Allan Walker Blair (1900–1948) was a professor at the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

's medical school who is best known for allowing himself to be bitten by a

black widow spider ''Latrodectus'' is a broadly distributed genus of spiders with several species that are commonly known as the true widows. This group is composed of those often loosely called black widow spiders, brown widow spiders, and similar spiders. Howeve ...

in order to investigate the

toxicity Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

of its

venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a st ...

in humans. As a result of the experiment he was hospitalized for two days, but later made a full recovery. The test was an attempt to convince skeptics who thought that the black widow's venom might not be dangerous to humans.

Early life and career

An Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan article notes that Allan Walker Blair was born in

Brussels, Ontario Brussels is a community within the Municipality of Huron East in Huron County, Ontario, Canada. It held village status prior to 2001. The most recent population estimate was 993 residents in 2021. History Brussels was settled in 1854, when ...

. His family moved to Regina when he was 11. He earned a BA from the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

and an MD CM degree from

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous ...

in Montreal, Canada, in 1928. After teaching pathology at the University of Alabama 929-34 he studied surgery at the Winnipeg General Hospital in Manitoba, Canada 934-35 Blair was the first Canadian awarded a Rockefeller Fellowship to study cancer at New York Memorial Hospital, in 1935–36. The Allan Blair Cancer Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada is named in honor of him.

Envenomation experiment

In 1933, many disagreed as to whether a Black Widow spider bite actually caused the symptoms reported. Until then, only a few similar tests had been completed and they lacked scientific validity for various reasons. On November 12, 1933 Blair allowed himself to be bitten by a female black widow spider to observe the effects of the spider's venom upon a human male. Blair chronicled the bite's effects on his body for two hours, until he could write no more and his assistants took over recording observations for the remaining two days. Approximately two hours after the bite, Allan was driven to a nearby hospital where the physicians who attended to him praised him for his courage but also for his persistence and skill in carrying on his investigation so long to such a successful conclusion. Blair also developed a protocol for treatment of patients bitten by a Black Widow spider. Blair conducted the experiment, "with a view to providing an opportunity for complete scientific observation." Blair initially hoped to determine whether being bitten provided victims with any protection from the effects of a second bite. However, the first bite proved so painful he chose not to place himself in the same position again. The physician in attendance was quoted as having never before witnessed "more abject pain manifested in any other medical or surgical condition."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Allan 1900 births 1947 deaths University of Alabama faculty University of Saskatchewan alumni McGill University Faculty of Medicine alumni