The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1858-07-30
About snakes.

tne cOTner Oi rOnrtn AnuMNn 6treetH
received from Wisconsin, a couple
of rattlesnakes. The largest and
oldest of them had eleven rattles,
and was dead The other couple
Of rattles, and was alive. Mr.. Scan
lin gave him to Petzh of the Shades,
and there he is in cage belonging
to gentleman, who was at one
time a rattlesnake fancier.
This gentleman has been the own
cr ofscven Of these pretty and in.
nocucns pets. They came from Mis-
souri,. Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky
and Ohio. lie grew go we'll &C
quainted with them, that he was
able to take them out Of tho cage and
handle them.
During their captivity they would
not eat. Two Of them he once fed,
by holding them in his hand, and
putting little morsels OF veal into
their mouths and forcing them down
with a stick Thinking they would
like milk, he. for q month, gave
them every morning a saucer oftresh
milk. But they refused to touch it,
and 80 he substituted water. This
they would put their heads into,
sometimes holding them under over
a mirute; but they never seemed TO
drink any. Despite the fact that
they ate nothing, they passed cxcre-
ments, almost invariably doing so
before a thunder storm.
The gentleman is OF the opinion
that they distinguish persons by the
breath. Ills own they became used
to, but when strangers came up, the
snakes became excited, and sct their
rutles and tongues to vibrating -
lie found them very quick of move
ment. They would "strike," when
angry, a hundred times minute.
They HI, We cartilagcnons fangs situa-
ted behind the hard, horny fangs
with which they strike. When
these latter are broken of, or cut out,
their place is supplied in few
weeks by the former, which grow
harl and strong. Sometimes they
have as many az ten or q dozen OF
these supply iangs.
As to the effects oi their bite the
gentleman has no personal expert
ence. One of the parties who fur
nished him with snakes, was one
who showed upon his arm the re-
mains of an old sore, which be claim.
ed to have been made by a rattle
snake bite. w zen bitten he applied
olive to the spot. and took dose in
tcrnaly. The remedies for the bite
are as many as there are pcrsons.-
Tie usuai remedy is whisky, taken
internally and in large quantities.
An Indian remedy, which is effect
nal AS We learn from Mr.. Wash
burn, an Indian missionary. to
wh"es horse it w,s aprlied--is the
Of the flesh OF an animal
inst killed. to the wound. In q lit
tie while the meat becomes tainted
and black; fresh piece is applied,
and so on till the meat undersoes no
change of colon, when the danger
from the wound is at an end.
There are apparently, some peo-
pie whom snakes do not bite, or who
when bitten, experience noill effects.
Some negroes IN Kentucky, and 9TH
or South 'rn states. handle vcnor..9us
snakes with impunity. A medical
gentleman who spent many years in
Su-inan, informs us that tae negroes
there innoculate themselves with
the ashes Of the burned fangs Of a
certain species of venomors snake.
They then have a charmed life which
snakes do not injure. The subjects
of snake charming and of innocula.
tion are interesting, and worthy oI
scientific observation.-[ Cincinnati
Tasette.