It is neither the aim nor the purpose of this paper to establish the lethal property of spider poison; though I must acknowledge that, until I read the paper in _Insect Life_, I had no thought that its possession of such a property would be called in question. I shall content myself with calling attention to the pathogenetic quality of the poison of _Latrodectus mactans_, leaving my reader to discern the resemblance of its _tout ensemble_ to an attack of angina pectoris, and therefore to infer its homoeopathic applicability in that dread disorder. I shall not enter upon the pathology--various and much confused--of that cardiac seizure, because, as I get older, I find the "like" more and more of a "pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night," whilst in my short life I have found "pathology" as changeable as a dying dolphin--and every one knows that a dead fish "stinks and shines, and shines and stinks." CASES OF SPIDER BITE. BY G. WILLIAM SEMPLE, M. D., HAMPTON, VA.[J] [J] _Virginia Medical Monthly_, Vol. II., No. 9, pp. 633-38, 1875. "He was commissioned surgeon in the Confederate army, July 1, 1861; served until August 1st in the field on the peninsula; then placed in charge of hospital in Williamsburg; afterwards ordered to Richmond and placed in charge of an hospital, and remained until close of war." Failing to find any further trace of him I am led to believe that he has been mustered out of service by the Grand Commander. "Spider bites are of rare occurrence in this vicinity, but are generally productive of grave symptoms. [Isn't it bad taste for doctors to use the words grave symptoms?] I will report all that have occurred to me in a practice of forty years: "CASE I. September 4, 1853. I was called to see Mr. D., at Old Point, who had been bitten by a small, black spider on the prepuce, whilst on the privy seat, at 12:30 o'clock. The bite at first caused only itching of the prepuce, with a little redness of the part, but in less than half an hour _nausea_, followed by _severe abdominal pains_, ensued. A messenger was dispatched in haste for me to Hampton, three miles off. Before I reached the patient, at 2:30 o'clock, _violent præcordial pains extending to the axilla, and down the_ [left] _arm and forearm to the fingers_, with _numbness of the extremity_, had succeeded, attended by _apnæa_.