♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Sept. 4, 1885. 



snatchci^ 



I splendid 



inside out from the knee downward. I: ■- ii^ 

 the point of its tail in the old skin, . / 

 uncomplainingly received a week or U\ . , 

 lessness. The wound soon healud, 1 i 

 afterwards distinguished the tail nl 

 that this snake (whom I named " S:i 

 and gentle, and possessed of attun 



had a voracious appetite, and omr . , i 



a frog out of my hand. One U.y, .ill i 

 efts for breakfast, she greedily bolied U\.< 

 had literary tastes ; or, perhaps, a turn f 

 for she would coil herself amongst the boi 

 table, and then, when I began to write, unwiu 

 over my MS., seeming to take a pleasure in sn 



the sheet. Another snake, whom I called "Ti^.., ^ 



fellow, adorned with a bright orange ring and spots. When he first 

 came into my possession he was very fierce, hissing and striking at 

 my hand each time I approached him, though he never bit me ; but 

 with frequent handling and gentle treatment he became a very 

 courteous snake— as tractable as Sarah, though perhaps not per- 

 sonally attached to me so decidedly as that graceful, but not 

 brightly-coloured, lady. A foreign snake (with black-and-silver 

 longitudinal stripes, and traces of a ring round its neck), which I 

 bought at a shop in Seven Dials, after a season of comparative 

 gentleness, became so irritable and savage (from disease — " boils 

 and Mains ")— that I was obliged to kill it. Besides several large 

 English Colubers, and the foreigners (also of the Colubrine family), 

 I had for a time two Coronellas (from SuflEolk) ; but as these refused 

 to eat efts, and sand lizards (their proper food) were difficult to 

 obtain, I gave them to the Zoological Society. These snakes were 

 not particularly endearing in their ways, and were in the habit 

 of biting my fingers, though without drawing blood. They dis- 

 played considerable " constricting " and climbing powers, needing 

 very little help to enable them to creep up the perpendicular trunk 

 of a large tree. I noticed that the first symptoms of approaching 

 exuviation was a general dulling of the colour of the snake — 

 the eyes becoming dun, then of an almost turquoise blue, 

 the reptile, too, apparently losing its cheerfulness and getting 

 into a depressed state. After some days the colour would 

 brighten somewhat, the new skin perhaps beginning to 

 show through the old, the eyes growing clearer, and the 

 countenance, too, assuming a more hopeful expression. After 

 a further interval, the loosening of the skin about the mouth would 

 take place, and then, in a short time, by creeping amongst stones, 

 bits of wood, &c., the creature would turn back and strip off its old 

 covering, and emerge in brighter and more beautiful apparel, and, 

 evidently, more cheerful spirits. The skins, when off, are quite 



colourless, and show 

 spectacle-like projecti 

 snakes measured from 

 notice that Tiger and > 

 me, too) by pulliiu .- 

 by creeping betw. .n i: 

 off. I may also iiirnin 

 very large English Mia 



where the ey( 



be cast-off coats of my English 



or 1 1 iuclies in length. I forgot to 



r.iMMiiallv :ii)iu-cd themselves (and 



Thi'T accomplished this 



' .■^ and so pushing them 



, I > . a s savagely bitten by a 



...11,111 ill ■('.iluber natrix Tropido- 



cre certainly very sharp, and there 



was some amount of bleeding, but, beyond a little smarting of the 



wound, of course, no bad consequences ensued. C. H. 



Aug. 25, 1885. 



ULEY BURY. 

 [1908]— On a walk through Gloucestershire this week, I hap- 

 pened to pass over Dley Bury, which I see is mentioned in your 

 paper of yesterday, so venture to forward you the following notes, 

 though, like most tourists' notes, they are worth but little. The 

 Bury is well separated from, and commands the surrounding hills. 

 The summit is a tableland, partly under plough cultivation. The 

 sides are very steep : on their edge is an earth parapet and single 

 ditch. There are roadways on the gouth-west face and at the north 

 angle, both fortified by out-works ; that at the north angle has had 

 special attention. This gate faces the road over Crawley 1101 to 

 Nailsworth, and is the easier way into the camp. As this road is a 

 ridge-way, it is probably on a very early road track. The defences 

 here are two parapets, their front elevation being like segments of 

 two concentric circles ; the north corner of the front and smaller 

 one has been cut deeply into for stone to mend the roads. It does 

 not seem to have been worked of late, and it is to be hoped it will not 

 be again (for stone abounds here at tlie very surface), as the contour 

 of this defence would soon be destroyed. The enclosure is about 

 half-a-mile long on its longest side, and rather more than a quarter 

 on its opposite side, its breadth being about one furlong. From 

 the slightness of the parapet it seems to have been formed in pre- 

 Eoman times before the British found it necessary to make such 

 formidable triple earthworks like those on Caer Caradoc and the 

 Herefordshire Beacon. From its large size one would think that a 



ill i; I rounding fertile vales expected 

 ,,ir. Cultivation has obliterated 

 if any existed, which make the 

 I ] II ill .-0 interesting, 

 taken an interest in this hiU wiU send 

 3f it than these vague notes. 



E. Cook. 



VERSATILITY. 



[1909]— I fear that "Hallyards" has an uneasy suspicion about 

 versatility in general, and his own peculiar form of it in particular. 

 Surely I praised it highly enough ! And he replies that I " insist on 

 the man of one book." I have not " insisted " on him, but I infi- 

 nitely prefer him to the " man of no books at all,'' who forms his 

 own opinions (as the clever boy made the chest of drawers) " all 

 out of his own head," who publishes by the dozen crude ideas on 

 subjects to which the greatest intellects have devoted years of 

 patient study. The man of no books at all is ever the most ready to 

 " argue the point " on, say, the principles of evolution, before he 

 even knows what evolution teaches (see letter 1872); he hears of 

 the law of difTu.sion of pases, and instantly sees that it is " an in- 

 fluence Count riaciin^ K'-nitation as a universal law ; " he solves the 

 "prohl. ];: . i ;: . . ii. ..ii ^iii.l, thus: one of them revolves 

 round I. Ill . tlicmselves in the foci of its 



ellipsr . , ,. ,: -.If that it is the centre (I beg 



pardon, I Ml. .111. I :i. -■ I' . II- I .1 111 traction. No wonder that after 

 such a biilii.aa ■ luti.|.;, thouyht a.^ this, the man of no books at 

 all should " leave the" dynamical question." He is prudent, for 

 something astonishing must undoubtedly soon happen to this pair 

 of jealous suns, and their eccentric satellite. Then, again, it is to 

 the man of no books at all that we are indebted for such gems of 

 knowledge as that the earth is flat, that the ratio of the circum- 

 ference of a circle to the diameter is as Si to 1, and generally that 

 trained men of science are hopelessly wrong about everything. 



W. 



[" W." will excuse the omission of a part, of his letter. Corre- 

 spondents object to discus^ion not leading to any increase of know- 

 ledge, and " Hallyards " thinks himself unfairly treated if not 

 allowed full swin^' in reply to all that may be said of him. In 

 passing I note that the saying "Beware of the man of one book" had 

 quite the opposite meaning to that imagined by " Hallyards." It 

 was an expression of respect not of contempt. Beware of him for 

 he will probably be strong and sure. — E. P.] 



RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT MEXICANS. 



[1910]— In reply to " Zeteo," letter 1877, he will find in Logan 

 Mitchell's " Mythology Revealed," p. 101, a short resume of the facts 

 mentioned. This work was published first by Triibner, but there is 

 a cheap reprint of it published at 63, Fleet-street. Full particulars 

 can be obtained in " Narratives of the Rites and Laws of the 

 Yncas," translated hy Clements R. Markham, also " Commentarios 

 Reales de los Yncas," by the Ynca Garcilasso de Ja Vega, Prescott's 

 " History of tlie Conquest of Mexico," Prescott's " History of the 

 Conquest of Peru," "Legendas Mejicanos, mentos y baladas del 

 Norte de Europa," by F. M. Barcena, all published by Triibner. 

 There are also the works by Acosta, Las Casas, Herrera, Sahagun, 

 kc, containing full accounts. 



The Spaniards were so much struck by the remarkable resem- 

 blance of these rites and doctrines with their own religion, that 

 their priests attributed them to the machinations of the devil, and, 

 for easily divined reasons, did all they could to prevent the facts 

 from beconiini; generally known. 



The 1 ri| ,il l.i.iii.s are: they represent their God under a 



trinity. I i . mlilemis the cross. One of their trinity 



was rill I I, tain between two thieves. Resurrection 



after III!. . .1... - . . i.-ion through the clouds. Expected return 

 of their .^.ui.jiu. llu\ had the rite of baptism. The immaculate 

 conception of a Virgin' by the son of their God, &c. In short, all 

 the leading features of Christianity and Buddhism, showing the 

 origin of " solar worship." F. W. H. 



C. Cbidland, M.D. 



HT TRANSMISSK 



which one of my comrades at another station was the principal. I 

 went to instrument and " shook " instead of " calling in code." Im- 

 mediately he answered. I asked a question, and then asked how 



