The Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1893-1901, 1893-09-30
Saturday. September 30. 1893.
THE FEAR OF MAXI
Why Many Children aad Some Grown Per
sOns Dislike Them.

uhy Many Children asaa Some Grown Per
sons Dislike Them.
There are many authenticated in
stances of children becoming attached Il
snakes and making pets Of them. Tx
solution Of a question Of this kind il
sometimes TO be found in the child mind
My experience is that when young chill
dreiI see this creature its strange ap
pearance and manner of progression, &
unlike those of other animals known Il
them, affect them with amazement an(
q sense of mystery and that they fear il
just as they would fear any other strang'
thing. Monkeys are doubtless affected
in much the same way. although in
state of nature, where they inhabit for
ests Astounding with the larger construct
ors and tree snakes, it is high
ly probable that they also possess a ira
ditional fear of the serpent form. /
would be strange if they did not.
The experiment Of presenting a caget
monkey with a serpent carefully wrapped
up in a newspaper and watching his be
havior when he gravely opens the par
Gel, expecting to fine nothing more
wonderful han the familiar sponge
cake or ~sueculent banana-well. sucl
an expert men has been recorded il
half a hundred important scientific
works. ard out of respect to ones ms
tiers one ought to endeavor not to smil.
When reading it. \ third view might
be taken which would account for Gu
feeling toward the serpent without ii
Their instinct or tradition. Extreme feal
of all ophidians might simply result from
q vague knowledge of the fact that som
kinds are ~yenoInous: that. in some rar,
cases, death follows swiftly on thei,
bite, and that. not being sufficiently in
telligent to distinguish the noxious frolI
the innocuous-at all events while mn,
der the domination of a sudden, violent
e~motion-we destroy them all alike
thus adopting Herod's rough and ready
method of Kidding his city of one incon,
venient babe by a galeral slaughter OF
innocents.
1t might be objected that in Europe,
where luminosity to the serpent is great.
est. death from snake bite is hardly to be
feared; tit F%ontana's 5000 experiment,
with the viper. showing how small is the
amoun of venom possessed by this spe.
cies. how rarely it has the power to de.
stroy human life. have been before the
world for IA century. And although il
must be admitted that F~ontana's work
h not in the hand of every peasant. the
fact remains that death from snake bite
il a rare thing in Europe. probably not
more than one losing his life from this
cause for every $50 who peri ii by hydro.
phobia, of all forms Of deash the most
terrible. Yet while the sight Of a snake
excites in a majority Of persons the most
violent emotions. dogs are universal f.,
v~orites, and we have them always with
us and make pets of them in spite of tl.e
knowledge that they may at any time
become rabid and intlict that unspeaka.
bly, dreadful suffering and destruct -
on us.
This leads TO the following quest =.
Is it not at least probable that our nS-
cessiye fear Of the serpent, SO unworthy
of us as rational beings. and the cause of
SO much unnecessary cruelty, is partlp
at all events, a result of our superstitious
fear of sudden death! For there exists,
We know. an exceedingly widespread de-
tusion that the bite Of a SER
pent must kill and kill quickly. Com
pared with such ophidian monarchs as
the bushmaster. fer de lance, hamadry-
ID and tic polonga, the viper of Europe
the poor viper of many experiments
and much mot too readable) literature
may be regarded as almost harmless-at
al events not more harmful than the
hornet. Nevertheless. in this cold, north
arn world. even as in the other worlds
where nature Celebrates more potent
juices, the delusion prevails and may be
taken into account here, although its
origin cannot now be discussed. For my
own part l am inclined t o believe that
we regard serpents witha destructive
hatred purely and simply because we are
% taught from childhood .-Macmillan's
Magazine.