102 POISONOUS SNAKES AND SNAKE POISONS. 



death-inflicting weapon, hence the expression that the 

 snake "stings," which is not correct, as it really bites 

 with its teeth. Shakespeare even has embodied this 

 idea several times in his works, for instance in " King 

 Lear," who, when suffering from the wrong done him 

 by his daughter Goneril, exclaims : 



" She has abated me of half my train, 

 Looked black upon me, struck me with her tongue 

 Most serpent like, upon the very heart." 



In the "Midsummer Night's Dream" Hermia, who 

 accuses Demetrius for having murdered Lysander, says : 



" And hast thou killed him sleeping ? brave touch ! 

 Could not a worm, an adder do so much ? 

 An adder did it; for with doubler tongue 

 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung !" 



We may easily account for this strange belief, as the 

 tongue, this ever movable, slender, forked part, gives to 

 the snake a mysterious, even malignant look, hence the 

 repeated statement that it is the animal's "dart" with 

 which it kills. David, the royal harp-player, who is 

 otherwise a good observer, says in his prayer for Saul, 

 Psalm 140 : 



" Deliver me, God, from the evil men, preserve me from the violent 

 men, which imagine mischiefs in their heart ; they have sharpened their 

 tongues like a serpent ; adder's poison is under their lips." 



It is confirmed now beyond doubt that the tongue can 

 do no harm, and that the poison-fangs alone must be 

 considered as the deadly weapon which condemns the 

 whole family to hatred and aversion. There are usually 

 two, one on each maxilla or upper jaw-bone, which when 

 they are not in use, point backward. They are concealed 

 in a fold or a slight groove of the gum, but can be raised 

 as soon as the mouth opens. Each tooth is either per- 

 forated by a tine tube which opens by a distinct aperture 

 at the point of the fang, or it has a shallow longitudinal 

 canal on its surface. Usually only one tooth is found 



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