There are two things in this article that may arouse squeamishness in certain readers: blood and spiders. It's hard to say which is worse, for some. Where the sight of blood is concerned, legitimate reasons exist to gag, considering it's the sign of a situation that could range from minor to lethal. Then, of course, there's the prospect of blood-borne pathogens in even the tiniest amount. As well, of course, here's always the mess (especially for the OCD types, not that they're wrong!).
Where spiders are involved, it's not merely the psychological factors of the creepy, ugly, hairy, truly revolting beasts. The fact is, they're poisonous and their bites can have effects anywhere from mildly painful to deadly. Not too many people can say they like these monstrous critters.
Oddly enough, though, these two subjects have an unusual link: in the event of minor cuts with minimal bleeding, spider webs make a quick-fix. Traditional Native Medicine teaches that, in such cases, gathering some cobwebs or other spider webs and smearing them onto the cut makes an efficient solution to the bleeding. (Of course, you'd want to ensure, first, the web's builder is absent.)
The reason for the success of this method lies in the fact that spiderwebs contain Vitamin K, which is known to be needed for clotting of blood. Additionally, the web's silk protein can be beneficial for healing of the skin.
One thing that's guaranteed: after applying a cobweb to a cut on a finger, for instance, you WON'T put it in your mouth to soothe the pain.
There are numerous sources of spiderwebs in the Detroit area; beware of the more dangerous varieties such as the Black Widow, which DOES live in MI, and the Brown Recluse, which is rare here but is occasionally found (see http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12145_12204---,00.html)
This article is dedicated to the memory of Mohawk Chief Pale Moon, of the Six Nations Reserve, Onondaga, Ontario, who taught this Examiner about this remedy.
Comments