When little children get hurt, the first thing they usually ask for is a Band-Aid to make
their wounds feel better. But have you ever wondered what people used to cover wounds
before Band-Aids were invented? BandAids have only been around since the 1920's, but
people have been getting hurt for much longer than that. How people treated their
wounds in the past may surprise you. In addition to cloth bandages, people often coveredand cured their wounds with cobwebs. Cobwebs are made by members of the spider
family called Theridiidae. These spiders do not spin typical webs that look like concentricpolygons. Unlike the mathematically magical webs of their cousins, these spiders spinahaphazard, sticky, crisscrossed net in which they trap their prey. Most people associate
cobwebs with an unkempt house, primarily because of the dust that accumulates on the
adhesive strands of cobwebs But though it might appear untidy, the presence of cobwebs
does not suggest an unhealthy space. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Many types of
cobwebs are laced with penicillin, fungi that contain antibiotic properties. Alexander
Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, came across the fungi when working with a
colleague's cobweb collection. When the cobwebs containing penicillin came into contact
with some bacteria samples, the growth of the bacteria was halted, and the bacteria
samples died. The discovery of penicillin for use as an antibiotic changed the face of
modern medicine, as it helped treat many serious diseases. All along, that incredible curewas lurking in the rafters! It is no wonder that cobweb bandages were known for
generations as a medical cure. Not only did the webbing help to coagulate the liquid
oozing from the wound, but it also contained penicillin, a powerful fungal antibiotic that
aided in the healing process. By using cobwebs to cover wounds, people with injuries
were using antibiotics without even realizing it. Cobwebs appear in the folktales of manycultures: cobwebs made of gold, cobwebs spun into gorgeous gowns, cobweb swings, Christmas trees draped in silver cobweb dresses. These days, cobwebs are used as eerie
decorations in creepy Halloween scenes, or else they induce cranky frustration duringspring-cleaning. Instead of being frustrated the next time you reach up to clean a dustycrevice, try to remember the medical treasure trove tangled in your broom.
11. Based on information in the passage, which of the following best
describes the form of a web spun by a Theridiidae spider?
A) a concentric polygon
B) an oblong sphere
C) an imprecise mesh
D) an equilateral triangle
