XIV 



THE SERPENT'S TONGUE 



" But now," says Ruskin, " here's the first thing, 

 it seems to me, we've got to ask the scientific 

 people what use a serpent has for its tongue, since 

 it neither works it to talk with, or taste with, or 

 hiss with, nor, as far as I know, to lick with, and, 

 least of all, to sting with — and yet, for people who 

 do not know the creature, the little vibrating 

 forked thread, flicked out of its mouth and back 

 again, as quick as lightning, is the most striking 

 part of the beast ; but what is the use of it ? 

 Nearly every creature but a snake can do some sort 

 of mischief with its tongue. A woman worries with 

 it, a chameleon catches flies with it, a cat steals 

 milk with it, a pholas digs holes in the rock with 

 it, and a gnat digs holes in us with it ; but the 

 poor snake cannot do any manner of harm with it 

 whatsoever ; and what is his tongue forked for ? " 



The writer's manner in this paragraph, and the 

 unexpectedness of the mocking question that leaps 

 out at the end, suggest the idea that there are, in 

 man, two sorts of forked tongues, and that one 

 sort is not worked for mischief. Certainly few of 



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