The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-07-21

Deer Creek Farmers Cuba Talk or
Snakes.-The last meeting of the Deer Greek
Farmers Club was held at the beautiful sum
mer home of DR.. Howard A. Kelly, neal
Belair. The DR.. is an authority on snake:
and the club decided to abandon its regular
method of procedure and instead requested
him to give them lecture on snakes.
He commenced by saying that his early
ambition had always been to become a natur.
alist and in this direction his thoughts now
although he had chosen a more useful pro.
fession, ran and in natures studies there was
none more interesting than snakes He did
not think it right for man, considering him.
self as the centre of the Universe, to destroy
these creatures which were put here for some
good purpose as they have as much right to
i've as we ourselves have. Few are poisonous
and these are easily distinguishable Because
OF these few we wantonly destroy many which
should be preserved. A minute study shows
as much diversity as any other animal. One
popularity is their adaptability to crawl on the
ground. Their ribs, about 200 in number,
spread out broad and in a measure take the
place of legs. A snake cannot run in any di-
rectlon except in sigmoid lateral direction.
The doctor here produced a live hog-nosed
viper, which he handled as tenderly and affec-
tionately as kitten. Snakes do not differ
materially from lizards, except they have no
ears. The bones in the head are also different.
The snake has six different jaws, instead of
TWO in other animals. This enables it to
swallow bodies larger than itself. 1t has set
OF palatial teeth, to enable it more firmly to
hold its prey.
Among the different varieties are the tree
snakes, which are generally the color of the
foliage, and fresh water snakes. The latter's
mouth is on top of the head to allow them to
go under the water. Sea serpents are almost
always poisonous. Outside of the poisonous
some places in South America they are kept
in houses to devour the rats and mice. Prob
ably their worst trait is destroying young birds
and nests. For this purpose ground varieties
have been known to climb trees Scientists
for long time did not believe that they would
eat eggs, but it is now an admitted fact.
= He related an illustrative story about a
snake which crawled into wall and swal-
lowed 20 many eggs that it could not get back.
1t was killed, the eggs set and twelve little
chickens Matched out. This shows that they
do not crush the eggs and the reason for this is
that they have no lips. Some varieties have
we'll defined enamelled teeth in the gullet
The question has been frequently asked
whether snakes drank or not. 1t has been
proven that large quantity of water is neces-
sary for their existence.
In handling snakes in the country the same
discretion should be exercised as with plants
or animals. They are helpful to nature and
ought not to be killed any more than birds.
If they are the country will be overrun with
rodents. The poisonous varieties are easily
recognized. There are only two kinds in this
vicinity-the copperhead and the RATHER. The
poisonous have a small pit on the top of the
head. There is no water moccasion in this
vicinity. Our water snakes are perfectly
harmless, but should be destroyed as they eat
fish. One very poisonous variety which is
very much akin to the harmless is the Harle-
quin or eldps t,tlyiuS. His color is yellow and
is marked with black and orange. AS a rule
he is as harmless as he looks His compan-
ions are generally the harmless variety and
they do not look unlike each other. The doc
tor showed a specimen in alcohol which had
killed the negro man who tried to put it in the
bottle.
The question has been frequently asked as
to which is the more poisonous, the rattler or
copperhead. The answer is that as the former
discharges about ten times more of venom it
is the most dangerous. The only exception to
this is the little snake heretofore mentioned.
Showmen frequently extract the fangs of
poisonous reptiles and fatal results frequently
follow, as new sets are constantly forming.
Another means resorted to make the reptile
harmless is to make it bite and empty the
venom sac, which takes several days to refill.
When bitten by snake on the extremities
the right thing to do is stop the circulation by
tying string tightly above the part affected
and cut freely about the part swollen to make
it bleed freely and thus let out the poison. A
remedy has lately been discovered in Paris by
a celebrated French physician. 1t is obtained
in similar manner as anti-toxin in diphtheria.
This will save life and can be used after con-
siderable period from the time of the sting.
The poison from a snake can be swallowed
with impunity. The digestive juices render it
perfectly harmless, but if it comes in contact
direct with the nerve system the results disas-
trous.
In answer to question by one Of the mem
bers as to whether whisky was an antidote,
the doctor said emphatically ut is not. On
the contrary, there are more people killed by
its use than lives have been saved. The fool
ish notion that person inoculated with the
poison of a snake can drink with impunity
enormous quantities of the stuff has killed
many persons where death was attributed to
about his experiences with two black snakes.
, one large and the other small which he put
in bag and took to Philadelphia. Upon ar
irving at his destination he discovered one of
his pets, the larger snake, missing. The little
one had swallowed him. Another experience
he recounted was when two enormous serpents
were eating the same mouse. They kept
swallowing until both had the animal inside
and then commenced to make meal of each
other Fortunately they were discovered in
time to prevent them from eating each other
up and thus destroying two of his most valua-
bic specimens.