The daily Alaskan., 1917-11-20
A PLAGUE OF FEAR
Vague TerrorS Bar Lots Of Folks
 From Living on the Land.
DREAD SNAKES AND INSECTS.

try Life That Do Not Exist, and 50
 Prefer Crowded citios-ThO Truth
 About Animal Bites and PoiSons.
 Fears of injury and even death from snake bite, terror occOsioned by dangers imaginary and unseen, keep many nerv- ous people from living on the land, ana these senseless fears play a larger part than most people imagine in keeping people huddled in apartment houses, crowded into towns and cities. And the cost of living scars and scars.
 Snake and Insect poisoning terrorizes millions of well meaning men and Wom- en, when, as a matter of fact dan ger from falling while running the lawn mower is much more real. Fear seems to become a obsession, and the | word deadly" creeps into conversation at every verse end. The rattlesnake Is deadly" The copperhead and moo l casin are deadly" So Is the wholly 1 mythical pun adder. In hardly less degree Is the tarantula deadly" while varying lethal capacities are ascri0ed to the centlpede, the scorpion, the kiss ing bug and sundry other forms of in- l sect life. Pseudo science to the con trary notwithstanding, there is no liV- ing thing within the boundaries Of the | United States of America whose bite or sting Is sure death or (with one posSi- ble exceptiOu) even probable death. There are five varieties of yenOmouS serpemts In the country. three of them l Crotalids and two belonging to the elaps family. The elaps are rare. The crotalidS Crattlesnake, moccasln and copperhead) are common and of the widest geographical distribution. Yet on the basis of actual evidence, the amazing fact stands out that only | about eighty persons, so far as Is ascer- | tainable. have ever died from snake bites in the United States.
 Be it remembered that death follow ing snake bite is not necessarily the same thing as death from snake bite Error in treatment plays no small part in vitiatiug the statistics. For "crror' read whisky" Whoever is primarily respohslbie for the hoary superstition l that liquor in huge doses Is useful In snake poisoning has many life to an- swer for A whole bottle of raw whiS- ky forced down the throat of man un- accustomed 10 alcohol is pretty likely to kill him and is absolutely certain to | cause grave poisoning.
 Fully as much terror attaches in the | country districts, to the pun adder or 1 sand viper as to the rattlcSnakc or cop perhead. This is n suggestive bit of superstition, since there's no such thing as an adder or viper on tue western | hemisphere and never has been one, unless 1t came carefully pickled in q | Jar. What passes for the supposedly | deadly reptile is the common hog nosed | or bull snake. It Is about as dangerous as an infuriated rabbit But 1t puts up one of the best bluffs" known to nat ural history.
 Diseased imagination could Invent no | creature more hOrrliC of appearance ] than the tarantula Its bristling and | hostile aspect, the swift ferOCity of its rush. its great size md its enthusiastic preference for combat as against flight are sufficient to account for the fear and respect in which 1t is generally | held. But, though several species of l the huge spider arc native in the United States and others frequently drop out of banana punches from South and | Central America, to the discontinue of the unsuspectlng grocer, no authentic | instance of death from tarantula poi son in this country is OOtainable.
 In some sections of the country the spider hystcrla prevails. People shlVer every time they see a spider. Yet In | all the United States there Is known but l one poisonous spider. Strangely enough, the one dangerous spider on the ! American continent Is small, obscure and practically unknown. LatrOdectus mactans Is its scientific name. It Is ! about the size of large pea, black, with a red spot on the baCk-a useful I in outhouses or around woodpiles. But
 few specimens have ever been identi- lied in this country.
 The only insect which really kills is the mosquito, yet less fear Is expressed about its activities than about any Oth-
 CT poison carrying insect or snake, 1 Compared with the mosquito as a real menace all the combined brood Of
 snakes, scorpions, Centipedes, tarantu-
 las and other pet bugabOos of our child
 iSh rOmanticiSm are utterly negligible
 are as figments to reality, as shadow
 to substance.
 A clear understanding of these popu'
 lar fears and superstitions would aid
 greatly in giving assurance of safety
 to the man or woman who would till the soil, who would work in the open
 fields, who would live in the country
 Los Angeles Times.