182 THE BOOK OF A NATURALIST 



A third view might be taken, which would 

 account for our feeling towards the serpent without 

 either instinct or tradition. Extreme fear of all 

 ophidians may simply result from a vague know- 

 ledge of the fact that some kinds are venomous, 

 that in some rare cases death follows swiftly on 

 their bite, and that, not being sufficiently intelli- 

 gent to distinguish the noxious from the innocuous 

 at all events while under the domination of a 

 sudden violent emotion we destroy them all alike, 

 thus adopting Herod's rough-and-ready method of 

 ridding his city of one inconvenient babe by a 

 general massacre of innocents. 



It might be objected that in Europe, where 

 animosity to the serpent is greatest, death from 

 snake-bite is hardly to be feared, that Fontana's 

 six thousand experiments with the viper, showing 

 how small is the amount of venom possessed by 

 this species, how rarely it has the power to destroy 

 human life, have been before the world for a 

 century. And although it must be admitted that 

 Fontana's work is not in the hand of every peasant, 

 the fact remains that death from snake-bite is a 

 rare thing in Europe, probably not more than one 

 person losing his life from this cause for every two 

 hundred and fifty who perish by hydrophobia, of 

 all forms of death the most terrible. Yet while 

 the sight of a snake excites in a majority of persons 

 the most violent emotions, dogs are universal 

 favourites, and we have them always with us and 

 make pets of them, in spite of the knowledge that 



