Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-10

and across the dead coils of Fafnir that Si.
 gurd reaches out his hand to the treasures of
 Brunhlld on the glistening heath. What
 l more fearful in Oriental myth than Vystna
 l the endless thing that ths gods oyercopae or
 Kalinak, the black death or Ami, the throk- ] tier? Jason and Perseus, Feridun and Od;n claim triumph over the snake as their chief- I est glories, and it would be tedious te reca- 1 pitulats the multitude of myths throurh which ''the dire worm'' has come down fo l our times dignifed and made awful bv tbe honors and fears of the past The python ln the Geological Gardens, however though l it may stand as the modern reality of the old-world fable of a gigantic snake that challenged the strength of gods to overcome It, presents to us only one side of snake na- turs. It possesses surprising beauty and prodigious strength i; but it is not venomous Probably the more subtle and fearful appre- henslons of men originated really from the
 smaller and deadier kinds, and were then by
 superstition, poetry and heraldry extended to
 the larger. The little basiIisk, crowned kinc
 or the vlpers; 'the horned cerastes dire," a
 few Inches In length the tiny aspic, fstaI as
 lightning and as swift and the fablei cock
 atrIce, that man might hold on his hand
 first made the serpent legend teryibIe. their
 venom Was' afterward transferred. and not
 nnnstugslly, to the larger .sy ecies: It was
 the small worms, that carrieiI in their minute
 fangs such rapid and tt,less death which first struck fear into HIe minds of the an clents and invested tba snake with the mys- ter1ous and horEid ststributes whereto anti quity, from China To Egypt, hasteped to pay honor. Of the ve enomous snakes the Zoojog- lcsl ISroens resent many very fearsome ex- ampIes, and Alnful death, such as science is as yer power Tsss to sesest, turks within half 1 the cases n the reptile house. Eminent | n-is os 'ne most deadly is the surucuru of the l very one knows of the fatal da- | Dola or r.dla and the cobra-dicapello, the l IaItiesna Aee the ophiophagus, and the other AoA0 U -naltaar reptiles with poison fangs all l pl VIZ fch are to be seen in Regents Park put ne stranger from South America is their [I"A zn the certainty and rapidity of the dfsath that it inficts It and the python.
 tasrefors, may take rank as the representa- tsVes Of the two aspects of the snake idea in ] nature.
 In myth and folklore, however, the snake loea has also two aspects-ths one diabolieaI, typIfy1ng malignant darkness that is hurt tuI to man; the other benign. As the guar alan of treasures it is the faithful servant of US master. Thus every country has its ser penS which guards the all important tree of immortality and other secrets, and it's dra 1 gon!sh thing that defends some priceless pos 1 session. The Greeks only fed from Athens when they heard that the snake of Athens nad deserted the Acropolis, and few years ago the Nagas of India formally surrendered because their serpent-oracle had escaped frorn its priests. It is the universal guardi- oA tA0 uEd0E-WOEIu, W0SGQ0E we LOOK TOT 1t in the caverns of Shesh in Hindostan or under the ash Igdrasil in Norway. As being generally benign, we find 1t as Anantas, the infinite, lending itself to the gods to use it's body as rope, to be tied round the noun tain Meru when they churned the ocean as the benefcent rainbow of Africa, the ''feathered serpent' of South America, it s taught men religion, and gave them the gift : of wine; as Hoa, the third person of the Babylonian trinity, it befriends the penitent In Madras it is Brahmin in Bengal, as the ghost in the Bhila tree, D it is propi ious, Was it not 8 snake that fed the baby prophet with honey from the violets among which Evadpe, his mother, had abandoned : aim? But, whether we find it benign or the ;everse, the snake is always the emblem of wisdom. To eat it's Resh imparted-so the ancients said and so in some countries it is till believed-the knowledge of things oc- 'ult to the world in general, an understand ng of the languages of birds and beasts g cience of astrology and of poisons, and, cu- iously enough of perfumes Thus MeIam- ,us. the soethsayer of Argos acquired his orescience from the snakes which he had be- riended. So too, according to one myth, Jassandra- and so also Tiresias. The Vedas ttribute the origin of all knowledge toths