Along came a spider: Medicine ’s most famous spider eponyms

Spiders have long been admired for the beauty of their webs. They are celebrated in popular culture as well as in medical eponyms. This contribution provides the historical background for three spider-related eponyms: nevus araneus (spider angioma), arachnodactyly, and the arachnoid mater. Nevus araneus was first named and described by Sir Erasmus Wilson in 1842. Arachnodactyly was described in 1896 by Antoine Marfan using the term pattes d ’araignée, which means spider legs. In 1902, Emile Charles Achard proposed the term arachnodactyly for this clinical finding.
Source: Clinics in Dermatology - Category: Dermatology Authors: Tags: Reflections on Dermatology: Past, Present, and Future Edited by Leonard J. Hoenig, MD Source Type: research