DR. TH. NEUMANN. 95 



Ceylon abounds with snakes, that they are very danger- 

 ous, and that one cannot be too careful in avoiding them. 

 " All that," he says, "is exaggerated. Where fear is 

 in play, reason is usually very weak, and snakes 

 have from times immemorial with all men and all nations 

 been the subject of aversion and fear, and objects of 

 superstition and fables. Snakes are neither numerous 

 there nor to be feared. Those men who possess the 

 greatest experience have also the greatest confidence. 

 Old sportsmen rush fearlessly into the thickest shrubs 

 and underwoods, while the new-comer from Europe does 

 not dare to cross the lawn before his hotel, trembling 

 and afraid of the snakes in the grass. The latter is 

 full of imaginary fear, the former fearless by ex- 

 perience. This fear sometimes causes most ridiculous, 

 though often sad scenes, and makes the life of many 

 people a burden, a torment." 



If we look over the reports issued by the medical offi- 

 cers of the Federal armies during the Civil War, we find 

 very few cases of men injured by the bites of snakes. 

 This is so much the more remarkable as our troops must 

 have tramped through countless miles of woods and 

 wilderness often for weeks and months, and we ought 

 not to be surprised to learn that they had a good deal to 

 suffer from encounters with those apparently obnoxious 

 animals. 



The reason for this is very simple ; snakes very seldom 

 attack men unless they are irritated or in some way ex- 

 cited ; even the most dangerous prefer to steal away as 

 soon as they hear the lord of creation come near, and 

 they will bite only in extreme necessity when trodden 

 upon or otherwise irritated. There is only one snake, 

 the bushmaster [Lachesis muta\ in Brazil, which is said 

 to attack men without provocation, but this is an excep- 

 tional case. We may still hold that in general no 

 snake will molest a man ; on the contrary, it will be 



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