New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-03-26
,5fatts and cEirtions.

the Nile, relates very extraordinary one, which,
as we find it quoted by the Family Christian, Al
manac, and there is nothing to indicate the pos
sibility of its being used as a pia t'aas, may DC
regarded. notwithstanding its heavy denianu, -
upon our confidence, as absolutely worthy Oh tun
| credit The reptile, q species OF boa, haa oeoA
shot by Capt. Grant, who accompanies o@p'"'
speke. The latter says: ~ shnddefeu US
1 looked uuon the effects of his tremendous ayins
| strength For wards around where ne lay grass
and bushes and saplings, and IN ffact, eSeiyanis
except the more fully grown trees. Were aus 0'ean
4 off as though they had been trimmed Wl'a ah ihlT
mense soythe. This monster, wheh measuieu'
] was II feet Il inches in extreme lenSsh' Wh'ie
ronn5 the thickest portion OF its body the glf1h
Vas nearly three feet; thus provng,l believe 10
- IA ,orgest serpent that was ever automatically
heard Of" 1904 i,
Among the many curious facts connected with
garments. which apparently indicate ignorance and
,nnerstition, but really illustrate nothing more
A than actual though not adequate observation, is
the belief among the negroes of the West Indies
that serpents really have legs and feet or corre-
1 spending limbs, which they can be compelled to
protrude by roasting them alive. Now, the fact
is that the line of distinction between the order of
reptiles which includes crocodes, lizards, ETC.,
(sauria,) and that which includes serpents (ophi-
dial is so indefinite thatno ordinary observation can
tell where the one begins and the other ends, and
therefore the one is often mistaken for the other
Many saurians have their limbs partially wanting
and only rudimentary; and on the other hand,
| srudimentary limbs are found by anatomical eX-
animation in many serpents, and the rudimentary
hinder limbs of some, as boas, appear externally
| in the form of hooks or claws. +" ' 5. Y.
/ The excellent authority from which these state
ments are transferred -Chambers's Encyclopm-
| dia-giyes others, one or two of which may be
4 worthy Of note here. On a perfectly smooth
surface, as that of glass, serpent is quite help
less and has no power of locomotion. 'sThere are
4 processes in each vertebra which prevent any mo
ton except from side to side, that serpents are
quite incapable of the vertical unduatons SO offer
represented in prints" There still remains some
doubt on the curious question whether some ser
pents, when alarmed, swallow their young, ant
eject them again after reaching place Of safety
THE EXPRESSIONS OF TAxATIoN.-The oppres
sions Of taxation are made the burden OF dolctu
song by hungry patriots and constitutional pessim
/ lists the world over. We have abundance OF boti
, the expressions and the singers of them in th
country Just now. One of the latest of the forme
that has been complained of contains in it the pos
, sibility of efecting so much good, however, tina
!, it may well be doubted whether it may not b
{ hailed as blessing better calculated to keep oil
cholera and other dread diseases than all the quar-
J antne vexatons that ever were devised. W.
allude to the alleged fact that the assessors hav
, found some people so dirty that they feel war
! ranted in recording them as real estate and sub
jectng them to all its fiscal liabilities. Everybod
knows with what anxiety many citizens seek t
!. evade the payment of taxes, and is it not pos
, sihle, therefore, that soap and water may be re
sorted to in this case, ~ sr= -.u..-
II And those bathe now who never bathed BEFORE
s5 And those who ever bathed. now bahs the more
. to the great improvement Of the general hygieui
i condition? .5gs l@1tm alg-mM. .n Z
q LEARNING AND UNLEARNING.--Of all things
Q learn the most vexatious are those which involv
the necessity Of unlearning, and yet in these latte
+ days, these are precisely what everybody seen
IS bent upon pressing upon the world A pouderot
I, work might be written upon this subject and har
IT " do it justice. Webster alone would FORMS
o themes for volumes; and as for our school book
!, q library as large as the Ale1andriaa might !
filed with works pointing out their errors and cor
IS tradietions, their Innovations and blm
J, erfng platitudes. Scientific works ara expected
give Us more tolearn and much to unlearn, ,as know
!, edge increases But sometimes we find instance
Y in them for which we are hardly prepared 1t wa
bad enough for instance to have to throw up the il
e formation with which wehad been impressed and 0
s which we had relied with unsuspecting confdene
!, that Mount DhaWaagir was the highest mountai
n in the world, and to learn that Kunelinjinga wa
n the mount entitled to that lofty preemnence an
then again to unlear this for the purpose of accor
Z inr the honor to Mount Everest. That was ba
enough; bnt they were all so far off, away in IL
u unknown regions Of the East, that it did not see
\, so strange as whathas happened even in the Untt
o States on similar subject. Mount Shas
Z had long been regarded as the highest nounta
If in tlis country but now has to give way to othe
It that considerably surpasssit; and not only this
If a new range Of mountains has been discovert
q which exeels any other previously known. g
d Reconnaissance of the Sierra range, between Il
q parallels of thirty-six and thirty-eght degree
N recently undertaken, shows that this po
'r ton Of the State of California, previous
ar anexplorea and unknown, contains the create
. mass Of mountains, taking width and average el
N vationin consideration, which has yet been di
8, covered within the limits of the United States al
perhaps on the eNorthern continent. At one poll
O. within the field of view Of the explorers, the1
Us were4observed FIVE mountains of over 1000 fe
o elevation; and about fifty peaks which rose to
OF height of over Is, 900. The cuiniinating point
% Sierra Nevada in this district was, moreover, b
a, levedto be not short of $4,000 feet above the 81
~ level; and Prof. Whitney States that it is by
2, means impossible that some other points of Il
ol range are even yet more elevated" Who knoN
te but that we may yet be able to boast of the hig
n est mountain in the world as we can of SO MAJ
n other supreme excellencies-of' the 'mightie
re river and the biggest shanghai Of the most po'
ed erful iron-cIad and the most onderFul Dead Due
1, ALMANAC ITEMs.-A Almanacs always have be
ID great curosities, and they still remain so. Pa!
j ing ever the wonderful illustration Of the mysf
-, relation between the signs of the zodiac and t
! i different parts Of the human body, which acts
frontispiece TO most of the quack-drpg-pulfs pu
I lisAed under the name Of almanacs, and their
: 4 famous mpositions on the gullible ignorance
: the mass of human nature, We still find much
= which it would be hard to state the real intert
: or value to the general reader II is not dfficl
i, to understand that it may be gratifying to gre
~ numbers to be reminded, if correctly that tod
g is the anniversary of the fight at Cane river,
:. this State, in 1864 Not fewertperhaps, would /
i, rive satisfaction from knowing that to-day is I
anniversary of the forbidding of the circulation
~ the New York Metropolitan Record in the We
=. by President Lincoln in 1854 and that this is OF