The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-11-17

WHICH HOLD THEIR GROUND m DE-
FIANCE OF EDUCATlON

Snakes Eatchcd in Human stomach.
Particulars Set Forth sol,er'y and in
Apparent Good Faith--,Scy. ~papcrs Not
Altogether BIameIcss.
England's laureate wrote, many years ago,
that knowledge grows, bat wisdom fingers"
1t Is however, open to doubt whether knowl-
edge is not quite as much given to lingering
as wisdom. The popular beliefs which still
hold their ground il defiance Of educational
processes are often nothing I--s than amazing,
and Of this the daily papers from time to
time afford proof For instance, an esteemed
contemporary tho other day published as a
special a story about a man suffering from
living snakes il his stomach. The narrative
was circumstantial and specific. The man
was supposed to have swallowed the eggs Of
these snakes three years ago. They were
hatchcd IN his stomach. They lived there,
two Of them for two years aEi the third for
three years and they gave the poor man
great deal OF pain and trouble. All the par
ticulaIs were set forth - sobcrly and aI-
parcntly III Us good faith rs though we were
all st.u il the middle ages, and rs though the
science Of physiology had not emerged from
81 crude and infantilc state.
No doubt thousands Of people read that
story without questioning its truth, and it is
c4uaIly certain that the majority Of them
lel!. upOu such narrative rs in no way max
ing an undue demand upon their crclulity.
That man should swallow young snake or
Il snakes egg and that it should develop and
live in his stomach i, of course, the kind Of
warm which nobody could accept who had
the smallest knowledge of physiology, because
such knowledge would convince them that
the alleged fact was an iuIoSsihility. that
the snakes eggs it swallowed would not be
Iltched, but digested; that a young reptile,
il it should or could find its way into a human
stomach. would incontincntly die there, and
That all stories of live snakes harbored in
peoples H.SidcS are necessarily inventions OF
the crudest description. But though every
s,.hoolboy ought to know this, it Is only too
/ evident that great many people do not
know it, ami that these continue to put faith
in fictious. the fundamental alsurdity Of
which might commend them 10 the simple
abori1iuCs. In the story of the snakes already
referred 10 il is Gravcly stated that one OF
/ the elected ophidaus was a garter snake Tho
{ story would have bceu Just as true if an ana
+ conda had been selected 20 figure in it.
/ The newspapers that print ridiculous lies Of
. this kind are not altogether llamelcsS, for
/ though they 10 not directly iudurSg the state
| ments they give currency to them, and no
/ doubt there are many confiding folks who
I still believe things because they find them in
I the papers. But considering the immense
revenues spent on popular education in this
country it j. not unreasonable to expect, ut
. The close Of the Nineteenth century. an cman-
ciDatiou from g least the more crude popular
fIIlacigs which ignorance formerly fostercd,
and when such grotc-Quc cases OF crcdulity
rs the Mercer county, o, story of the man
being converted into a red hot statue occur,
and the dissemination and growth of the
stories show how wide j. the area Of Egyptian
. darkness which favors the evolution Of such