Medicine: Professor v. Spider

In his laboratory at the University of Alabama’s medical school, Professor Allan Walker Blair, 33, has discovered that the “black widow” spider’s poison kills rats and mice, makes guinea pigs sick, does not bother dogs and cats. He has long wondered how it would affect human beings. Last week he found out.

For experimental subjects he had his choice of Mrs. Blair, two students. He rejected all three, picked himself. A spider bit his little finger. A sharp pain shot through his hand, quickly spread up to his shoulder. Violent abdominal cramps doubled him up. His blood pressure plummeted. Gasping with pain, Professor Blair insisted on having his heart action recorded on a cardiograph before he would take narcotics. Two days in a hospital gave him time to reflect on the “black widow’s” virulency. He has not yet analyzed its poison, but is sure it is not comparable to any other spider poison in his experience.