The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-14

is prodigious. 1t seems as if for the mn
ment the animal threw all its bodily enerpv
into the combination of muscular acti01
which we call bite" In most cases ths
mere shock of impact. as the animal hurIs
itself on its enemy. is entirely democrat
ing, or infiicts physical injury. A mlz.
zled mastin viii hurl a man to the grour1
in the effort 10 fasten its teeth in his tbroat
or shoulder. Then, the driving and cr11sL
ing force of the jaw muscles is astonisb-
ing The swapping power of an alligatoyss
jaws is more or less Ineligible They a.
long and furnished with a row of pointeI
teeth from end to end. But the laws If
the lion, leopard, tiger, otter, ferret mr.
baboon are short and the long and polnt-
ed teeth are few. Yet each of their sno
cies has a biting power which in propor-
ton 10 its size is almost incredible.
Sir Samuel Baker, who had Ions, and
varied acquaintance with the bites of tbe
carnivora, noticed that the tiger usuau,.
seized an Indian native by the shoulder
and with one jaw on one side and the 9th,
er on the other bit clean through chest ana
back. 'The fatal wound was the bi,e
which, through back and chest, penetrat,
ed to the lungs" Europeans are killed b,,
the tigers bite as well as lacerated bv tho
claws. A MIR. Lawes, son of missionarv
of that name, was killed after being shat,
en- for a few minutes by a tigress which
then left him. He died next day In near
ly all cases the bite penetrates in the LUNGS
This kind of wound is characteristic 90
the attacks of many of the felidae Scare
ly any bird RECEIVERS from a cats bite for
the same reason. The canine teeth ara
almost instantly driven through the hpe,
under the wing. The cheetah which has
a very small mouth, always bites through
the black bucks throat.
The leopard, when Selling smaller ami.
mails, such as dogs, brushes the head.
WI al inns
through the lungs. Sir Samuel Baker
must again be quoted. In Africa a native
boy was firing reeds, accompanied bv his
brother. A leopard seized one boy and
was almost instantly killed by the other
who hurled his spear SO accurately thar
it separated the vertebrate of the leopard's
neck. '"The boy was carried to my hut"
says Sir Samuel, but there WIS no chance
of recovery, as the fangs han torn open
the chest and injured the lungs these
were exposed TO view through the cavity
between the ribs. He died during the
night"
The worst of the Swapping bites of
mammals is that of the wolf. The Jaws
unlike those of the felidae, are very long A
male VOLTS head often seems to be more
than a quarter of it's length, without the
tail. Some judges set it at nearly third
of the total length of its body. The bite
is always a snap, which will tear away a
mass of flesh from a still running ami
NAL or, infict mortal wound on the
lower parts of the body. The crocodile
bites is the most formidable of the snap
ping order. Though it's teeth are only A
row of spikes, it can cut off a limb or bite
a fish weighing seventy pounds into two
pieces as cleanly as il they We're divided
by knife.
Among the minor forms of bite TO which
persons in this country are liable are
those of the fox, the ferret, the rat and the
stoat The writer has seen a large grey
hound which coursed a fox completely dis
abled by two bites inflicted instantane-
ously-one across the greyhound's muz-
zle, the other on it's thigh. He has been
bitten through the finger by ferret-a
most painful experience, and has seen
siX-pound pike, lying APPARENTLY dead on
the grass, spring up and bite a persons
hand, cutting the forefinger to the bone
This pike did not bark like a dog" as
did that which Mr.. Briggs caught, but it
certainly bit like a cat. Adders fat Is still
sold in the New Forest as an antidote to
rat-bites.
arm or shoulder when they bite The re-
suit is more often very bad bruise like
jam in a door, than a wound. But the
great offender in this respect is 'our
friend, the dog" and the greatest suf-
ferers are the young children. We have
htpoWh niue SlFl OF III years almost Dill
ten to death by a petted St. Bernard dog
which was jealous of her; and boy of 6
mauled and lacerated by a bulldog for
the same reason. As most persons keep
dogs for their own amusement, it is in
cumbent on them to remember that though
the best of domesticated animals they are,
potentially, dangerous wild beasts, and if
they show signs of vice should be dis
missed by euthanasia, not sold to some
one else.