294 Natural History Tour in North America : — 



black snake. Teeth closely resembling those of the common 

 fresh- water eel. 



If not a convert to the principles of the law, as laid down 

 by Mr. Martin and others, I can respect and venerate feelings 

 that would not wantonly take away the life of any creature, 

 however worthless or insignificant it might appear ; yet, as 

 the very purposes and constitution of the brute creation rest 

 upon the doctrine of subserviency, the sacrifice of life is an 

 ordination of necessity, and consequently its justification be- 

 comes irrevocably established, leaving choice and inclination 

 quite another thing, these having nothing whatever to do with 

 the regulation of the matter. I killed this snake, that is cer- 

 tain ; and I trust the act, associated with the motive, will find 

 favour in your sight. 



Snakes are very tenacious of life ; in them the vital prin- 

 ciple seems to be more independent, or less circumscribed, than 

 in most other animals ; they having this property almost in full 

 perfection in every part of the body. Hence the tail of a 

 snake will move for a long time after it has been severed from 

 the body, will shrink from the infliction of pain, and be alike 

 sensible of the least touch. The action of the heart, too, is 

 peculiar ; in the present instance I detached it from the body, 

 and placed it upon the ground at some distance, and yet it 

 continued to beat vigorously for several minutes. After it 

 had ceased to move, a slight touch, especially with a sharp- 

 pointed instrument, would again cause it to beat ; and this 

 kind of excitement, repeated at intervals for nearly half an 

 hour, produced the same effect — a return of motion, regular 

 contraction and dilatation. The former, I observed, was 

 always the first to grow feeble, and the first to cease to move. 

 Gn inspecting the contents of the abdomen, eighteen small 

 bodies arranged in a string in close contact, white, soft, and 

 pulpy, resembling bags or cysts of fat, were exposed. These 

 were, no doubt, the eggs of the animal snakes in embryo. In 

 size they varied from that of a small pea to an ordinary play- 

 ing marble. 



In the vicinity of Newburgh is an abundance of bluish 

 clay, immediately below the soil, resting upon a stratum 

 of transition argillite, in which anthracite and occasionally 

 petrifactions are found. This clay supplies the inhabitants 

 with good brick. At a short distance north of this village, 

 limestone, evidently transition, containing numerous organic 

 remains, is procured, which affords, by the usual process, an 

 excellent lime. This rock, the metalliferous limestone of 

 Eaton, sometimes appears above the transition argillite ; when 

 it does not, it is generally overlaid by greywacke. The petri- 



