The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-09-06
SERPENTINE LORE.
Scientific Facts About
Poisonous Snakes.
Different Effects OF the Venom of Va
rious ReptiIes-The Deadly Ma
rine Snakes of the In
dian Ocean.

knows what he is talking about. Such
a one is DIR. Leonard Stejneger, in
charge of the reptilian department of
the national museum at Washington.
He said to correspondent of the Bos-
ton Transcript:
You do not admire snakes, l sup
pose? Well, it is all a matter of taste.
There was Prof. Baird, former secre-
tary of the Smithsonian institution.
He swallowed the poison glands of the
rattlesnalze one day, just to make sure
that the venom was harmless when
taken internally. The experiment was
a risky one; 1 would have advised
him against it. At all events, it is
we'll that he did not try the poison
glands of a cobra.
''You see,'' continued the doctor,
gently stroking with his finger the
head of harmless living snake to give
the creature pleasure, ''the poisons
are different. Each of them contains
two distinct active principles, one of
which produces local symptoms in case
of bite, while the other has a ten
dency to paralyze the nervous centers
of the victim. The latter preponder-
ates in the cobra venom. A wound
made by the tooth of that species of
serpent is mere puncture and causes
little swelling. The person bitten is
killed by paralysis of the nerve centers.
The danger of the rattlesnake bite, on
the other hand, is from modification
of the injured part, which may pro-
ceed so far that the flesh actually petri-
fies. Cobra poison in its natural state
is one of those fluids which are able to
pass through membranes. If swallowed
it would be apt to go through the
walls of the alimentary tract and get
into the circulation in that way.
That is a python" he said, but it
is not Il very large one. The species
attains length of thirty feet and a
diameter of Il foot. If l met such
serpent would my scientific knowledge
give me II better chance in an encoun-
ter with It? Well. perhaps. Notwith-
standing my enthusiasm as collector,
l would certainly run away if / could
Supposing that the animal seized me-
it is probable that | would keep my
wits better than the average citizen
would under such circumstances. The
only thing to do would be to grasp the
creature by the throat and try to
strangle it. The other day / read
statement to the effect that the proper
course to pursue in an emergency OF
the kind was to take hold of the tail
of the snake and unwind the construct
ing coils from that end. In my opinion
that would be poor plan to adopt
with a python, inasmuch as its tail is
the strongest part of it, being made
powerful for holding on.
THE tooth of rattlestakc or cobra
is SO sharp an instrument that beneath
a powerful microscope the point looks
smooth, whereas under the
same magnifier the point of q needle
appears rough. 1t often happens that
an ignorant person will remove the
poison fangs of a venomous serpent.
lInagining that the operation renders
Ehe animal permanently harmless.
This mistake is apt to give rise to fatal
accidents. Within a few days the next
two teeth behind the extracted fangS
move forward and establish a connec-
tion with the poison glands. Then the
snake is as dangerous as ever. Fal<irs
in India understand more effective
process. They cut out the poison
glands and apply hot irons, destroying
the parts entirely. Even the deadly
cobra may be rendered in that way as
innocuouS as kitten.
my scientific ardor has never in
duced me to try the effects of snake
bites on my own person. But several
of the people attached to the staff of
the National Museum have been bit
ten. Mr.. SCHNEIDER permitted n coral
snake to bite him in order that he
might study the results. Our taXider-
mist, Joseph Palmer, narrowly escaped
a nip from rattleSnalze, which was
torpid and came to life while he was
it. DIR. Schufeldt was bitten
by a Gila monster and suffered consid-
erably in consequence. A man ought
always to be willing to sacrifice himself
for the sake of getting knowledge. A
certain person in the employ of the
Smithsonian institution, whose name
will discreetly withhold, found a pea
nut in the stomach of Peruvian mum
my and ate it. He wanted to see if any.
thing would happen.
Among the most venomous serpents
in the world are the marine snakes of
the Indian ocean. They are the dread
of fishermen, and it sometimes happens
that vessels are obliged to thread their
cables through barrels in order to pre-
vent the reptiles from swarming on
board. Great numbers of them may
often be seen floating on the surface of
the water as if asleep. They are ex-
ceedingly fierce, and will commonly at
tack human beings without provoca-
tion. The so-called 'hoopsnalze' is a IA
vorite snake of the newspapers. 1t is
said to take its tail in its mouth and
roll like a hoop. This belief may be
accounted for by the fact that the snake
has way of accomplishing locomotion
by extending itself at full length,
its hinder part into loop and
springing forward, repeating the oper-
alton with such rapidity that to the
eye it might produce the effect of roll
ing hoop-fashion."