e account given by the physician to
whom the peasant carried the great spider.

"The boy who had been bitten continued screaming violently while his
stocking was being removed and the foot examined. The place of the bite
was easily found and the two marks of the claw-like jaws already showed
the effects of the poison, a small livid circle extending around them,
with some puffy swelling. The distinguished Dr. Amadei was immediately
sent for, and applied cups over the wounds in the hope of drawing forth
the poison. In vain all his skill and efforts! Soon, ataxic (irregular)
nervous symptoms declared themselves, and it became plain that the
system had been infected by the poison.

"The symptoms were very much like those of malignant fever, such
as distress about the region of the heart, difficulty of breathing,
collapse of all the vital powers, threatening immediate death. From
these first symptoms the child rallied, but his entire organism had
been profoundly affected by the venom circulating through it. His
constitution has never thrown off the malady resulting from this toxic
(poisonous) agent. The phenomena which have been observed in this young
patient correspond so nearly with those enumerated in the elaborate
essay of the celebrated Baglivi that one might think they had been
transcribed from his pages.

"He is very fond of solitude,--of wandering about in churchyards and
other lonely places. He was once found hiding in an empty tomb, which
had been left open. His aversion to certain colors is remarkable.
Generally speaking, he prefers bright tints to darker ones, but his
likes and dislikes are capricious, and with regard to some colors his
antipathy amounts to positive horror. Some shades have such an effect
upon him that he cannot remain in the room with them, and if he meets
any one whose dress has any of that particular color he will turn away
or retreat so as to avoid passing that person. Among these, purple and
dark green are the least endurable. He cannot explain the sensations
which these obnoxious colors produce except by saying that it is like
the deadly feeling from a blow on the epigastrium (pit of the stomach).

"About the same season of the year at which the tarantular poisoning
took place he is liable to certain nervous seizures, not exactly like
fainting or epilepsy, but reminding the physician of those affections.
All the other symptoms are aggravated at this time.

"In other respects than those