The Lake Charles echo., 1893-09-01

rAe FEAR oF SNAKES
why aIaay eI.IIa.sa saa aaa.s 90. :


why Many ehHdtsn and some crows Per-
sons Dislike TheHa.
There are many authenticated IN
stances Of children becoming attached to
snakes and making pets of them. The
solution Of a question Of this kind is
sometimes to befound IN thechiltlnind
My experience Is fhat when yonng chill
dren aee this creature its strange ap-
pearance and manner Of progression, Sc
unlike those Of other animals known TO
them, affect them with amazenAent and
sense Of mystery and that they fear il
just as they wonld fear any ether strange
thing. Monkeys arc doubtless affected
in much the Same way, although ia
state Of nature, where they inhabit for-
ests abounding with the larger construct
ors and venomons tree snakes, it Is highs
ly probable thas they also possess tra.
ditional fear Of the serpent form. IL
would be strange If they did not.
The experiment Of presenting Gagged
monkey with aserpent carefully wrapped
up in newspaper and watching his be-
havior when he gravely opens the par-
eel, expecting to fine nothing more
wonderful than the familiar SPONGE
cake OF suceulent banana well, such
an experiment has been recorded in
half 4 hundred important scientific
works, and out Of respect 70 ones mas
tors one ought to eudeavor not TO smils
when reading il, A third view ndghs
be taken which would account for our
feeling toward the serpent without es-
ther instinct or tradition. Extreme fear
Of all ophidians might simpl y result from
vague knowledge og the fact that some
kinds are Yenomous; that, ia some rare
cases, death follows swiftly on their
bite, and that, not being snfiiciently I'M
telligent to distinguish the noxious from
the innoeuous- all events while UNI
der the domination of sudden, violent
emotlon--we destroy them all alike,
thus adopting Herod's rough and ready
method Of Kidding his city Of one incon-
venient babe by q general slaughter of
innoeents,
1t might be objected that in Europe.
where animosity TO the serpent Is great
est, death from snake bite is hardly TO be
feared; tl.lt Fontana's 6,000 experiments
with the viper, showing how small IS this
amount Of venom possessed by this spe.
cies, how rarely it has the power to de-
stroy human life, have been before tho
world for century, And although II
must be admitted that Fontana's work
is not in the hand Of every peasant, tho
fact remains that death from snake bite
Is rare thing In Europe, probably not
more than one losing his life from this
cause for every $50 who perish BY hydro
phobia, OF all forms Of death the most
terrible, Yet while the sight Of a snake
excites in majority Of persons the most
violent emotions, dogs are universal fa-
yorites, and we have them always with
us and make pets of them 10 spite of tho
knowledge that they may at any timo
become rabid and infiict that unspeaka-
bly, dreadful suffering and destruction
on MS.
This leads to the following question:
Is 1t not at least probable that cur OK
cessive fear of the serpent, 50 unworthy
Of US as rational beings, and the cause Of
so much unnecessary cruelty, is partlp
at all events, result of our superstitious
fear of sudden death2 For there exists,
we know, an exceedingly widespread de-
lusion that the bite Of O venomous SER
pent must kill and kill quickly. Com.
pared with such ophidian monarchs a.
the bushmaster, fer de lance, hamadry-
ad and tic polonga, the viper Of Europa
the poor viper Of many experiments
and much (not too readable) literature
may be regarded as almost harmless --at
all events not more harmful than the
hornet, Nevertheless, in this cold, north
srn world, even as in the other worlds
where nature elaborates more potent
juices, the delusion prevails and may ba
taken into account here, although its
origin cannot now be discussed For my
own part am inclined to believe that
we regard serpents witha destructive
hatred purely and simply because we are
so taught from childhood, = Macmillan'a
| Magazine,