Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 October 1893 — Beware the Bite of Anger. [ARTICLE]

Beware the Bite of Anger.

A Vienna scientist has made a series of interesting experiments with the virus of such insects as bees and wasps, and comes to the conclusion that the effectiveness of the irritating substance depends largely upon the mood of the insect. A drop of the fluid taken from the poison bag of a dead hornet, for instance, produces a slight itching, but nothing resembling the infla.mTna.tirm caused Dy a hornet sting with a much smaller quantity of the same virus. The theory is supported by the curious fact that under the influence of rage the saliva of all sorts of otherwise harmless animals can become virulent enough to produce alarming and even fatal symptoms. Death by blood poisoning has more than once resulted from the bite of a wounded squiiyel, a chipmunk, or a caged rat.