TREATMENT OF SNAKES IN CAPTIVITY. 449 



prisons for gold and silver carp, adapted to the hall-table or 

 conservatory, rather than that of mammoth music-saloons. Bees 

 have been "kept" for pleasure and profit, saccharine and 

 scientific, from time immemorial; the ant has been honoured 

 with a long hue of distinguished observers, from Solomon to Sir 

 John Lubbock; while wasps, worms, spiders, beetles, and fleas 

 have all in turn been commended to public notice by learned 

 men. Moreover, the allusions to many of these creatures in 

 ancient aphorisms betrays a close acquaintance with their man- 

 ners and customs, such as could only be gained by watchful 

 curiosity. But with regard to reptiles-snakes in particular- 

 it must be confessed that all proverbial philosophy which has 

 come down to us concerning them is nothing more or less than 

 an epitome of the gross and common errors which still hold their 

 ground. Even in the days when the wondrous chain of animated 

 Nature was being patiently aud laboriously followed out, link by 

 hnk, by those earnest minds who may be said to have founded 

 our system of Zoology, for a man to have done anything with a 

 snake except kill it would have pointed irrefragably to demoniacal 

 possession, and the luckless conservator might very likely have 

 incurred the penalties awarded to those who practised the black 

 art. We do not burn ophiologists now, certainly; and a person 

 may even have living serpents in his house without being con- 

 sidered mad or morbidly desirous of a reputation for eccentricity 

 as he would have been not long ago. And further, captive 

 snakes are now preserved for higher purposes than to be stared 

 at as monsters, and too often teased or tortured to death 



The study of Natural History in all its branches, from Entozoa 

 to elephants, is increasing in popularity yearly among all classes ; 

 almost every provincial town has its " Society " or " Field Club " • 

 the number of special publications multiply, while a great many 

 general periodicals devote a column or page to the subject in 

 every issue ; and it is gratifying to note the prominence given to 

 it m magazines for the young, especially boys' papers. A higher 

 degree of intelligence than they were formerly accredited with is 

 now acknowledged in most animals, and wins a new interest for 

 hem. We become reconciled to them, diverted by them, fond of 

 them, amazed at them ! Above all, the teaching of the present 

 day inculcates the perception of the grand laws of order and 

 progression m creation ; that not only are all animals related to 



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