SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14975, 23 May 1914, Page 9

SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR.

SPJDER SENSE ANI> NON-SENSE. (By Sir Rat Lankester, X.C.8., F.R.S.) (Special rights secured by "The Press.") There is at the present dar—among the half-educated well-to-do classes and the writers in the , daily Press who aim at engaging their attention —a more general disposition than was the case thirty or forty years ago to dabble in "occultism," to seriously relate and discuss stories and theories as to ghosts, divination, second sight, and n.ysterious inherited memories of longpast' ages. This change of attitude is not accounted for by any discoveries of a scientific nature tending to give support to popular superstitions or to so-called "occultism." - The fact" is that there is a distinct lowering.in the etandard of' veracity and ■ sound - com-mon-sense which, not long ago characterised the best English, journalism. Newspapers, formerly written for serious men. now not infrequently cater not only for those who desire tit-bite of scandal, but also for lovers of mysteries and medical quackery decked out with sham learning and airs of .profundity. : .

The most recent among mysteries thus offered to the contemplation of the public lias been dubbed .• the "spider-sense. , V It is , related'that there are persons who not only have an extreme and unaccountable dread, andy dislike of spiders, but that some of them are brought irilo a strange state of nervous agitation.by the proximity of a spider, and may in iNot only is this extreme nervous, disturbance reported, ►liii it is further stated that such indiviuuals are* thus affected by the presence of a spider in'the' same room with, them,- even ■when; it is .not.jpeeu , by the sufferer nor its presence suspected, by others. The susceptibleiindiyiduals have insisted on" a seaTch being made for the unseen it is stated by present on such ' occasions -■■ that ~ after hunting dbout in corners and among shelves the offending spider has been discovered and ; Rejected, •whereupon the agitated, individual (a lady in one case)*.has.recoveredeeren- ,- ity. On this basis we are seriously,.and with an air of exceptional learning, asked to admit the existence, of a" peculiar sense—not that of-sight; of hearing, of smell, of taste; or of touch. This peculiar "sense" is assumed to be posseted by • some individuals' and not oy others, and to enable those r individuals to recognise the presence of a 'spider wheo other persons cannot do so. It is proposed to call this the "spidereeneo, and by the more elaborately fantastic of these wonder-mongers the maniffetation is compared to recorded cases in which a cat takes the place of the spider; and we are gravely assured that there is a i: cat-sense" which is similar to, but, of course, not identical with, the "epider-sense." Both "spiderKcnse" and "cat-sense are—l do not hesitate to say—non-sense!

■Wβ have in the narratives just referred to, a, statement of what is undoubtedly correct observation of fact, to which is added an-altogether: gratuitous aud fanciitd assumption, which it is declared is -a" necessary, or at- any rate a very jjrobable, "explanation" of the facts. The facts, which are" perfectly well known, are that individuals —men as well as women—are not uri-j commonly met with who have curiously intense fear of, or dislike for, certain atdmals or certain things, the dislike causing so great a disturbance. of_ the nervous system that the affected individual will-violently seek- to escape from tho'presence of.thehorror-causine animal or thing, and may scream and exhibit other signs of distress, or may faint. The mere sight of blood has this effect on some people; they faint —that is to say. the • nervous disturbance is such as to cause an arrest of the contractions , of "the heart and the supply of blood to tho brain. Even the word "blood" has that effect upon some people, whilst medical men find that many persons when lightly scratched on the arm in "vaccination, ,, fnint if the merest trace of blood appears; and, moreover, it is recorded that this fainting (a true collapse, and not a malingerer's sham) ; is''much more frequent when men are vaccinated than when women-are the 'patients. The sight or touch of a snake, even of a harmless kind, produces .excessive aud uncontrollable terror in some men and wonien, and also in some monkeys. A curious effect of a "shocking" sight is one to which I was myself subject in youth. If I saw anyone with red, inflamed eyes and everted eyelids (boggars used to exhibit themselves in that condition in tho streets of London), my own eyes at once became painful and suffused with liquid. Some people aro thrown into an unreasoning Btate of terror Cas most of us have had occasion to observe) when in a subterranean paseago •Oγ dungeon, and not infrequently faint in consequence. . Others exhibit a morbid horror of wide, open spaces, whilst the proximity of ft precipice produces in some persons excessive terror and physical collapse. A nnraW of such individual morbid peculiarities could b« mentioned. They have been studied, and their .nature and origin more or less satisfactorily explained, by medical men. ; They are individual and unhealthily exaggerated reactions of mental impressions upon the activity of ■ various organs -of the body by means of tho nerves "which supply those organs.

The special and exaggerate discomfort, or even terror, which some, common animals produco in certain persons belongs to this class of morbid and in-

rir»S uhar,tiee of **» nervous apmrt r foinen very usually in this pare, of, the world are thrown into a stateof nervous terror by tho presence ma room of an uncaged mouse. Apparently this is due, not to any instinctive dislike on the part of women *. mo^, B e; but to a fear cultivated Dy nones.-.told by them to one another rrom early.childhood, of the possibility °Lf i"^ o, when ala rmed and running a&out here and there in order to escape danger with a rapidity rendering it invisible, suddenly seeking shelter in their .skirts. The imagination has been cultivated i n reg ard to this possibility to such a degree that a mouee has become a bogey. Less commonly a bat is an object of special terror on account or its occasionally getting entangled in the hair. I a:n "inclined to think that the rapidly and suddenly-moving spider has in the came way established iteelf as a bogey— especially where countryfolk have added to its terrors by nntounded assertions that its bite is poisonous to man. As a matter of fact, though spiders have poison-producing fangs, with which, they ran stab and paralyse their prey, there is no evidence of any-European "spider causing injury to a human being in this way. Many naturalists have made experiments with different species of spiders ami have failed to exixftience any but the most trifling inconvenience from their bites — less than that caused by a boe-sting or the stab of a mesquito.

The whole story of thp -Tarantula*' — j a fairly largo spider common in Italy j and known to naturalist* as Lycosa tarontula—which receives its name from the town of Taranto, is now discredited. It was believed that the bito of that spider caused a peculiar sleepiness and also painful symptom* in men and women, only to be cured by music, which set the bitten victim dancing. Tho dance- was called tho "Tarantella." Goldsmith, the delightful writer of stories and plays.-declared in his "Animated .Nature" that tho whole thing was.an' elaborate imposture on the part of tho Tarantese peasants who, for a fee paid by a credulous traveller, would be. bitten, simulate apparent collapse, and then pretend to "be restored by music and the violent dancing of the "tarantella," which, they declared, they felt mysteriously compelled to perform. It was supposed that the sweating caused by tho exertion freed tho body of tho poison. Probably some tradition, from early Roman times, as to the dire effects of spiders' bites, may have had to do with the imposture, but it is also probable that the curious "dancing-mania" (described in Shakespearo's play of "King Lear";, which spread through Europe in tho "Middle Ages, and is spoken of as "Tarantisni/ , was connected with the introduction of an imaginary danger from the spider's bitej and its equally imaginary cure by dancing. The chief modern authority on spiders, the late Rev.. Henry McCook, I>.D., of Philadelphia, a copy of whose great book on American spiders in three quarto volumes published in 1889/ and presented by him to mc, is now on my table, has enquired into the subject of poisonous bites by various species of spiders very carefully, and has experimented on Hβ thinks it probable that the large "birds-nesting" spiders of the tropics (often called by the old name "Tarantula"') are capable of inflicting a" poisonous- wound on man, causing as much injury as the sting of a 1 scorpion. He considers that the size of, the animal and the statements made to him render this "probable',, but has never seen a case himself j though ho has handled many living specimens of these Jarg? spiders. The.most definite statements which he cites, concerning spiders' bites.are those as to "black spiders,", species of the genus Latrodectus (little bigger than a large specimen of pur common garden spider), which are found in New Zealand, in:the Southern, States of /America, and in North Africa. A carefully recorded case of serious illness.apparently due to a,bite of this ,kmd of spider is given by.a New Zealand settlor, and two. cases/ are recorded of negroes bitten in. South Carolina, one of which terminated fatally. But, on the .other-hand, a well-known, naturalist, "M. Lucas, experimenting :in Algeria, allowed this kind of spider to bite him on, many occasions, and suffered no inconvenience. None of the reports of serious results were quite satisfactory, for the spider was not clearly shown to have .been the actual offender, although found near the injured person. The,bite may.really have been'-that of a suake.- . '<"■...:

Dr. McCook states that even in attacking their prey spiders do not always '• make use of their poison, and that insects when swathed and bound by spiders, in their threads frequently are not paralysed or poisoned, at all, but remain ■ capable of. movement and recovery when liberated. He concludes that the poison is only exceptionally used'as a reserve weapon by spiders, and that its virulence probably depends on the condition of the spider and its degree of excitement, while "its .effect is very largely determined by- tho actual statp of health of the person bitten. On the whole, "we must conclude that the belief that any spiders do actually inflict poisonous bites on human beings is an example of that strange terrorstricken imagination which is prevalent in barbarous peoples, and in earlier times was common in Europe, and has largely survived to this day; for instance, in the country-folks' belief (I have come across it in Suffolk) that if you take hold of a toad your hand will wither and become paralysed. Theso curious examples of intellectual bondage and credulity among learned and unlearned,' alike belong rather to the natural history of man than to that of the animals" concerning which such stories are told.

We thus are led to bring the exaggerated dread of spiders into line with other ill-grounded antipathies and horrors caused by harmless bogies. But we have yet to examine the statement that persons who have this antipathy to spiders aro able to detect—in consequence of the peculiar nervous agitation set up in them—the presence of a spider in a room when no spider has been seen - in that room, and when , other persons present have no suspicion of its presence. The evidence on this point is totally inadequate to establish such a power. In a room in the middle of London no amount of searching would reveal the presence of a spider unless it had - been purposely brought there. In any house m the country careful search would, more probably than not, lead to the discovery of ono or more spiders in any room. Therefore, if a fancifurnervous person finds himself (or herself) occupying a room iv some country house whore spiders are likely to bo concealed, it is not surprising that the suitability of the place should suggest their presence, and the consequent nervous agitation ensue It is also not surprising that one or more spiders should be discovered in tho room when a search is made. There is no need to assume the existence in the agitated individual of any peculiar capacity for the detection of spiders, even such as a specially acuto senso of smell or hearing, let alone a "sixth sense"—a "spider, sense. Such an assumption is unreasonable and fantastic. Its truth could be'easilr put to the test by placing in different rooms-of a London house several perforated boxes, in one of which the expeimeriter has concealed a spider. Anyone with a. special sense or sensitiveness enabling 'him to the presence of an unseen spider should be able to point out in which room and which box the spider is concealed. It is only by such an experiment, carefully earned out with precautions to avoid any ordinary indications « V\^ e f? the spider has been concealed., that the existence of a "spider sense, would be rendered probable, and if the result

were favourable then the question would arise, "By which of the five gateways of sense has tke>pider made its presence felt?" The hypothesis that any animal, including man, is affected "sensoriallv" through any channel, excepting the known sense-ofgaYii. of the truth of which no proof has ever been given in any case—not even in .tho supposed instances of communication between human beings at a distance from one another—the unwarranted belief in which is encouraged, on the part of lovers of mystification, in the minds of credulous persons by giving to these supposed occurrences a pretentious name which begs the question as to their reality—namely "telepathy."

A parallel of the stories about sensitiveness to the unseen presence of spiders exists in those as to tho dislike felt by many people to the common cat and the discomfort experienced by them in its presence —a discomfort which is believed by many to bo excited by the presence* of a cat unseen and nnindicated by any of the recognised .senseorgans. This curious aversion to the common cat does exist to an acute degree in many men and women. It is stated by those who feel it that it does not extend to the laiger cats, such as the lion, tiger, and leopacd. It pr> bablv arises from a fear and terror or the 'domestic cat—established m cany childhood—by startling encounters wit'i cats in dark rooms and the foolish talK by older people about tho _ mysterious wickedness or" these wandering nocturnal creatures. It is not surprising that anyone who is a victim of the '•cat aversion" should now and then declare that he (or she) is sure that there is a cat in the room, although others present deny that there is. ami then that, now and then, when search is made, poor puss is fous.l curled up in some remote corner or on the top of a. bookshelf! Tlie "whirophobe or "cat-hater," will often be mistaken, but sometimes right, and the cases when he was right will remain in his friends' memory, and those in which he was wrong will be forgotten. A good instance of successful ' cat-dis-•coverv" was told to mc by the distinguished Indian official, the late fair Kit-hard Stradiey. .He and his wii,.', maiiT years a K o. started on a long dove in India in a"closed travelling carriage with a very great soldier, a well-known general. * They had not proceeded more than twenty minutes when tho general showed signs ot discomfort, fidgeted. looked about the carnage, and at last said, "If 1 did not know it was impossible,. I should say that there -s a cat somewhere in this carriage.. He maintained this attitude, and complained from time to time, until, alter a couple of hours, the carriage drew up at the first halting place. . Ti.c> all got out, and Sir Richard opened the luggage compartment at the back or the carriage, when o.ic stepped a somewhat annoyed, but always digm-ea, domestic cat!

The inference immediately suggested b\ these undoubted facts is that tlie general was gifted with a peculiar '•cat-Sense," and had thereby detected the presenco of pussy in. the rumble. Were we to accept this inference it would not bo necessary to suppose tliat the' "cat-sense" was. anything more than a very acute sense of smell. Wo should, indeed, not be surprised at all at a dog thus detecting the presence of a cat or other animal concealed m a neighbouring compartment of a travelling carriage. And there is thoroughly good evidence that though mankind generally, and especially, civilised man. has lost the acuteness ot emell-perc'eption which his early ancestors possessed, yet there are individuals in- whom it is even now exceptionally keen, and further, that it may act so as to cause aversion or attraction without the individual so affected boing conscious of the fact that ho is boing affected through his olfactory organs. Very interesting in this connexion are the cases (of which I have seen instances) in which, during the hypnotic trance, the acuteness of the sense of smell is enormously increased, so that the hypnotised subject could name different odoriferous substances when brought, one by one, into a room in stoppered bottles, though the olfactory sense of no one else was in the least degree affected.

But, on the whole, I do not think that we must conclude that the general had a special acuteness of nose for the smell of a cat. He was known for his confessed aversion to cats, and his boast that he could detect the presence of one by the strange sensations of discomfort which it produced in him. Th& experiment had been tried on him before his drive with. Sir. Richard Strachey, and some of his young friends at the residence from which the carriage set forth were repeating an old performance when they put tho cat m the rumble. Is it more probable that the general unconsciously smelt the cat, or that he got an inkling of the experifient arranged by his young friends? n the latter case ho must keep up his reputation, even should his suspicions, excited by their guilty faces and hurried movements about the back of the carriage, prove to be baseless. So Tie accepted the notion that a cat had been placed in the carriage, became uncomfortable, and declared that were it not impossible he should say there wae a cat in the carriage. If no cat had been found, his friends and believers in his cat-finding powers would havo said that there must havo been one there the day before! It is thus, it seems to mc, clear that there is no ground for launching out into mystical theories of "spider-sense" and "catsense," and I hold it to bo iniurious to those who are liable to believo what they Tead. that such theories should be paraded by writers who do not even know or care what a sense or a senseorgan is, nor what is meant by the investigation of Nature.