The Dillon tribune., 1883-02-10
PROFESSOR HUXLEY ON sNAxrs,

YESTERDAY evening the opening lecture
ut the London institution for the season
was delivered by Professor Huxley. F. L. s.,
to very crowded audience, his subject
being +" Snakes" than which. he said, there
were. In the popular apprehension, few
animals more symbolical Of degradation
and horror. Quoting the primeval curse
in Genesis. he remarked that no creatures
seemed more easily destroyed by man, and
few less abe to defend themselves. Few
wounds would be less harmful than a
snakes bite, were it nothing more than the
sudden closing of the teeth. Yet there
were not many animals gifted with 80 many
faculties 1t can stand up erect, climb as
well as any ape, swim like fish, dart for.
ward, and do all but fly in seizing its prey.
The destructiveness Of snakes to man was
illustrated by the fact that twenty thous.
and human lives are yearly lost in India by
their poison, and it might safely he said
that they are more deadly en. my to our
race than any other beasts of the field.
Professor Huxley spoke first of the three
classes Indigenous to cur climate-the ring-
ed snake. coroneia and the viper. OF these
the viper alone was venemous, which the
difference between it's structure and that
Of tie harmless British snakes helped to
explain. 1t might he that the eason there
were no snakes in Ireland was the multi.
p'icity Of its other ragues. Every body
must be struck with the beauty Of the
harmless snakes, which formed the over
whelning majority especially the grace
With which they wreathed their bodies into
circles, and their fine eyes. The venemous
snakes were not so beautiful None nd.
mired our native viper, with its yellowish
scales To adults its bite was far schooner
serious than to the young. Passing to
snakes in general. Of which there were
many hundreds of distinct species. the lee.
turer illustrated in detail the adaptation Of
their organization to its manifold work.
Very graphic was his description of the
manner IN which some OF the more dcstruc-
tive snakes dart suddenly on their prey,
twisting themselves round its holy. crush.
ing it into a shapeless and writhing mass.
and at lust swallowing it whole. He pointed
out some very curious arrangements in the
anatomical mechanism and jaw bones, illus.
trative of the statement that the snake can
properly be said to swallow his prey; he
holds on to it rather, gradually working it
down his throat in most lesiurely manner,
but never letting it go. He would take a
task, and ii the morsel wern really too big.
would sometimes die in the effort to get it
down. Of course, the snake requ red very
fully. developed and effective apparatus of
salivary glands for this purpose. The
poison-bag Of the venemous snakes was
nothing but modification Of the salivarv
glands of the harmless species. the structure
OF both kinds being in almost oil respects
not only parallel throughout but almost
identical A another instance Of the close
relationship, It was shown that the sharp
channel.needle which conveys the poison Of
the cobra and its congeners is nothing but
the development of the tooth which these
murderous reptiles possess in common with
the innocous snakeA The fact that the
salivary gland was tho poisoned laboratory