MICE. 121 



lated as serpent, in the account of the Fall of Man, really 

 signified mouse, an explanation which alone seems to satisfy 

 the exigencies of the case. 



This hypothesis is greatly strengthened by the fact that 

 the mouse does go on its belly ; alone among quadrupeds 

 its feet cannot be seen to move, and it apparently glides 

 along on its stomach. Then, again, its head, and, indeed, 

 its whole body, is very frequently bruised, and, in fact, 

 crushed by the human heel, and for every serpent upon 

 which this process is performed it is done a hundred thou- 

 sand times upon mice. The mouse does not, it is true, in 

 return bruise the heel of its bruiser ; but neither does the 

 serpent, so that this objection applies equally in both cases 

 indeed, a tight shoe is the only article which habitually 

 bruises or raises blisters upon the human heel. This is no 

 novel idea, for in some old paintings the tempter is pictured 

 in the form of a mouse sitting on Eve's shoulder, and 

 whispering in her ear. That the Jews entertained a feeling 

 of abhorrence for the mouse far above anything that can be 

 accounted for by natural causes, is proved by the fact that 

 Isaiah Ixvi. 17 says, "Eating the abomination, and the 

 mouse." These facts, coupled with the abject terror in- 

 spired by the mouse in the female mind, are really worthy 

 of the attention of divines, who cannot fail to notice that 

 whereas the creature, translated serpent, is said to be more 

 subtle than any other beast of the field, the word cunning, 

 which is synonymous with subtle, is still essentially applied 

 to the mouse ; while putting aside the fact that the snake 

 is not a beast at all no modern investigator has ever 

 claimed any particular amount of cunning for the serpent. 

 The terror with which women regard the mouse finds 



