viNAL COMMON MISTAKES IN NATURAL HISTORY 373 



They were then asked if any one would like to pat them to see 

 which was warm and which cold. There was a stampede to the 

 front. I then realized that I had not had the courage of my 

 convictions. The children were then asked to take their seats 

 and told that each one would be given an opportunity to pat the 

 rat and the snake. They all did this without the least sign of 

 fear. It may be claimed that this too was due to education i. e. 

 the expression of the teachers face, manner of handling the reptile, 

 etc. If this be true, which kind of education do we want? The 

 kind that handicaps clear thought or the kind that takes things on 

 their face value? If there are no legitimate reasons for fearing 

 snakes why make the assumption. 



What Danger is There in Picking up an Adder? 



There is a legend that once the Python was the only poisonous 

 snake. It could sting a footprint and the poison would kill the 

 man. One day a Crow told the Python that a man had not been 

 killed. The Python then climbed a tree and spat out all its 

 poison which was swallowed by the smaller snakes. Possibly 

 on no less a foimdation rests the assumption that all snakes are 

 poisonous. 



The word snake does not occur in the scriptiires. The term 

 adder is given to several venomous serpents and sometimes to the 

 Homed Viper (Cerastes). Ps. Iviii 4. "They are like the deaf 

 adder that stoppeth her ears." This may have given origin to 

 the old saying "Deaf as an Adder." Pro. 23. 32. "At the last 



it stingeth like an adder." From this may have arisen 



the idea that adders sting. Adders are not deaf and neither do 

 they sting. Behold their wondrous colors. Their colors are 

 beautiful and blend and the lilies of the field do not have patterns 

 like one of these. Yet man in all his studies of harmony does not 

 admire them. 



The danger in picking up an adder, as expressed in school, are 

 hereby given: 



Poison 



College and Normal School 16% 



High School 28% 



The data indicates that these erroneous ideas are later corrected, 

 to a slight extent, but not as much as one might wish. The mis- 

 take comes in allowing them to originate. 



