Medicine: Arachnidism

The bite of a black-widow spider, which is common all over the U.S., is seldom fatal—but the pain is well-nigh unbearable. The victim suffers from something called arachnidism. He thrashes around in agony for one or two days, hurts for several more. His abdomen becomes as rigid as a board. His legs draw up in a series of spasms. None of the 60 remedies so far recommended by the medical books gives very notable relief from the spider's bite.

When a Negro boy in Charleston, S.C. was bitten, the doctors began running through the usual drugs. But 45 minutes after the injection of calcium gluconate, the boy still cried out with pain. After another shot he seemed to get worse. A slow injection of salt and sugar was no help; pentobarbital sodium, codeine and Aspirin left him still twitching on the bed. Pentobarbital sodium was tried again, to no effect.

After six and a half hours, Dr. James E. Bell Jr. decided to improvise. He gave a shot of neostigmine—recently used to relax contracted muscles in polio and arthritis (TIME, Jan. 15) and a shot of atropine. In 15 minutes the bitten boy's abdomen began to soften, his legs relaxed a little. In an hour he was comfortable except for a slight headache.