The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1889-08-08
A SCIENTIST ON THE RATTLE
SNAKE.
If You HAVE THE NERVE You MAY
GENTLY HANDLE Mosr VENoMoUs SER.
PENIS.

If You HAVE THE NERVE You MAY
GENTLY HANDLE Mosr VENoMoUs SER.
PENIS.
From an article by DR. S. Weir Nit
chell on "The Poison of Serpents" in
the August Century: Let us observe what
happens when the rationale means mis-
chief. He throws himself into a spir-
al, and about one-third Of his length,
carry the head, rises from the coil and
stands upright. The attitude is fine and
warlike, and artists who attempt to por-
tray it always fail. He does not pur-
sue; he waits. Little animals he sc0rns
unless lie is hungry, so that the mouse
or the toad be leaves for days unnotic
ed in his cage. Larger or noisy creatures
alarm him. Then bis head and neck
are thrown far back, his mouth is open
ed very wide, the fang held firmly erect
and with an abrupt swlftness, for which
his ordinary motions prepare one but
little, he strikes once, and is back on
guard again, vigilant aud brave. The
| blow is stab, and is given by throwing
the head forward, Will" the BALI coils be
| low it are Strengthened ont To leDgthen
the neck and give power to the motions
| which drive the ftugs lnto the oppon-
| ent's flesh; as they enter the temporal
muscle closes the jaw on the part struck
and thus forces toe sharp fang deeper
in. 1t is thust aided by a bite. At
| this moment the poison duct Is opened
| by the relaxation of the muscle which
surrounds it, and the same muscle which
shuts tie jaw squeczes the gland, and
drives its venom through the duct and
| hollow fang into the bitten part.
In 50 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 dis
lance and falls short and may squirt the
venom four or five feet in the air. doing
no harm. l had curious experience of
THIS KIND IN WHICH
a snake eight feet six inches long threw
a teaspoonful or more of poison athwart
my forehead. 1t missed my eyes by
an inch or two. [ have had many near
escapes, but this one 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 atti-
tude always assumed when possible.
The coil acts as anchor and enables the
animal to shake its fangs loose from the
wound A snake can rarely strike be-
yond half his length. If both fangs
enter the burt is doubly dangerous,
because the dose of venom is doubled.
At times fang is left in the flesh,
but this does not trouble the serpent's
powers as posloncr, since numberles
teeth lie ready to become firmly fixed in
its 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 a
snakes head and then pinch its tail,
the stump of the neck returns aud with
some accuracy hits the hand of the ex-
perimenter-if he has tie nerve to hold
on. Few men have. L have not. A
little Irshman who took care of my
laboratory astonished me by cool!y sus
tanning this test. He did it by closing
his eyes and SO shutting ont for a NOM
ent 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 ma
ligned.
Any cool, quiet person moving slow
Iy and steadily may pick up and handle
gently most venomous serpents. | fancy
however that the vipers and the copper
heads are uncertain pets. Nr. Thomp-
sor the snake keeper ct the Philadel-
phia Geological, handles his serpents
with impunity; but one day having
dropped some little moccasins few
days old down his sleeve while he car
ried their mamma in his hand one of
the babies bit him and
, MADE AN UGLY WOUND.
At present the snake staff is used to
handle snakes.
81 saw one October, in Tangiers, what
| had long desired to OBSERVE snake
charmer. Most of his snakes were harm
less; but he refused, with acted horror,
to permit me take hold of them. He
mad also two large brown vipers; these
he handled with care, but | saw at once
that they were kept exhausted of their
venom by having been daily teased into
biting on bundle of rags tied to a
stick. They were too tired to be dan
gerous. / have often seen snakes in
this state. After three or four fruitless
acts of instructive use of their venom
they give up aud seem to become in
different to approaches, and even to
rough handling"