The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-25

ALMOST from time UnnemOrlaI the
snake has been the subject of all sorts
of superstitions. Some of these are
based on the most absurd misinterpre-
tation of fact; more are purely my
thical
One of the more recent misconcep-
tons that have cropped to the front is
that the venom of the rattlesnake
is not dangerous, says the Philadal-
phia Ledger. Numerous instances are
quoted where men and horses and dogs
and cattle have been bitten by rat
tiers and have survived the poison
| with little or no inconvenience
To say that the rattlesnake is not
poisonous is like saying that the cobra
is a non-poisonous snake-in fact, it
amounts to saying we have no pois-
onous snakes. AS a rule, the cobra S
bite means death within an hour. So
certain is the end that the native who
is bitten makes no effort at all to save
himself. He simply wanders into his
hut, if he can, and lies down to die.
And yet there are instances of cobra
bites where the victims escaped I'M
harmed.
What happens is this: In order to
| inject venom a snake must strike it's
poison fangs into the flesh of a vic
tim, and any bite hastily or improp-
| erly delivered, as it often is while the
| creatures are excited is no more harm
| full than the bite of a kitten But
| give a snake a chance to get a prop
er hold and to sink his fangs, and
the man who escapes with his life from
rattleSnakeS bite will languiSh and
suffer sometimes for years before he
/ can get the frightful poison out of his
| system.
Aside from all practical demonstra-
| ton of rattler's bite, science has
| demonstrated that the venom is eX-
| tremely dangerous.
| The analysis of the poison shows 95
per cent. of blood destroying element
and per cent. of nerve destroying ele-
| ment. Medicine and chemistry have
| demonstrated that the effect of the
! poison is to attack the little red cor
puscles of the blood, the effect on the
human system being exactly the same
as that of acid poured with the water
running through an iron pipe The
| poison in the vein eats through the
| walls of the arteries and blood vessels.
causing excruciating agony and event
ually causes death by soaring into the
| heart.
. Legend of Hoop Snakes.
A pet belief to which many cling
and which they refuse to relinquish is
| the yarn about the hoop snake. that
! dreadful reptile" that takes it's tail
in its mouth and rolls over the ground
| IKE hoop, making express train
time and winding up by sinking its
| fangs into a tree. OF course the tree
dies and withers away within an hour
| after being bitten. Out West and in
| the southwest where the hoop snake is
| said to flourish, many persons would
make affidavit that they have seen such
snakes-locked safely in a box and
pointed out by experts as being the
| real thing" That there may be a
snake known as the hoop snake in
! certain ATTITUDES is very probable but
! the witnesses who have seen one in ac-
ZION are very slow in coming forward
with reputable names and addresses.
AS a matter of fact, scientifically If
| is physically impossible for a hoop
snake or RATHER or any other sort
OF snake to roll along the ground hoop
| FASHION. The strength of a snake lies
! solely in its forebody not more than
half its length from the head. 1t is
| evident, therefore, the hoop would col
! lapse We're reptile to choose this
mode of locomotion.
|
the milk snake" Here in these lati
! tudes, as well as South if a farmer
finds his cows thirty or forty quarts
! short in milk he says, the milk snake
| has been around again" Asked to
| describe the milk snake, he explains
| that 1t is three or four feet long and
! thick around as a broomstick The all
! surdity of imagining that such a small
! beast could get away with a quantity
| or milk enough to fill milk wagon is
! manifest on the fact of it,
| How the Milk Snake Works.
Still, the milk snake is described as
| a most charming creature She is
| white, or cream white, and has an es-
| pecial fascination for COWS. She fol-
lows herd from pasture to pasture
and frequently makes friends with one
! or more of the animals. Lying i'm
tall grass, the temptress is suddenly
espied by grazing cow and the big
peast stops, surprised, to gaze on the
strange undulationS and the dance of
the serpent. In time the reptile works
It's way to the side of the cow while
the big beast stands as if in a trance.
Then the milk snake works its wav TO
the udder, takes hold even as a suck
ing calf and with infinite gentleness
extracts the milk going from COW to
COW until enough to gorge forty men Mt
a meal has been extracted by the lit
tie short cearture.
That snak es commit suicide bv nois-
oning themselves with their own venom
is another idea that no amount of ex-
pert authority seems to subdue and
yet, even the reptiles themselves prove
by their mode of fighting one another
that they are immune to the poison or
their species. a pair of cobras. for
instance, will get into a quarrel and
will bite and try to lacerate each 9TH
err. But in no case is the poison fang
used. The outcome of fight between
4 pair of these champions depends
upon which snake first gets the oppo-
nent's head into its mouth. The teeth
of a snake are set backward, and the
jaws do not work up and down, but
out and in, and the victim can no
more get away than II he We're caught
between a pair of huge rollers or the
Cogs Of a machine.
Not infrequently it happens however
that snake dies of self-inflicted
wounds. A rattlesnake. for instance
will fight so furiously that in its light
ning-quick movements 1t often happens
that the half-blinded creature strikes