THE SERPENT'S TONGUE 137 



does not put its tongue, Ruskin might very well 

 have said that it is not used as a tactile organ. 

 That it is a tactile organ is a very modern supposi- 

 tion a small hypothesis about a small matter, but 

 with a curious and rather amusing history. It was 

 in the first place given out merely as a conjecture, 

 but no sooner given than accepted as an irrefragable 

 fact by some of the greatest authorities among us. 

 Thus Dr. Gunther, in his article on snakes in the 

 Encyclopaedia Britannica, ninth edition, says, " The 

 tongue is exserted for the purpose of feeling some 

 object, and sometimes under the influence of anger 

 or fear." 



Doubtless those who invented this use for the 

 organ were misled by observing snakes in captivity, 

 in the glass cases or cages in which it is usual to 

 keep them ; observing them in such conditions, it 

 was easy to fall into the mistake, since the serpent, 

 when moving, is frequently seen to thrust his 

 tongue against the obstructing glass. It should be 

 remembered that glass is glass, a substance that 

 does not exist in nature ; that a long and some- 

 times painful experience is necessary before even 

 the most intelligent among the lower animals are 

 brought to understand its character ; and, finally, 

 that the delicate, sensitive tongue comes against 

 it for the same reason that the fly buzzes and the 

 confined wild bird dashes itself against it in their 

 efforts to escape. In a state of nature when the 

 snake is approached, whether by its prey or by 

 some large animal, the tongue is obtruded ; again, 



