The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-06
THE RATTLEsNAKE's GAZE.


Unfortunate Affair in the Garden.
king Solomon" said the naturalist,
Acknowledged that there were three
things which are too wonderful for me,
yea, four which know not and one
of these was the way OF a serpent upon
a rock and for years the serpent's
mode of progression remained to men
of science as much of mystery as it
was to Solomon. 1t was thought that
the absence of limbs was a great dis
advantage to snakes, but the fact Is
their ribs take the place of limbs, so
that instead Of having two pairs they
sometimes have 200. Aristotle thought
they had as many ribs as there are
days in the month, but in fact the
number varies, and in pythons it
reaches 400. There is an Arabic tradi-
ton that Satan, on mans advent into
the world, gathered the entire animal
kingdom together and begged each
creature, one after another, to carry
him into the garden where Adam and
Eve had Just been placed that he might
speak to them. All refused until he
came to the serpent, which was then
the most beautiful Of the whole animal
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off and to crawl on the earth ever af-
ter, Stunned by all other animals and
ahhorrea and loathed nv men.
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ems oN-''''N
vehlrai shieias Oh so1fle pfoJectioa VI
the ground the rlps are uraWh losetn
er on alternative curves, some portion
OF the hlnd part OF the pody gains
purchase, ana the fore part is stralsht-
ened out, thus pushing the reptlle con-
stantly forward. IL IS an error 10 tnlnk
tnat a snake move FORWARD III series
OF vertical COILS or that II moves Win
rap1d1ty. FOLLOW any KIND OF large
snake ana you VIII ma that you neeu
not move raster than smart walk 10
keep up with 1T.
"That serpents possess the power of
j,,or 60 hot Syto
is generally denied by naturalists, as is
the allegation that they swallow their
young to preserve them from harm. 1t
is true that birds, rats, guinea pigs,
rabbits and chickens are known to
have shown no fear swhen placed in a
cage with snakes, but II snakes can
not fascinate, how can the actions Of
such creatures be accounted for when
they are confronted under some condi-
lions by snakes? Every one knows
with what agility chipmunk will take
itself off when approached by q person
trespassing on It's domain. I was not
a little surprised one day as was
walking through a wood to see one of
these sprightly little animals sit still
on a rock and pay no attention to me
as / approached it, although l had got
as near to it as five yards. The squir-
rel's side was toward me and the ami
NAL sat as motionless as If it had been
part of the rock itself 1t was gazing
intent1y in the direction of a log that
lay perhaps six feet distanct. stopped
and watched the chipmunk moment
Then I thought would fire at it with
my revolver to see If that wouldn't
rouse it from it's fit of abstraction. The
bullet ploughed the rock directly in
front Of the squirrel, but 1t did not
cause a perceptible movement in the
little creature. Then, noticing the star
ing, intent expression in the one eye of
the chipmunk. followed with my eyes
the direction of the gaze, and there,
on the log, saw a rattiesnake coliea'
It's rattles erect out slleht' ana lts DIG
head raised from the coli, us eyes
cleaning and hxed on the squirrel and
It's tongue dartlng IN ana out OF us
mouth at snort Intervals had al
ways been skeptical ABOUT the power
OF the snake TO charm, put 1t seemed
to me that II here wasn't positive
case OF serpent fasclnatlon or hypno-
tism, would be pleased 10 nave some
one explain to me what 1t was. 10
give still further demonstration as 10
whether the snake was really 1nluenc-
ing the action OF the chipmunk-the
snake having noticed my presence no
more than the squirrel had fired at