For fractures of the cranium, Pliny says, cobwebs are applied, with oil and vinegar; the application never coming away till a cure has been effected. Cobwebs are good, too, he continues, for stopping the bleeding of wounds made in shaving.[1217] They are still used for this purpose, as also the fur from articles made of beaver. In Ben Jonson’s Stable of News, Almanac says of old Penny boy (as a skit upon his penuriousness), that he Sweeps down no cobwebs here, But sells ’em for cut fingers; and the Spiders, As creatures rear’d of dust, and cost him nothing, To fat old ladies’ monkies.[1218] And Shakspeare, in his Midsummer-Night’s Dream, makes Bottom say to the fairy Cobweb: “I shall desire you of more acquaintance, good master Cobweb. If I cut my finger, I shall make bold with you.”[1219] Pills formed of Spiders’ webs are still considered an infallible cure for the ague.[1220] Dr. Graham, in his Domestic Medicine, prescribes it for ague and intermittent fever. And Spiders themselves, with their legs pinched off, and then powdered with flour, so as to resemble a pill, are also sometimes given for ague.[1221] Dr. Chapman, of Philadelphia, states that in doses of five grains of Spiders’ web, repeated every fourth or fifth hour, he has cured some obstinate intermittents, suspended the paroxysms of hectic, overcome morbid vigilance from excessive nervous mobility, and quieted irritation of the system from various causes, and not less as connected with protracted coughs and other chronic pectoral affections.[1222] Mrs. Delany, in a letter dated March 1st, 1743-4, gives two infallible recipes for ague. 1st. Pounded ginger, made into paste with brandy, spread on sheep’s leather, and a plaister of it laid over the navel. 2d. A Spider put into a goose-quill, well sealed and secured, and hung about the child’s neck as low as the pit of its stomach. Upon this Lady Llanover notes: “Although the prescription of the Spider in the quill will probably create amusement, considered as an old charm, yet there is no doubt of the medicinal virtues of Spiders and their webs, which have been long known to the Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland.”[1223] The above mentioned Dr. Graham states that he has known of a Spider having been sewed up in a rag and worn as a periapt round the neck to charm away the ague.[1224] In the Netherlands, it is thought good for an ague, to inclose a Spider between the two halves of a nut-shell, and wear it about the neck.[1225] “In the diary of Elias Ashmole, 11th April, 1681, is preserved the following curious incident: ‘I took early in the morning a good dose of elixir, and hung three Spiders about my neck, and they drove my ague away. Deo gratias!’ Ashmole was a judicial astrologer, and the patron of the renowned Mr. Lilly. Par nobile fratrum.”[1226]