Synonym. Lycosa Tarantula. Natural order. Araneideae. Common name. Tarantula. Preparation. Triturations of the liver spider.
GENERAL ANALYSIS AND THERAPEUTICS.
The action of this position only from other spider poisons in that it is more persistent, the cerebro-spinal system being the seat of its primary effects, through which it causes, together with restlessness and great mental and physical depression, choreic phenomena of a marked character, being more severe and terrible in their manifestations than are those produced by great sexual excitement. The chief characteristic is that the paroxysms are quieted, sometimes entirely removed through the influence of music, a cure sometimes resulting therefrom. It is said that the patients will cause their bodies to move to the measure of the music, and are often led to execute a kind of a dance. Its chief clinical use, accordingly, is in chorea, with it is said to have cured in the most aggravated forms. It is also useful in hysteria, and some other nervous affections of a like character, such as hystero-epilepsy, etc. According to Allen, “its curative powers in these and other forms of mental disturbance rest upon a very slender basis, for it is probable that most of the mental symptoms attributed to the bite of this spider are purely imaginary.” It has also been used in nymphomania, and in dysmenorrhoea, menstrual irregularities, and various forms of disease of the female sexual organs, with the characteristic nervous phenomena of the drug. Spinal irritation. Multiple sclerosis. Intermittent fever, the choreic convulsions.
Compare. Agaricus, Cimic., Mygale, Stramonium