THE SERPENT KIND. 



72.") 



guished from all the rest of animated nature. 

 They have the length and the suppleness of 

 the eel, but want fins to swim with : they have 

 the scaly covering and pointed tail of the li- 

 zard, but they want legs to walk with: they 

 have the crawling motion el the worm, but, 

 unlike that animal, they have lungs to breath 

 with: like all the reptile kind, they are re- 

 sentful when offended ; and nature has sup- 

 plied them with terrible arms to revenge every 

 injury. 



Though (hey arc possessed of very different 

 degrees of malignity, yet they are:.!! formida- 

 ble to man, and have a strong similitude of 

 form to each other; and it will be proper to 

 mark the general characters before we de- 

 scend to particulars. With respect to their 

 conformation, all serpents have a very wide 

 mouth, in proportion to the size of the head; 

 and, what is very extraordinary, they can gape 

 and swallow the head of another animal which 

 is three times as big as their own. I have 

 seen a load taken out of the belly of a snake, 

 at Lord Spencer's, near London, the body of 

 which was thrice the diameter of the animal 

 that swallowed it. However, it is no way 

 surprising that the skin of the snake should 

 stretch to receive so large a morsel ; the won- 

 der seems how the jaws could take it in. To 

 explain this, it must be observed that the jaws 

 of this animal do not open as ours, in the man- 

 ner of a pair of hinges, where bones are ap- 

 plied to bones, and play upon one another; 

 on the contrary, the serpent's jaws are held 

 together at the roots by a stretching muscular 

 skin; by which means they open as widely 

 as the animal chooses to stretch them, and 

 admit of a prey much thicker than the snake's 

 own body. The throat, like stretching lea- 

 ther, dilates to admit the morsel ; the stomach 

 receives it in part; and the rt-st remains in 

 the gullet, till putrefaction and the juices of 

 the serpent's body unite to dissolve it. 



As to the teeth, I will talk more of them 

 when I come to treat of the viper's poison; 

 it will be sufficient here to observe, that some 

 serpents havefangs, or canine teeth, and others 

 are without them. The teeth in all are crook- 

 ed and hollow ; and, by a peculiarcontrivance, 

 are capable of being erected or depressed at 

 pleasure. 



The eyes of all serpents are small, if com* 



pared to the length of the body; and though 

 differently coloured in different kinds, yet 

 the appearance of all is malign and heavy; 

 and from their known qualities, they strike 

 the imagination with the idea of a creature 

 meditating mischief. In some, the upper eye- 

 lid is wanting, and theserpenl winks only with 

 that below; in others, the animal has a nic- 

 titating membrane or skin, resembling that 

 which is found in birds, which keeps the eye 

 clean, and preserves the sight. The substance 

 of the eye in all ia hard and horny; .the crys- 

 talline humour occupying a great part of the 

 globe. 



The holes for hearing are very visible in all : 

 but there are no conduits for smelling; though 

 it is probable that some of them enjoy that 

 sense in tolerable perfection. 



Tire tongue in all these animals is long and 

 forky. It is composed of two long fleshy sub- 

 stances, which terminate in sharp points, and 

 are very pliable. At the root it is connected 

 very strongly to the neck by two tendons, 

 that give it a variety of play. Some of the 

 viper kind have tongues a fifth part of the 

 length of their bodies; they are continually 

 darting them out, but they are entirely harm- 

 less, and only terrify those who are ignorant 

 of the real situation of their poison. 



If from the jaws we go on to the gullet, we 

 shall find it very wide for the animal's size, 

 and capable of being distended to a great de- 

 gree; at the bottom of this lies the stomach, 

 which is not so capacious, and receives oidy 

 a part of the prey, while the rest continues 

 in the gullet for digestion. When the sub- 

 stance in the stomach is dissolved into chyle, 

 it passes into the intestines, and from thence 

 goes to nourishment, or to be excluded by 

 the vent. 



Like most other animals, serpents are fur- 

 nished with lungs, which I suppose are ser- 

 viceable in breathing, though we cannot per- 

 ceive the manner in which this operation is 

 performed ; for though serpents are often seen 

 apparently to draw in their breath, yet we 

 cannot find the smallest signs of their ever 

 respiring it again. Their lungs, however, are 

 long and large, and doubtless are necessary 

 to promote their languid circulation. The 

 heart is formed as in the tortoise, the frog, and 

 the lizard kinds, so as to work without the 

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