The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1884-05-14
THE MYSTERY EXPLAINED.
HOW CERTAIN MEN AoQUIRH A
POWER OVER sERPENTs.
snake Charming, as Explained by
Those Who Practice It-HOW
snakes are Caught aud Trained.

Those Who pra artice It-HO "
snakes are Caught aud Trained
To the majority of people the power
possessed by snake-charmers is so mystic.
rious as to partake plainly of the "black
art" Part of this credulity has its
origin in the instructive human fear of a
snake and shrinking from its touch. For
investigation goes to show that the
snake-charmers' "magicn is. even in its
most remarkable manifestations, very
simple matter. 1t should be remembered
in the first place that a very large class
Of snakes are perfectly harmless. They
seldom bite, and even when they do the
wound inflicted is as innocent as one
made by the milk teeth of a babe.
But there is uuquestioned testimony to
show that the snake-charmers of India
and Egypt and other Oriental countries
do perform with serpents of the most
venomous class. In our own country,
too, we have had the rattlesnake on ex-
hibiton, perfectly tame, and obedient to
every word and motion of its keeper
The rattleSnake, be it remembered is
one of the great deadly snakes of the
world, being classed with the coral
snake of Central America, the horner asp
of Egypt, and the cobra di capello of
India. The question is whether these
dangerous reptiles are not by some
means rendered innocuous before their
''charmers" attempt to take their
usual liberties with them. There is
reason to believe that this is generally
the case. If many persons would be
found unable to describe a snakes meth
od of locomotion, a still larger number
would be wholly at sea in defining its
mode of inficting its deadly W ound, or
''sting, as it is usually called. A few
persons may be found in Chicago to-day
who suppose that snakes ''sting" is in
its tail. This is the survival of very
old belief, founded no doubt on the fact
that many snakes have tails terminating
in pointed, horny spine.
A still larger class of persons believe
the snakes agent of mischief to be his
forked tongue. For this mistaken idea
the poets and artists are largely respon-
sible. The references to the ''venomed
tongue" of serpents in literature are in
Vulnerable, and almost all pictures of
venomous snakes portray them with open
mouth and long, protruding tongue
thrust out like pitchfork to wound any
rash individual that may approach within
its range. The snake, however, usually
slows away its tongue in a clothed sheath
in the lower part of its mouth when it
distends its jaws. This organ is its hand,
its sense of touch, and is guarded from
every possible injury. Were you to
watch a snake gliding through the grass
you would see its thin, parted tongue
protruding about an inch and half from
slit in its closed lips and moving from
side to side with the utmost quickness.
feeling every part of the way as the rep
tile glided on. This tongue serves the
same purpose of protection to its owner
that her whiskers do to cat, or its an
tenn@ to an insect. It is of soft flesh,
tapering to two points as fine as hair, and,
says writer on ophiology, ''no more
venomous than lady's tongue, perhaps
even less So"
The snake does not sting. It bites
and this with a pair of very sharp teeth,
called fangs. These fangs are situated
at the front extremity of the upper jaw,
and fold back upon the jaw like clasp
knife. When the snake opens its mouth
widely to strike, the action lifts the teeth
in convenient position to bite with.
The fangs are hollow, and through them
is forced by the muscular act of biting a
drop or two of the deadly poison which
is secreted by the salivary glands in the
back part of the jaw. Before snakes
were used for the purposes of charmers
these fangs are removed. To be sure
they grow again Immediately, as nature
provides much more carefully for the
preservation of the lower than the higher
species, and in three weeks the reptile is
as dangerous as ever. This renders
necessary a periodical removal of the
fangs, which is not difficult operation,
as holding the snake firmly by the loose
skin at the back of the head the laws
are forced open, and the venemous teeth
can be extracted in an instant, with a
pair of pliers. 1t also makes necessary
tanning of the reptile, so as to make it
amenable to its keepers voice and touch.
Snakes are possessed of a very low grade
of intelligence, but they can be tanned,
and when their instructive fear of injury
from the presence of man is removed,
they manifest no tendency to injuTe him
for the disposition of snake to bite is
Its instinct of self-preservation only, so
inherent that viper Just Matched from
the egg, will resent a rude touch with a
snap of its small jaws. The snake is a
most timid creature, too, and, unless
trodden upon or otherwise hurt or
frightened, viii never attack man or other
animal, but hurriedly escapes from their
presence.
In tropical and newly-settled countries
where they abound they will often seek
the abodes of men, it is true, but this is
always in search of food or warmth, OF
perhaps from a curiosity to learn the
nature of these intruders upon their
hitherto lonely haunts. If unmolested,
they will depart without harming any
one. This is proved by universal testi-
mony. But they are so timid that noise,
or any movement on the part of one near
them, is taken as a threatened attack,
and quick as lightning comes the defen-
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