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Show I'OISOK OF INSECTS. DANGER FROM THIS SOURCE MUCH OVERESTIMATED. Bee Stings Mnj Cause Death, but the Fatal Case Are Rare Formic Acid in Poison of Ants, Wasp and Bee. f An interesting article on insect poisons poi-sons is contributed to the New York Sun by Dr. L. O. Howard, chief entomologist ento-mologist of the United States Department Depart-ment of Agriculture. Dr. Howard points out that the' danger from this source is very generally over-estimated in the popular mind. Everywhere among civilized people, as well as among uncivilized races, there exists superstitions regarding perfectly harmless harm-less insects. For example, the common com-mon dragon fly or devil's darning needles, are feared very generally by English-speaking races and children in this country think that these harmless harm-less insects will sew up their ears. Much of the common superstition abont spider bites is totally unfounded, unfound-ed, while the stories about scorpions and centipedes are grossly exaggerated. exaggerat-ed. The effects of intense nervous fear, following a physical Injury of an insignificant nature, are well understood un-derstood by the medical profession. Hence it is not difficult to understand eases of severe nervous prostration, and even death following a sting or a bite from a comparatively harmless insect The truly poisonous insects, that is, insects which possess poison gland and secrete poison with their bites or stings, belong in the main to two classes. Either they sting for protection, as with the bees, certain ants and certain wasps, or they use the poison to assist in the capture of their prey, as with the digger wasps, certain pedaceous bugs and all spiders. The mosquito belongs to a third class, and the purpose of the poison which it Injects is not fully understood. Insect In-sect poisons, as a rule, were undoubtedly undoubt-edly developed for use against other insects. Therefore, they are small in quantity, and, generally speaking, are serious in their effects only upon other Insects. The exact nature of the poison poi-son is not well understood. In ants, wasps and bees it contains essentially of formic acid. Cases are on record of the death of human beings as a result of the injection of poison with the sting of bees and wasps, as well as with the bites of spiders. Such cases, however, are rare. A number of cases are on record of death from a multitude multi-tude of bee stings. I know of a case, well authenticated, of the death of a middle-aged woman from a single bee sting. The physical condition of the patient undoubtedly had much to do with the fatal result. Another case of similar nature came under the observation ob-servation of Dr. William Frew of England, Eng-land, in 1896. The patient, a young lady of 23, was stung on the neck, just behind the angle of the jaw, by a wasp, the sting of which was extracted ex-tracted by a servant. A solution of arnica was applied and, as the patient felt ill, she was assisted to bed. She complained immediately of a horrible feeling of choking and of pains in the abdomen. The neck swelled rapidly, agonizing, and she died fifteen minutes after being stung. Dr. Frew saw the body about two hours after death, and found the neck and lower part of the body much swollen. The tongue was swollen to such an extent that it filled the mouth. The young lady was of a nervous, excitable temperament, and had shown symptoms of weak action of the heart The stings of bees and wasps have yery different effects on different people, peo-ple, and without doubt persons who habitually handle bees become immune im-mune to their poisons. Herbert H. Smith, who is a professional collector of insects, catches bees and waspa in his net and removes them with his thumb and forefinger. In his case, the forefinger is stung so often that it has become thoroughly inoculated, and stings upon this finger produce no effect, but if he is stung on the back of the neck or in some other part of the body the sensation is as painful as It is with another person. Authentic cases of death from spider bite are rare, although cases reported are of almost weekly occurrence. I have in-Testigated in-Testigated more than a hundred such reports in the United States in the past ten years. In many cases the reported facts were entirely erroneous; er-roneous; in the majority of cases no spider was seen to inflict the "bite; there were almost no cases in which the spider was seen to bite and was eaved for examination. |