HOW A SPIDER LIFTED A SNAKE 131 



leaving it to perish miserably between heaven and earth. 

 Would-be philosophers made great fun of this statement, 

 and ridiculed it unmercifully. I know not how true it was, 

 but I know that it migJit have been true. 



Some years ago, in the village of Havana, in the State of 

 New York, a spider entangled a milk-snake in her threads, 

 and actually raised it some distance from the ground, 

 and this, too, in spite of the struggles of the reptile, which 

 was alive. 



By what process of engineering did the comparatively 

 small and feeble insect succeed in overcoming and lifting up 

 by mechanical means, the mouse or the snake ? The solution 

 is easy enough if we only give the question a little thought. 



The spider is furnished with one of the most efficient 

 mechanical implements known to engineers, viz., a strong 

 elastic thread. That the thread is strong is well known. 

 Indeed, there are few substances that will support a greater 

 strain than the silk of the silkworm, or the spider ; careful 

 experiment having shown that for equal sizes the strength 

 of these fibers exceeds that of common iron. But notwith- 

 standing its strength, the spider's thread alone would be 

 useless as a mechanical power if it were not for its elasticity. 

 The spider has no blocks or pulleys, and, therefore, it cannot 

 cause the thread to divide up and run in different directions, 

 but the elasticity of the thread more than makes up for 

 this, and renders possible the lifting of an animal much 

 heavier than a mouse or a snake. This may require a little 

 explanation. 



Let us suppose that a child can lift a six-pound weight 

 one foot high and do this twenty times a minute. Furnish 

 him with 350 rubber bands, each capable of pulling six 

 pounds through one foot when stretched. Let these bands 



