SNAKES IN RELATION TO MAN 139 



remedies. Some forty years ago a chemist in Challans 

 (Vendee) collected Vipers (V. aspis) for medicinal 

 purposes, and was able to send several thousands to 

 Paris in the course of a few years, thus realizing a 

 considerable sum of money, but the demand has 

 gradually fallen off since. 



Very frequent in the past, snake-worship is still 

 prevalent in many parts of India, where the Cobra is 

 held in great veneration, and is never willingly killed 

 by the Hindoo. In pre-Buddhist days the gods 

 were represented with a canopy of five or seven 

 Cobras over them. The North African Cobra was 

 sacred to the ancient Egyptians, and is profusely 

 represented on the monuments and tombs ; it was 

 also an emblem of the physical sun, and, as a sign of 

 royal power, along with the sun's disc, formed part 

 of the headdress of all solar deities. The Greeks 

 and Romans also worshipped snakes, and the god of 

 medicine is represented holding a snake, which is 

 supposed to be Coluber longissimus, the so-called 

 "iEsculapian snake " ; the occurrence at the present 

 day of certain common Italian species {Zamenis 

 gemonensis, Coluber longissimus, Tropidonotus tessellatus) 

 in isolated localities of Central Europe, formerly 

 Roman settlements, has been attributed to their 

 importation for use in the temples. 



Snake-charmers have existed from the remotest 

 antiquity, and are still to be found among all races 

 of men, from the accomplished Indian juggler down 



