The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-26
brracting Some Popular Fallaoies About
Some Of the Most Noted OF tho
Wrig9lers,

ether more metallic character b the
otiop OF the shaking Of peas in q paper bag
Iouid REPRESENT. Bnt slight ~ the sound
j, the person who has never met one OF
hess reptiles before and who, without See
no the snake. hears for the frat time,
monQ mountain rocks or l%rairle grass, its
~elicate yet wonderfully distinct warming.
Knows instantly who and what his neigh.
Dor il.
1t is true that snakes may not be scien-
(ifcally divided into venomous and non
(enomous classes. for many families OF
makes have both harmless and enomo
varieties. The cobra, for instance. 10 OF the
Iamre family as the common hinged snake Of
England, which ID harmless. But the pit
viper. to which family the rationale be-
onRs, are venomous no matter where
found. TIT Indian pit vipsls. which. like
bur American pit vipers. the copperhead
onous. They are robust and short bodied
makes. in this resreot resembling our
western RATHER, but they live mostly in
trees and cause very few deaths. The pit
vipers are 20 called because they have on
either side Of the snout. between the eys
gin Of which mark 10 unknown. The rat
tlesnaks exists throughout the Ansri-
can continent from the Canadas TO
Patagonia. The use OF the rattle is
unknown. although thsrs can be
no doubt that the curious and unique
mechanism has had a bearing upon the
wide survival and prevalence Of the snake.
According to the theory Of natural sslss-
tion, the rattle would be an accidental var
iation which turned out to have q certain
utility - just what that utility 10 has.tnos
boon certainly discovered. II may have
.nru>I - vnra1vyA ia nr0v With f0ar Or
have acted as . charm in attracting the
prey. 1t may have been useful in keeping
its enemies at . distance. Some utility it
no doubt had. We cannot help thinking
that its use was in pat to produce terror
and that tho hood of the cobra had the
same utility. The hood of the cobra,
when expanded, has . very. terl tying
aspect. Some years ago Mr.. Froude. Mr..
Tom Hughes. and Charles Kingsley we're at
the London geological gardens and were
looking at = cobra in q glass case. They
we're trying tho experiment OF holding the
thumb against the glass without finchina,
when ths cobra struck, . feat whish none Of
them succeeded in accomplishing. When
the creaturs raised his handsome head with
expanded hood to strike. it was impossible,
although there was . stout plate OF glass
between, to avoid an involuntary shrink
When the Quarterly writer says that
snake charmers always extract the fanRs
if the cobra, we presume that he does not
refer to snake charmers in India. for it Ia
understood that Indian snake chsrmers
perform with unmutilated oobras. Or
course, these creatures when under the
hands of the ohArmer. move erect with
distendsd hood, do not go through the evo-
lutions of dance" but follow and try TO
bite the hands which provoke them. 1t IL
said that the Egyptian charmers, when
they convert the cobra into q rod, give the
neck a squeeze, which endows the snake
for the moment with a %convulsive rividity.
To the cobra is mainly due the featful
Indian mortality from q bite OF 10000
people a year. And yet the cobra 10 not
aggressive. There Ia At least one Indian
snake which is far more dangerous than
the cobra, although fortunately less com
mon. This is the hamadryad. 50 named.
we presume, from its being found in trees.
This 10 said to be the largest and most dan
gerous poisonous snake known, with the
possible exception OF tho bushmsstcr OF
Brazil. 1t is sometimes fourteen feet long.
This story, if true. may give some idea of
its disposition. An intslliQent Burman
told the Rev. DR.. Mason that a friend Of
his had stumbled upon a nest OF these
snakes, and that an old female gave chase.
The mar fed far and wide over hill and
dale and at last plunged into q river, hop
ing that on the other side he should ssoaps
his furious enemy. When he reached the
other side, the h%amadryad emerged from
tho river and rushed upon him. The man
bethought himself OF his turban and flung
it at the serpent, which darted UPON it and
for some moments wrecked vengeance
upon it with furious bites and then do
parted.
One Of the most interesting points about
snakes is the extraordinary character Of
many of the variations of ST. uoture which
nature has invented among them. There
are some snakes whose structure especially
fits them to be egg eaters. Their teeth aIs
not IN the mouth, for il the egg was broken
in the mouth the contents would be lost.
but are dow the throat and point town d
the eullet. When the egg is in the outlet
the snake squeezes it against these teeth
and breaks 1t. and in this manner gets all
of the egg. There 10 another snake whose
poison gland extends backward for q third
of its length. the hi srt being placed much
further back than 1t would DO otherwise.
The use to the snake of this great supply OF
poison is unknown.
1t has been suggested that mans instinc-
tive dread of the snake is a rsminiscenc
of his original tropical residence. where he
no doubt had good cause TO fear them.
This feeling of aversion ~ general, but ia
by no means universal. Shelley, for in.
stance. regarded the snake rs the emblem
of innocence. as will be seen in the Re
volt of lslam." The origin of this feeling
was probably his acquaintance with thu
little snake which lived in the tall grass
of the Sussex house in which Shelley
passed his childhood. There Is ar
impression on the part Of many thai
the snake has a .dsfectiVs oraaniza'
ton, which is certainly not true. A,
Owen said, the snake can outolimb til.
monkey outswim the fish. outwr estle tho
athlete. can crush the tiger, and jumping
into the air, can seize the bird On the wing
Snakes really walk with theiF ribs, which
are attached to plats-like scales. a very
good method of progression. They Ar
often represented in pictures rs advancing
by vertical bendings of the body. which they
never do. Tho mistake ia probably due e
the fact that the snake 10 n rather unfa'
a. miliar object and that artists have at
tempted to represent its notion without
having seen lt.-Nsw York Times. VI
-y-. Gaod Looks. 4I...4tA,
ara Good looks are more than Skin deep. lie
PENDING upon = healthy condition of all tn,