5o8 SNAKES. 



'worm' which inflicted this mortal injury should have been 

 regarded as an evil spirit, a devil, and invested with 

 maleficence ? 



Add to the two great death-dealing powers of the serpent 

 race — constriction and venom — those other peculiarities 

 which have here been faithfully recorded, the seeming 

 renewal of life after the annual sleep, a mystery enhanced 

 by the restored brilliancy and beauty of the reptile on its 

 change of cuticle ; let us picture to ourselves those wonder- 

 ing savages now watching the limbless creature as it glides 

 into sight and is gone again, or as with fixed and glittering 

 eyes it flickers that mysterious little tongue ; let us im.agine 

 them crowding near to behold a serpent feeding, or to 

 witness the still more amazing spectacle of a brood of 

 young ones vanishing down their mother's throat. There 

 is enough of the mysterious in an ophidian to excite the 

 awe and wonder of even a nineteenth-century beholder, 

 taking each one of these surprising doings singly ; but 

 considering that any one serpent may be endowed with 

 nearly all of these phenomenal powers, let us imagine the 

 effect produced by them in the savage mind. To worship 

 such an incomprehensible creature was only consistent 

 with all we know of the influences which first awakened 

 faith in a supernatural Being. 



Consequently we find that in every country where a serpent 

 was known, it plays its part in the mythology and religion of 

 that country. We may examine the antiquities of any nation 

 which has left a monument of its history and beliefs, and a 

 serpent will be represented. Scarcely an Egyptian sculpture 

 (in its entirety) can be found in which the serpent does not 



