FABLES AND PREJUDICES. 101 



it passes, on the contrary, like tlie other serpents, the whole 

 year in a state of continual activity.* 



In our climate, and in North America,t serpents retire 

 into their winter retreat toward the month of October, and 

 reapix^ar about the end of the month of March or April, 

 later or sooner according to the greater or less rigour of the 

 winter. The thick layers of fat with which their intestines 

 are lined in autumn, are absorbed in a great measure dur- 

 ing their torpor, and it is some days before they have re- 

 covered their strength in the spring. An excessive cold 

 kills them, whilst several fine days in succession often suf- 

 fice to make them leave their retreats in the middle of winter. 



It is still to the work of M. LenzJ that we must refer 

 for the detailed statement of the observations whicli this 

 naturalist has made, to discover the effects which cold exer- 

 cises on these reptiles. 



FABLES AND PKEJUDICES. 



The serpent performed a grand part in antiquity, and 

 still plays it among most barbarous or demi-civilized na- 

 tions. Numerous causes have been assigned for this phe- 

 nomenon. Man intimidated by his aversion for these ani- 

 mals, which is in him in some degree innate, has only learnt 

 from experience, how small a number of these reptiles are 

 formidable by their poisonous qualities, while others conceal 

 under the same delusive appearances, a mild and inoffensive 

 character. 



A thousand different properties, which are successively 

 detected in serpents, have opened to man a vast field of 

 meditation, and, in furnishing ample materials to dress out 

 his religious ideas, have presented him with an infinite num- 

 ber of mythic allegories. He has drawn from them symbols, 

 and has ended in offering to those dreaded animals a wor- 

 ship founded on the most diverse and conflicting motives. 

 It would seem to be natural to man to avail himself 



* Neuwied, Beitr. p. 11. 



t Palisot-Beauvais, Ap. ; Latreille, iii. p. 4. + P. 57. 



