THE SNAKE. 43 



As man has at all times been in the habit of deifying 

 creatures of which he is afraid, it is not surprising that snake 

 worship has existed to a very considerable extent among most 

 of the primitive peoples of the world in localities where the 

 snake is a good deal in evidence, and even among the moderns 

 it is intimately associated with the author of all evil. Among 

 the almost infinite number of legends that surround the 

 snake, and testify to the deep respect in which it has always 

 been held, is that to the effect that earthquakes are due to 

 the movements of a gigantic serpent immured deep down 

 in the centre of the world. Had the snake been gifted with 

 the ordinary powers of locomotion, it is probable that he 

 would have excited a smaller amount of disfavour, but man 

 is given to dislike anything that he does not understand, and 

 the mysterious and silent movements of the snake were 

 to him so unaccountable as to excite antipathy. It is 

 remarkable, however, that the worm, whose mode of 

 progression is somewhat similar, has escaped the same 

 odium. The eye of the snake has unquestionably operated 

 to his prejudice ; there is an entire want of expression about 

 it which baffles the effort of man to penetrate its mask, and 

 to get at the creature's inner nature. Had the snake been 

 endowed with an eyelid and a clear liquid eye, man would 

 have been more inclined to respond to its advances, and to 

 give it the place it requires by his domestic hearth. It is 

 doubtless unjust that the snake should suffer from a defect 

 for which it is not personally responsible, but unfortunately 

 man is not always just in his dealings with the lower order 

 of creation. 



The snake varies in dimensions far more than does any 

 other living creature. The dog perhaps approaches most 



