144 ADVENTURES OF THREE YOUNG NATURALISTS. 



"I tried to save it," said Paul, "but I guess Harry was excited and 

 shot before he thought." 



" Yes, sir," said Harry, " I was excited, for I nearly walked on it. I 

 was looking up in the tops of the pines trying to get a sight of those little 

 birds which are making so much noise up there, and did not see the snake 

 until I was nearly on whim, when he began to shake that tail of his like a 

 buz saw ; then I shot at him." 



" Are you sure he is dead, Harry," said George, the boy who had just 

 arrived and who had been, during this conversation, slyly attaching a string to 

 the tail of the reptile as it lay in the grass, while he was pretending to ex- 

 amine the place where the rattle had been. 



" Dead ! why he never moved after I fired," said Harry, '•' did he Paul ? 

 See here," and stooping down, he was about to turn the animal over, when 

 George gives a sudden jerk to the string, pulling the snake backward. Har- 

 ry jumped to one side, and his feet coming in contact with a bunch of zamia, 

 a common fern-like plant which grows in those parts, stumbled and nearly 

 fell, while George roared with laughter. 



" Boys, don't play with edged tools, especially those whose mere touch 

 may mean death,"" said the Professor. 



" Why sir," said George, as he removed the string, " the snake can't 



bite him, can he : " 



" No," replied his reprover, " but if by any chance his fangs should 



even prick the flesh now, the poison would quite likely flow into the 

 wound and the result would be nearly the same as if the snake were liv- 

 ing. Even after the head has been dried and all the moisture absorbed 

 f.om the venom its virulent character remains. 



" I once heard of a singular instance, or rather a series of instances, 

 in which this peculiarity of rattle snake venom was painfully illustrated. 



A gentleman who was an amaeture taxidermist, had mounted a rattle 

 snake with the mouth wide open and the fangs exposed. This piece of 

 workmanship was his pride for some years, but after a time ti was laid away 

 on a shelf in a closet and forgotten. A servant, in removing some article 

 from the closet, accidentally threw down the snake and left it on the 

 fioor. The master of the house, shortly after, wishing to get something 

 from the closet in the dark, trod upon the head and caused one of the 

 fangs to penetrate into the leather of his boot. That night his heel came in 

 contact with the tooth and his foot was slightly wounded. This scratch was 

 not immediately painful nor did he notice it, but after retiring his foot began 

 to swell, and shortly after, this swelling extending upward, the matter became 

 serious. A physician was summoned, but not knowing the cause of the diffi- 

 culty, the proper treatment was not given and the patient died, and no sat- 



