KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL, 



387 



is seriously annoying-, and that is the continual 

 dread of snakes. The encamping ground is 

 generally chosen away from the beaten track of 

 the village, and in places but little frequented. 



I was once sitting with Mrs. M , the lady of 



a Captain in the Infantry, in her sleeping tent; 

 her three children, one of them was an infant, 

 had just gone to sleep on mats and mattresses 

 upon the ground, when a large cobra di capcllo 

 (a most deadly snake) about four feet long, 

 crawled into the tent-door, and winding its way 

 round the children's beds, placed itself between 

 two of them. The horror of the moment to both 

 of us, but particularly to my poor friend, cannot 

 be described. It had luckily the effect of stupe- 

 faction, for had we made the slightest call or 

 movement it would probably have caused the 

 death of one or more of the innocent sleepers. 

 It might have been nearly five minutes before 

 the venomous reptile took its departure out of 

 the opposite tent-door. It was only then that a 



violent scream burst forth from Mrs. M , and 



that I could find strength to spring from the cot 

 where I had been sitting, and call for aid to de- 

 stroy the snake, which was happily accomplished 

 before it had reached many yards from the 

 tent- door. 



Snakes frequently present themselves on a 

 march, and it is really wonderful how few 

 persons are bitten. One morning, we had 

 arrived at our halting-ground, and my tent not 

 being quite ready, I breakfasted with Mrs. 



S , the commanding officer's lady. My 



friend required a change of clothes, which had 

 been laid under the mattress of the palanquin, 

 on removing which, a large snake was dis- 

 covered, coiled up under it, and thus Mrs. S 



had actually slept soundly upon it for three 

 hours daring a march of eleven miles! 



Snakes abound nearly as much in cantonments 

 as in marches. I was sitting in my veranda one 

 evening, when a snake about three feet long 

 darted down from the roof (where it had been 

 concealed among some creepers) close to the 



chair on which 1 was sitting. Colonel B , 



who was with me, had luckily a slight stick in 

 his hand, with which he attacked and soon de- 

 spatched it. On another occasion, my little boy 

 had come to bid me rise, when he suddenly 

 stopped short and exclaimed, " Large snake, 

 mamma! " To my terror, the monster was seen 

 winding itself round and round my bed-post, 

 and had then reached about a foot above the 

 level of the bed. On its being killed, it proved 

 to be a cobra di capello, six feet two inches 

 long. An officer had a mania for keeping 

 snakes and trying to domesticate them. The 

 snake-catchers used to bring him every variety 

 of species, having their fangs, under which the 

 poison lies, extracted, and thus they were ren- 

 dered harmless. He had indulged in this 

 curious fanc} r two or three years, rather to the 

 annoyance of his brother officers who came to 

 visit him. One day, after he had taken his 

 breakfast, he was feeding his snakes with milk 

 according to his daily custom of doing, when 

 one of them suddenly turned, and bit him in the 

 hand. lie found, on examining the snake, that 

 the fang had grown again, and that a quantity 

 of poison was secreted, the same as before. He 



had it immediately killed, together with the 

 whole tribe of his favorites; but alas! too late ; 

 for he died in the course of two days, in spite of 

 all the medical men at Madras, as well as of 

 those at Palaveram, where his regiment was then 

 stationed. In ordinary instances a few hours 

 terminate life ; in this, however it was supposed 

 that the second secretion of poison had become 

 weaker in its effects, and consequently the suf- 

 ferer lingered two days. * * It is really 

 strange, but it is a fact, that the cobra capello is 

 attracted by music; and the snake-catcher is 

 generally attended by a boy, who plays upon a 

 kind of pipe. The snake will follow the boy, 

 and appears much pleased ; but the moment he 

 leaves off, he will raise his hooded head, as if in 

 anger. I was once playing upon my harp, in an 

 open veranda, that led into the garden by a 

 few steps; a snake had reached the second step, 

 arid lay there for some time unperceived. A gen- 

 tleman entered the garden and saw it; he was on 

 horseback, and wished to watch the reptile, for 

 which purpose he remained quiet, and bid me 

 by signs to play on; I did so for a few minutes, 

 for which time the snake remained perfectly 

 still. I then left off, when it immediately raised 

 its head, and having darted about the steps for 

 some time, it took refuge in a neighboring bush. 

 The gentleman having dismounted, came to me. 

 and begged me to resume my harp, in order to 

 allure the deadly foe to its own destruction. 

 This I did; the music produced the same effect 

 as before, and the poor creature was shortly 

 killed. 



PHEEKTOLGGY FOE THE MILLION. 



No. XXXVIII.— PHYSIOLOGY OF THB 

 BRAIN. 



BY F. J t GALL, M.D. 



{Continued from page 357.) 



We have now another important matter to 

 consider ; and that is,— 



Can Attention give rise to ant Instinct, 

 Faculty, or Propensity whatsoever? 



It has long been one of the favorite notions of 

 many philosophers, that attention is the source of 

 all the faculties of man; that one may acquire 

 such or such a faculty, according as he directs 

 his attention to such or such an object, according 

 as he cultivates the faculty in question. Helve- 

 tius has gone so far as to say, that there is no 

 well-organised man, who cannot exercise his at- 

 tention with all the force and constancy, which 

 would need to be employed in order to elevate 

 him to the rank of the greatest men. Such is the 

 eager zeal, for deriving from a single principle 

 all the phenomena of human life ! Condillac made 

 sensation the source of all the faculties. Accord- 

 ing to him, recollection, memory, comparison, 

 judgment, reflection, imagination, and reasoning, 

 are included in the faculty of perceiving. M. La- 

 romiguiere, seeing that sensations are almost the 

 same in all men, while their moral and intellec- 

 tual faculties are infinitely different, and that the 

 sensations are only passive, believed himsel 



