The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1910-12-29
-'RED SPOT" is Deadly
TINY SPIDER is MORE DANGER
Gus THAN COBRA.
Is Found Lurking in WoodpiIes and
Its Poison is Said to Be the Most
viruIent and Powerful Secreted by
Any Living Creature.


| The poison of cobras and copper
| heads is known to be deadly enough
| to fill the popular mind with horror,
| though the horror is somewhat miti-
gated by the remoteness of the dan
/ ger from the common walks of life.
But now we are given to understand
that this danger is mere moonshine in
! comparison with a greater one that
may be said to find place in every
home.
$50 far as is known, its poison is
the most virulent and powerful, drop
for drop, secreted by any living crea-
| ture." This is the language of liv-
| ing naturalist, Mr.. Samuel Hopkins
Adams, who is speaking of a common
| domestic spider found all over the
United States, lurking around every
! woodpile and clubhouse. 1t varies In
size from that of large pea to max
imum of half an inch in length, black
in its body, bearing ever a red spot
upon it's back, a most useful danger
signal.
Cobra virus, in the minute quantity
which the Latrodectus' glands con-
TAIN" remarks the same writer,
s'would probably have no appreciate
| effect upon man, whereas the tiny spi-
| der's venom, in the volume injected by
| the cobra's stroke, would STAY herd
| of elephants. Happily, the red
spots fangs being small and weak,
can with difficulty penetrate the skin,
and are able to inject venom in dan
gerous quantity only when the bite is
inflicted upon some tender-Bkinned por-
| tion of the body Nevertheless fatali-
ties consequent upon the bite of this
insect sufficiently well 4ttested to
take rank as established scientific
| facts"
On farm near Greensboro, N. c.,
| so Mr.. Adams tells US, negro, In
| hauling firewood, brushed a.; something
crawling upon his neck and felt a
sharp, singing sensation. 1t was the
black spider with the red spot. This
was at $3.50 a. M, and before IL at
might the man was dead. There was
no swelling and no visible puncture,
only small white pimples appeared
| about the bitten spot. The smarting
soon passed, but in three hours violent
cramps were experienced. At one
O'Clock the man had spasms, but two
hours later he returned to his work,
llaboring for an hour. Then there was
another spasm, followed by state of
coma. which lasted till death ensued.
One singular feature was that The left
arm, left breast and the neck ap-
Ipeared to turn to stone, they were so
hard.
Cases have been minutely observed
and reported by DR.. Corson of Savan-
nah, Ga, Dr. Bickford and Mr.. Ball OF
California. The last of these de-
scribes his own experience in convul-
sions, following quickly upon the bite
of the red spot" saying: "The pains
in my hip joints. chest and thighs
grew rapidly more violent, until 1T
seemed that the bones in these parts
of my body were being crushed to
fragments" His illness lasted ten
days, but he recovered.
Here we have peril much greater
than from rattlers and puff adders--a
menace to public safety, now guarded
against by all intelligent nations
where it exists, save only our own.
Let every woodchopper and every
housewife take warning.
All other American spiders, the au-
thorities declare, constitute only a
.trifiing hazard and need not be seri-
ously considered; hut baware of the
iblack body bearing the ''red spot
Cases of poisoning by this creature
are by no means rare. Tue compare
tive immunity thus far enjoyed by the
public is probably due to the fact that
spiders, as rule, never attack human
beings unless molested and then al
ways in self-defense.