324 



SKUI'UKOFF 



-KKTOKIUS 



every month with honey -cakes ; in the Roman 

 ytnita loci, which wait usually supposed to assume 

 this form ; and in the kindly otlirex between men 

 and snakes so common in Kuropean folk-tales. 

 Among the Znlus certain harmlean green or brown 

 snakes which come fearlessly into the houses are 

 thought to be aiiuitungo or ancestors, and may often 

 be identified by Rome scar or mark such a.* tin* mini 

 bore in life. Serpents are by many jjeoplea regarded 

 as common incarnations of deities, whether ances- 

 tral or other, such ax the rattlesnake worshipped 

 in the Natchez temple of the Sun ; the serpent- 

 symbol of the healing deity .Ksculapius, in whose 

 temple huge tame snakes were kept; the Phoenician 

 serpent with it* tail in its mouth, perhaps origin- 

 ally a mere mythic world snake like the Scandi- 

 navian Midgard-worm, but in Inter ages adopted 

 as an emblem of eternity. Nothing in tin- history 

 of serpent-worship is more remarkable than its 

 Christian revival, or rather survival, among the 

 mystic vagaries of Gnosticism the Ophites trained 

 their tame snakes to coil themselves round the 

 eucharistic bread. Snake- worship again comes into 

 clone touch with the doctrine of Totemism, and we 

 see how the Sanskrit n&ya ('serpent') hag givm 

 the name to a race of snake- worshippers who claim 

 descent from ancestral snakes. On no people has 

 the mystery of the serpent (Prov. xxx. 10) weighed 

 more than npon the Red Indians. It has given it 

 name to rivers, like the Kennebec ( Algonkin ) and 

 the Antietam (Iroquois) ; among the Dakoia-, 

 Shawnees, and Sacs the words for tiririt and */. 

 are similar ; the Algonquins think ttie lightning an 

 immense serpent, and the Caribs speak of the god of 

 the thunderstorm as a mighty ser[ient. The Oiib- 

 ways ilread to kill a rattlesnake, and if they And 

 one in their path they beseech it to go away and 

 spare them and their families ; the same worship 

 was found among the Cherokee* and many other 

 tribes, as well as in the strange snake-dances 

 practised among the Zufiis. In Mexico many 

 sculptured images of serpents are found, almost 

 vying in size and splendour with those found in 

 India. The Vaudoux of Hayti (q.v.) is a special 

 case of serpent-worship. 



See Ferguison'i Tret and Serpent Worthip (1868); 

 Onbernatix, Zoological ifylhiilmi/ I 1*74) fur its facts; 

 E. B. Tyler 1 * Frimitirr Culture (1871); *lo ANIMAL- 

 WOBSHIP, BEAST-FABLES, OPHITES, TOTKM, to. 



SerpukofT, an 

 ancient Russian 

 town, 57 miles by 

 rail S. of Moscow, 

 on the Mara, 3 

 miles from its con- 

 fluence with tin 1 

 Oka. It contains 

 a cathedral (1380), 

 and is a place of 

 considerable com- 

 mercial and indus- 

 trial important', 

 man u f actu ring 

 chiefly cottons, 

 woollens, leather, 

 paper, furniture, 

 and earthenware. 

 Pop. '_>4,(KK). It 

 was formerly a 

 fortress protecting 

 Moscow on the 



HOIltll. 



S e r | > 1 1 I ; i . a 

 genus of sedentary 

 Chii"to|>otl worms, 

 living in twisted 

 calcareous tabes fastened to shells and rocks in 

 the sea, or even to other animals, such as crabs. 



Serjntla rmitortuplirala (with ex- 

 puided rilli), on the back of an 



From the mouth of the tul>e the heatl of the worm 

 U -tici, lir.l out into the water, and bears numer- 

 ous exquisitely coloured gills and a stopper or opcr- 

 culum which closes the mouth of the shell when 

 ill.- head U retracted, and seems also to help in 

 respiration. The colour of the gills is in great 

 |art due to the blood which is seen through the 

 thin skin. Thu I'otxl consists of minute organic, 

 ami es|>ecially vegetable, particles, which are 

 wafted into the mouth by the cilia on the gills. 

 The process by which the worm makes its tulie of 

 lime is not clearly understood ; it is interesting to 

 observe that in situations where the light comes in 

 one definite direction the calcareous tubes point 

 that way. Several species of Serpula are common 

 on British coasts, and large forms of this genus 

 and of nearly related genera are common in warmer 

 seas. 



Serrano y Doiiiineuez. FRANCISCO, DUKE 

 DE LA TORKK, a Spanish statesman, was bora at 

 Anionillain Andalusia on 18th September 1810, ami 

 pushed himself to the front in the war against the 

 Carlists. Having gained nn intimate place in the 

 favour of the dissolute Queen Isabella, he made 

 the most of his influence and played an active part 

 in I lie dismal political changes of that sovereign's 

 reign, sometimes being in arms against the ministers 

 of the day and sometimes himself holding the highest 

 administrative posts of the kingdom. He was by 

 profession a lilieral, and for some years (1854-66) 

 lent faithful support to O'Donnell. On the over- 

 throw of O'Donnell's government by Narvaez Ser- 

 rano was banished, but returning two years later 

 (in 1868) he defeated the queen's troops, and, having 

 driven her away into France, liecame the chief ruler 

 (as regent) of Spain until the accession of Amadeus 

 of Savoy (1870). He waged successful war against 

 the Carlists both in 1872 and in 1874. During the 

 greater part of this latter year he was again at 

 the head of the government, until he resigned the 

 power into the hands of Alfonso XII. He was 

 ambassador at Paris in 1883-84, and died at Madrid 

 on 26th November 1885. 



Serres, OLIVIA. See OLIVE ( PRINCESS). 



SertorillS, QUINTUS, one of the ablest Roman 

 commanders in the later ages of the Republic, was 

 a native of Nursia, in the country of the Sabines. 

 He began his military career in Gaul, and fought 

 ( 10.1 u. r. i in the disastrous battle on the Rhone in 

 which the Roman proconsul, Q. Servilius Caepio, 

 was defeated by the Cimbri and Teu tones, and took 

 part in the splendid victory at Aquae Sextiaj or Aix 

 ( 102 B.C.), where Marius annihilated the same bar- 

 bariaus. On the breaking out of the sanguinary 

 struggle between the party of the nobles under 

 Sulla and the populai party headed by Marius 

 (88 B.C. ), he espoused the cause of the latter, 

 though he could not respect Marius himself. For 

 morally Sertorius was much superior to the military 

 adventurers of his time; and the in-.piessioii we 

 have of him from Plutarch's picturesque biography 

 is that of a valiant, resolute, honest, ami stubborn 

 1 Ionian, such as was commoner in the 3d than in 

 the 7th century of Uie Republic, None of the 

 Marian generals held out so long or so successfully 

 as he against the victorious oligarchy. He fought 



i injunction with Cinna the battle at the Collme 



Gate, which placed Rome at the mercy of the 

 Marians. But he took no active pan in the bloody 

 irm-saorea that followed; on the contrary, he slew 

 4000 of .Marius' cut -throat slaves who had committed 

 the worst excesses. On the return of Sulla from 

 the east (83 B.C.) Sertorius, finding it impossible to 

 act in concert with the other military lender* of his 

 party, went to Spain, where he continued the straggle 

 in an independent fashion. At first he was unable 

 to maintain his ground, and was obliged to put to 



