Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1832-11-06
GAZETTE.
From The Nesc England GALAXY.
SERPENTS.

| to the public in the course Of few years.
Serpents have generally been held ia utter de-
testation, in all ages of the world. Though ba,
| few varieties are actually yenomous, the horror
inspired by such as mankind have suffered BIZ,
has been the means Of calling into vigorous &C
! ton, the hatred and eternal warfare against them,
OF the whole human race. The original curse
pronounced upon the Serpent, in the garden OF
Eden, still pursues the in all its varied rami.
fication. ''And the Lord God said to the Ser
pent, because thou hast done this. thou art cursed
above all cattle, and above every beast Of the
field: upon thy belly shalt thou,go, aud dust shalt
thou eat all the days Of thy life. will put er.
mrv between thee and the woman and between
Der heel ant, thy head it shall bruise thy head.
aud thou shalt bru,,e his heel" This enml!y still
exists with undiminished hatred all men. in all
nations, with unsparing exertions, btuse his head
wherever it can be dOne-and were not the Ser
pent prolific, almost beyond credi6i'ity, the race
would have been extinct in the earliest ages of
man Notwithstanding this eternal warfare, It
still exists with all these characteristics which
excite our horror, our tear and our uudyng VEN
geance.
Though spread over al the known countries of
the world, il is only IN the torrid zones that
they attain that formidable siZ,, which appear
fabulous in the variations 81 traveile,S. Tempe.
rate climates arc cursed With the evi! of the,, be-
being, but their dimensions are altogether siSn,f.
cant. when compared with those huge monsters
that unduate over there plains Of Central Africa.
carving resolation in their track dispensing
whole caravans in the wilderness uf sand, ana
,wal low the mangled carcase Of the royal tiger
II a .ingle mOuthful.
Wherever they are diminutive in size, they
hava an--1-:-stsny, e"sI. lr-isi,in, ------
deadly as the far famed Cpa@-as uniaIi!ng III It's
action. and as certain As the grave. More north.
ern regions, where the sun gives less o It's cheer
mo influence or ~ those arctic boundaries ut the
world, where SHOWS and ice almost forbid the
existence Of organized beings. monsters, no less
appalins in their characters, find hablta,lon IN
their seas-bidt,ing defiance to the elements and
occasionally astonish the natural historian with
their gigantic proportions. Under all the various
conditions of life. true 10 the species. the Ser
pent exhibits its natural propensiles Tor insid'ous
devastation and its instructive prcdIiecuon To
steal and to STAY every animal which its superior
strength or its unsparlng poison enables 1t TO
overcome
Such are some of the prominent traits in the
general character of the Serpent tribe. Subse-
quent observations on the structure "t the inter
nal organs ard that arrangement OF muscular It's
sue. on winch t'ciI pftutidi ppN''> 90 ~ 'N'''N'
to strength and progression, depends, Will be
hereafter made.
In the earliest AGES Of the world, when there
was a strong and truly unaceountabie propensity
for wor>hppng almost every thing out the One
True God. idolatry fixed upon the Sun, a. the
most distinguished object nj alteration, and
that was rep essen Cd by serpent IL apparent
course in the heavens was indicated by serpent,
iormed into Cursed line---and eternity, having
neither BEGINNING nor end, was only represented
by a pertect circle, made BY serpent swallow
inc its tail len the hierogi yphcal language OF
ancient anthology, sui SEEN on those mperlsiia-
bic monuments of Egyptian sculpture, thr coils
of the ser pent are ne lasting memcntoes Il the
gross idolalry Of those remote generations OF
men.
This horrible animal was also an ancient SYM
Dol OF medicine and at ApDni'o and E'cuiap'us,
the gods who presided over the healing art anu
music. There i, scarcely known religious rite
of the pagan worship, that did not particularly
embrace the Serpent, under the nanes OF %
Ops or Phy,non.
Moses alluded to this species ut 'do'atry, in
the Goth chapter of Le,iticus-" The woman OF
Endor, who bad fan,lIiar spirit, IS called ouo
ob-meaniuy Phi, thonissa. E'en the place OF
her residence had us lame from the worship IN
sti,uted there Endor. being compound word
of En-ador. slgnfy,ns. saws the learned Bryant
fo1s piihonis or fountain of light This was IN
questionable the place where an oracle was es-
tablished. of the god Ador-or god OF light, pro-
baby founded by the native CaCaanites.
Our word adore was probably derived original
ly from .4dor. the objectof worship-also called
Adonis. History informs US that in the orge'ies
of Bacchus, the disciples carried serpents in their
hands, utterins the most horrid screams OF Eva
ys.-whch is the same epha, rendered 10
the Greek tongue ophis -denoting snake.
Symbolic worship had its origin, partly, with
the masi, the sons and descendants Of Chus. and
wherever those were located, their religions en-
braced a serpent, in come form.
The Greeks called APOLLO, Py,hon--which.
with 0upis, Ops or Dub, means serpent.
There was very sacred Serpent in Egypt,
called Tharmuthis, used to adorn the tiara ofroy
atty on the head Of Isis. All the kings Of that
country wore high bonnets, terminated in round