Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-07-17
SLUG AND SNAIL LORE
Queer Old Traditions That Clus-
ter About the Gastropods.
A CURE FOR WARTS AND AGUE


fortunate SnaiIs-A TeIepathic The
DRY That Was a Dismal Failure.
1t is probable, thOugh-bearing In
mind the extent and profundity of the
learning considered necessary for "ey-
cry schoolboy," provided he is educat-
ed at other peoples expense-one does
not like to dogmatize, that slugs and
snails were among the very earliest
natural history subjects we were
taught The teaching, we may remem-
Der, was conveyed in the classical form
Of question and answer. What" we
were asked, aare little boys made off"
And the querist, almost always OF
the nurse or governess persuasion, sup
piled the answer with unmistakable
relish. "Slugs and snails and puppy
dogs tails were, we were Informed,
the ingredients which went to the COM
position of the soaring human boy. 1t
was doubtless the memory Of the In
dignity rather than any righteous zeal
against the foes of the flower garden
that induced us for some time after
ward invariably to squash or other
wise destroy every slug and snail that
our youthful eyes lighted on.
AS q matter Of fact, however, a good
deal of interesting old world lore clus-
tiers about slugs and snails, though
considerably more about the latter
than the former That, however, is OF
the less Importance, inasmuch as nat
uralists tell us the slug Is practically
q snail which wears Ats shell under its
skin, though possibly the definition
may be taken exception to from a sci
entific standpoint. 1t is worth remark
Ing that whereas everybody knows
snails are considered a table luxury III
several countries, nobody seems to
wax ecstatic over slugs If we except
the beche de mer, or sea slug, over
which as prepared in the far east some
writer's have risen to poetical elo-
quence. The Romans used to fatten
their edible snails on bran soaked In
wine, and it is said, with considera-
BILE emphasis on the "said," they at
tanned such an abnormal size that the
shell Of one was reported to have a ca
pacity of ten quarts.
Indirectly snails may be held to add
still more largely to our supply OF
nourishing food, inasmuch as the IA
nous Dartmoor mutton Is said to owe
its excellence Of quality and flavor TO
the myriads of tiny snails eaten by
the sheep as they browse on the short
grass. 1t is little disconcerting after
this to read the old naturalists' die
tum that the snail is "a worm of slime
and always foul and unclean; Is man
ner snake and Is, horned worm"
Moreover, if any one troubled with
warts will secure a snail, pierce 1t as
many times as the unsightly excres-
cences number and then impale the
hapless snail on q thorn tree as the
creature dies the warts will disappear.
Equally deserving the attention OF the
S. P. G. A. is provincial cure for
ague, which consists In putting live
snail into bag and wearing it around
the neck for nine days. 1t is then to
be thrown into the fire, when 1t Is
said to shake like the ague, and after
this the patient is never troubled with
the tedious complaint" stamped and
mixed sometimes with cheese, lope
and rennet, snails do draw out thorns
If they be applied to the place" Lug
ton assures US, while the horns car
ried on the person insure the bearers
virtue. 1t is to be assumed that some
at least of these drastic measures
prove speedily mortal to the snails,
though really some Of the stories CT
their longevity and recuperative pow
ers make one hesitate to dogmatize too
positively.
And the snail Is not without its
quasi mystic attributes. Very widely
spread is the childish charm" by
which 1t is adjured to put out its
horns-"Snail, snail, come out of your
hole or else I'll beat you as black as
coal" Sometimes bride is SUBSTITUTE
ed for the threat, and "bread and bar
leycorns' are promised as an induce
ment to "show your horns" In Scot
land 1t is said that the prompt obedl-
ence Of the snail indicates that fae
weather may be expected. In some
places to catch a snail by its horns
on the LIST Of May and throw it over
the left shoulder insures good luck.
Possibly one Of the queerest ideas
that have ever been promulgated abort
snails was that which gravely proposed
to utilize them for the purposes Of te-
legraphy, or, more strictly perhaps,
telepathy. Snails, 1t was alleged, were
excessively sympathetic. Two of them
were put together for presumably sui
ficient time to bring them thoroughly
en- rapport, and the intending operators
arranged their code. One of thesewent
to New York with one snail and the
other to Paris with the second. When
the gentlemen in either capital wished
to communicate with his friend, at an
hour agreed upon, he put his snail on
dial marked with the characters Of the
code and moved 1t from one to the 9TH
er till his message was spelled out, ard
the snail In the other capital would,
impelled by the mysterious sympathy,
Of its own accord indicate on a CORE
spending dial the message letter by let
ter! That was the beautiful theory
81 I.xn
London Globe.