The morning news., 1894-08-06
From the washington Star.

FOur-pound ToeQ-W Weird Expert
ments.
From the Washington Star.
There are in the world five great coilec-
tiogs Of snakes-One of them is in Wash
ing-on. the property of Uncle Sam: the
o-lars are in London, Paris, Berlin and
vienna--an of them belonging to govern
rsats. The collection here is hidden
from public view in an out-of-the-way cor
rFr of the national MUSEUM 1t is under
the ecare of DR., Leonard Stejneger, whoi is
known everywhere as an expert in rep
tiles
You do not admire snakes, I suppose?n
said DR.. Stejneger yesterday, as he sat in
his work room, surrounded by reptilian
sne.Imens in bottles of alcohol ''Weu
n is all a matter of taste. There was
Prof Baird, formerly secretary of the
Smithsonian Institution. He swallowed
the poison glands of rattlesnake one
day, Just to make sure that the venom
was harmless when taken internally The
experiment. was a risky one; | would have
advised him against It, At all events, it
Is well that he did not try the poison
glands Of the cobra.
"You see, p" continued the doctor, gently
stroking with his finger the head of a
harmless living snake, to give the crea-
ture pleasure, "the pOisons are different
Each Of them contain two distinct active
principles, one of which produces local
symptoms in case of a bite, while the
other has tendency to paralyze the ner-
vOus Centers OF the victim. Thei latter
prepOnderateS in the cobra venom A
wound made by the tooth of that species
Of serpent is a 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 mort1fcation of the
injured part, which may proceed so far
that the flesh actually putrehes. Cobra
poison in its natural state is one of those
fluids which, are able to pass through
membranes If swallowed 1t would be
apt to go through the walls of the alimen-
tary track ana get into the circulation in
that way"
SNAKES OF NORTH AMERICA.
Kicking out of the way two'large land
turtles which were walking across the
floor. DR.. Stejneger called attention with
wave of his hand, to shelves on every
side containing thousands of jars and
bottles of serpents and other reptiles.
Said he: "Of course, this collection is far
ahead of all others in respects TO the
snakes Of North America. Where do the
specimens come from you ask. Well
they are contributed mostly by private
individuals; people send them from
everywhere. You cannot employ field
agents to gather serpents because one
only comes across them by chance and oc-
Casionally. We obtain a good many by
exchange with stientifc institutions
abroad. Here is jarful of reptiles of va
riOus kinds, including lizards and batra-
chians, forwarded from Africa by young
Astor Chanler, the explorer. Not a few
specimens come to US through the depart
ment of agriculture. Any government ex-
petition, such as that of the Mexican
boundary survey commission, is likely to
furnish more or less Of such material
"Ihe specimens come in alcohol usually.
After being identified they are put into
jars, each species having a bottle to it.
self 1t may be desirable to obtain the
Skeletons OF some of them That is "a
very difficult task with snakes The flesh
must first be removed with delicate scis-
sOrs and fOrceps. Then the bones are
carefully scraped great pains being
taken to preserve the cartilagin0us ex-
tlemities of the ribs. These may be re-
garded as the feet of the snake, which
actually walks on the end of it's ribs.
The bOas and pythons have rudimentary
hind legs"
BHB HORNED TOAD ANDIHzARD.
The doctor reached to shelf near by
anu LOOh UuGEGlIOlll u Siudll anu pdELlcu-
larly hideous object. 1t was a horned
toad from, some desert region of the south
west. Evidently quite tame, it blinked
It's bright little eyes at the reptilian ex-
pert as he rubbed the front part OF its
head with his finger That it enjoyed the
operation was unmiStakable When
angry this animal squirts Jets of blood
oilt of its eyes to- distance Of about
foot This fact, long discredited by
SCipDficfC hap hoav Eel
Though called a toad, this creature is in
reality kind of lizard said Or. Stejne-
ger, as he replaced it on the shelf. But,
Speaking of lizards, the queerest one we
have seen for a long time reached US the
other day from New Zealand. it is named
the cyclopean lizard, because it has
third eye on the top its head However,
II is not true lizard, but a sort of con-
lectlng link between the lizards and tur-
ties The species is limited to a small
Island near New Zealand, and it has been
rendered almost entirely extinct by hogs
with taste for its flesh. 1t attains a
length Of threc-feet, but all of the big
pncs were eaten up long ago. The third
eye IS rudimentary, bus dissection Of its
structure plainly reveals the eye-sOcket,
the lens and a strand of nerves Connect4
ING with the visual tract Of the brain.
This eye is interesting chiefly because
IL corresponds to the third eye with
which every human being is provided.
The so-called 'pineal gland is actually an
eye that has become rudimentary. The
gland is of about the size and shape of a
pea. and issituated in the middle of the
head Place the tip of your finger just
above the bridge of you nose, on a level
win the eyes, and directly behind that
point about five inches is the gland. 1t
Suu retains somewhat of the structure of
dh eve. The anclents supposed it TO be the
center of consciousness and the seat of
The soul"
The doctor pointed to a big jar of alco,
uol III which single huge snake with
sIpes was cOiled up.
PYTHoS's ATTACK.
THAT is python, he said, but it is
q lola very large one. The species attains
length Of thirty feet and diameter ofa
.VoJ II | met such a serpent would my
81 SieatlFc knowledge give me a better
s"aAce IN an encounter with NJ Well
teraaps. Notwithstanding my en-
Ilslasm as collector, would
%rlanly run away if could Supposing
4a. the animal seized me- it is prob
".e that / would keep my wits
.er than the average citizen would un-
w sueh circumstances The only thing
II 'o would be to crap tho creature by
|'ya' and strangle H. The other day
,g7d statement TO the effect that the