt present some little difficulty to the un
 initiated, but it is no doubt one of thos
 things that may be solved with a littl
 patience and a good deal of exper
 ment-London Globe.