St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-09-21
The Rattle Snake.

From an article by Dr. .. w cir Mitchell,
on "The Poison of serpents," in the
August Century, we quote the following
'sLet US observe what hsppens when the
rattlesnake means mischief. He throws
himself into spiral, and about one third
of his length, carrying the head, rises
from the coil and stands upright. The at
titude is fine and warlike, and artists who
attempt to portray it always fail. He does
not pursue he waits. Little animals he
scorns unless he is hungry, so that the
mouse or the toad he leaves for days un-
noticed in his cage. Larger or noisy crea-
lures alarm him. Then his head and neck
are thrown far back, his mouth is opened
very wide, and the fangs held firmly erect,
and with an abrupt swiftness, for which
his ordinary motions prepare one but little,
he strikes once and is back on his guard
again, vigilant and brave. The blow is
stab, and is given by throwing the head
forward, while the half coils below it are
Strengthened out to lengthen the neck and
give power to the motions which drive the
fangs into the opponents flesh; as they
enter, the temporal muscle closes the lower
jaw on the part struck, and thus forces
the sharp faugs deeper in. 1t is thrust
aided by bite. At this moment the poison
duct is opened by the relaxation Of the
muscle which surrounds it, and the same
muscle which shuts the jaw squeezes the
gland and sJives it's venom through the
duct and hollow fang into the bitten part.
SIN so complicated series of acts there
is often failure. The tooth strikes on
tough skin and doubles back or fails to
enter, or the serpent misjudges distance
and falls short, and may squirt the venom
four or five feet in the air, doing no harm.
I had curious experience of this kind, in
which snake eight feet six inches long
threw a teaspoonful or more of poison
athwart my forehead. 1t missed my eye
bv an inch or two. | have had many near
escapes, but this was the grimmest of all.
An inch lower would have cost me my
sight and probably my life.
"a snake will turn and strike from any
posture, but the coil is the attitude always
assumed when possible. The coil acts as
an anchor and enables the animal to shake
it's fangs loose from the wound. A snake
can rarely strike beyond half its length. Ii
both fangs enter, the hurt is doubly danger
Gus, because the dose of venom is doubled.
At times a fang is left in the flesh, but
this does not trouble the serpent's powers
as poisoner, since numberless teeth lie
ready to become firmly fixed in it's place,
and both fangs are never lost together.
The nervous mechanism which controls
the act of striking seems to be in the
spinal cord, for if we cut off snakes head
and then pinch it's tail, the stump of the
neck returns, and with some accuracy hits
the hand of the experimenter- he has
the nerve to hold on. Few men have. l
have not A little Irishman who took
care of my laboratory astonished me by
coo1ly sustaining this test. He did it by
closing his eyes and SO shutting out for
moment the too suggestive view of the re-
turning stump. Snakes have always
seemed to me averse to striking, and they
have been on the whole much maligned.
"Any cool, quiet person moving slowly
and steadily may pick up and handle gently
most venomous serpents. fancy, how
ever, that the vipers and the copperheads
are uncertain pets. Mr.. Thompson, the
snake keeper at the Philadelphia zooloogi-
cal, handles his serpents with impunity ;
but one day having dropped some little
moccasins few days old down his sleeve
while he carried their mamma in his hand,
one of the babies bit him and made an ugly
to handle snakes.
IL saw, one OcGOOef, IN anglers, WHat
I had long desired to Observes snake
charmer. Most of his snakes were harm
less; but he refused, with well acted
horror, to permit me to take hold Of them.
He had also two large brown vipers these
he handled with care, but l saw at once
that they were kept exhausted of their
venom by having been daily leased into
biting on bundle of rags tied to stick.
They were too tired to be dangerous
have often seen snakes in this state. After
three or four fruitless acts of instructive
use of their venom, they give up, and
seem to become Indifferent to approaches,
and even to rough handling"