PYTHON 



PYTHON 



suggests, on the story of the self-sacrificing 

 friendship of Damon and Pythias. It is con- 

 fined to the United States and Canada, and in 

 point of numbers ranks next to the Odd Fellow 

 and Masonic orders. 



The society was founded in 1864 in Washing- 

 ton, D. C., by Justus H. Rathbone, and the 

 membership of the first lodge was composed 

 largely of government clerks. In accordance 

 with the name, members are pledged to help 

 each other, "friendship to the death" being the 

 theoretical ideal, and the society has since its 

 establishment paid out over $50,000,000 in bene- 

 fits. An endowment department, in which mem- 

 bership is voluntary, cares for an insurance fea- 

 ture; a uniform branch exists with semimili- 

 tary features, such as drilling and marching. 



The government is vested in a single supreme 

 lodge, below which there are grand lodges and 

 subordinate lodges. The pledges of secrecy taken 

 by members are extremely strong. Three ranks 

 or degrees are conferred in the Pythian society, 

 those of page, esquire and knight. In 1917 the 

 membership of the society was 729,053, of whom 

 70,952 were members of the insurance branch, 

 and 17,529 of the military branch. 



PYTHON, pi'thon, a powerful, giant snake, 

 belonging to the same family as the boa. Many 

 exaggerated stories of the huge bulk of the 

 python have been told, but it is true that its 

 loosely-hinged jaws enable it to swallow whole 



the body of a sheep or goat. The snake has 

 no poison fangs. With the exception of one 

 branch, this group of snakes inhabits the east- 

 ern hemisphere. They may possess more than 

 400 vertebrae and attain a length of thirty feet. 

 They are frequently found suspended from trees 

 near the water, lying in wait for animals which 

 seek to quench their tjiirst. Coiling their bodies 

 around these victims, they reduce them to a 

 shapeless mass, and then they swallow them 

 whole. The female python lays her hundred or 

 more eggs in a heap, coils herself around them 

 and so remains for about two months, until 

 they are hatched. These huge snakes inhabit 

 India, Ceylon, Africa, Australia, Mexico and 

 Central America. They can be easily tamed. 

 See ANACONDA; BOA. 



PYTHON, a famous serpent which, in the 

 Greek myth, was said to have been born from 

 the mud and foul waters which remained on 

 the earth after Deucalion's flood. This hideous 

 monster lived near Delphi, and preyed upon 

 the cattle and even the people of the surround- 

 ing country. Apollo, when he came to Delphi, 

 killed the animal with his arrows, and there- 

 after the place and the oracle of Apollo wen 

 given the name of Pytho. Originally this was 

 a nature myth; the poisonous serpent was tin- 

 miasmatic fog from the winding swamp, which 

 was dispersed by the sun's rays. The sun was 

 represented by Apollo. 



