Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-01-28
SLUG AND SNAIL LORE
Queer Old Traditions That CIus-
ter About the Gastropods.
A CURE FOR WARTS AND AGUE

A CURE FOR WARTS AND AGUE
Drastic Remedies That Must Have
Proved Speedily Mortal to the IN.
fortunate SnaiIs-A Telepathic The
DRY That Was Dismal Failure.
It is probable, though-bearing in
mind the extent and profundity of the
learning considered necessary for ''ev.
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. "are little boys made Oft"
And the luerist, almost always of
the nurse or governess persuasion, sup
piled the answer with unmistakab BILE
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 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
snail which wears it's shell under it's
skin, though possibly the definition
may be taken exception to from a sci
entifc standpoint. 1t Is worth remark
ing that, whereas everybody knows
snails are considered a table luxury In
several countries, nobody seems to
wax ecstatic over sIugs If we except
the beche de mer, or sea slug, over
which as prepared in the far east some
writers 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 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 ia a horned worm"
Moreover, if any one troubled with
warts will secure snail, pierce it as,
many times as the unsightly excres-
cences number and then impale the
hapless snail on 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 a bag and wearing it around
the neck for zine 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
IL they be applied to the place." Lup-
ton assures US, while the horns car
ried on the person insure the bearer 8
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 Of
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 it is adjured to put out its
horns" Snail, snail, come out of your
hole or else III beat you as black as a
coal" Sometimes bride is substitute
ed for the threat, and "bread and bar
1eycorns" are promised as an induce
meuI TO SHOW your uOTuS. LII Scot-
land it is said that the prompt obedt-
ence of the snaA indicates that fine
weather may be expected. In some
places to catch snail by it's 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 about
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 suf-
ficient time to bring them thoroughly
en- rapport, and the intending operators
arranged their CODE One of these went
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 ar
hour agreed upon, he put his snail on a
dial marked with the characters of the
code and moved it from one to the 9th
er till his message was spelled out, and
the snail in the other capital would
ofov