My Snake-Stick 



i 



A straight young pig-nut was selected forth- 

 with, cut down, and trimmed. 



It was a beautiful wand straight and some 

 eight feet long much farther than any snake 

 could strike, for the animal never jumps, as 

 popularly understood, but only darts forth its 

 head perhaps half the length of the body, and 

 it was tough and lithe, so that its pliant tip 

 would lie flat along the ground like a flail 

 an ideal snake-stick. 



A serpent's backbone is extremely brittle. A 

 light, sharp blow will almost invariably break 

 it, fatally injure the spinal cord and render the 

 animal helpless, and a second blow on the head 

 finish it. Yet so sluggish is the nervous life 

 and so intense the muscular energy that the 

 creature will often seem to remain alive espe- 

 cially toward its tail for a considerable time. 

 This is partly reflex energy, and partly nothing 

 more than the mechanical action resulting from 

 unequal changes in the tension of the muscles 

 following death. These muscles are small and 

 extremely numerous, controlling each of the 

 many ribs ; and as they stiffen and loosen irregu- 



