280 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



that was not at one time a naturalist, and how 

 far this tendency of the intellect is to be en- 

 couraged is a question of importance. Not 

 every one can be a professional zoologist and 

 devote a lifetime thereto to the exclusion of 

 all else, but interest in such subjects should 

 never be chilled. As such matters are now 

 regulated, we find a silly mother afraid of a 

 mouse, and the child must run no imaginary 

 dangers. The very mention of snakes blanches 

 many a cheek, yet probably not one dangerous 

 snake is within miles of the speaker. Disad- 

 vantageous prejudice is inherited, has been since 

 the days of distant ancestry, and we make no 

 effort to look coolly at the facts and endeavor to 

 uproot the silly whims that have such a clutch 

 upon us. When our remote ancestry lived in 

 trees and were in positive danger from the 

 attacks of poisonous serpents, a fear of snakes 

 was rational. That was the origin of the men- 

 tal status that still enthralls the majority of the 

 people we meet, but is it rational to let an im- 

 pression like this go unstudied for some hundred 

 thousand years ! It is not true that snakes chase 

 people. If the two happen to take the same 



