52 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



to be aroused by a serpent gliding from its cage to 

 the accustomed hand, nor by its weight when lying 

 cosily in the sleeve. To cast aside a harmless, 

 useful creature, which would cling to us as though 

 it loved us, seems ungentle. 



The memory of a pet lizard, which used to sun 

 itself on my infant hand, suggests regret that the 

 mental capacity of that reptile has never been 

 gauged, though the biological position of the 

 saurian is defined in many a text-book. The 

 poor thing has hitherto furnished only its dead 

 body for scientific investigation. The artist of 

 science has picked to pieces the canvas from 

 which the living picture had been removed ; the 

 mechanic has described a powerless engine ; the 

 chemist, with bottle of poison, has perpetrated a 

 libel on Nature, more barbarous than that in the 

 bundles of skin and feathers sold as birds by 

 village taxidermists. Science is too often limited 

 to the study of physical processes. The proper 

 place for the study of reptiles is not necessarily 

 a museum, in which they have been hanged in 

 jars, like some sort of saurian malefactors, pre- 

 served to warn the wicked ; but it is among more 



