It is shown to be consistent
with set theory that there is a cardinal κ and a Hausdorff space X such that cf
(κ) > ω and sp (X) = κ and X contains no discrete subspace of cardinality κ; also, if
X is a Hausdorff space such that cf (sp (X) = ω and X does not attain its
spread, then X contains a subspace of a certain canonical form with the same
spread.