THE SNAKE. 



205 



rattlesnake, addressed to Thomas Stuart Traill, 

 M.D., and inserted in Jameson's Journal^ says, that 

 he confined a rattlesnake for three years in a cage. 

 Did he never once get a sight of the fangs all that 

 time ? I will allow any body the range of the whole 

 world ; and if he can produce one single solitary fang 

 of any snake, great or small, with the point turned 

 upwards^ I will submit to be sent to the treadmill 

 for three years. All fangs of snakes are curved 

 somewhat in the shape of a scythe, with their points 

 downwards ; and we see clearly that their position 

 in the mouth, and the manner in which they convey 

 the poison, require that their points should be curved 

 downwards. 



Mr. Taylor further informs us that " black snakes 

 are called racers, from their occasionally chasing men 

 with great ferocity," Chase argues pursuit and 

 retreat : now^ I affirm that snakes never chase men, 

 nor, indeed, any other animals. 



It often happens that a man turns round and runs 

 away when he has come suddenly upon a snake, 

 " retroque pedem cum voce repressit;'' while the 

 disturbed snake itself is obliged through necessity 

 (as I shall show by and by) to glide in the same 

 path which the man has taken. The man, seeing 

 this, runs away at double speed, fancying that he is 

 pursued by the snake. If he would only have the 

 courage to stand still, and would step sideways on 

 the snake's coming up to him, he might rest secure 

 that it would not attack him, provided that he, on 

 his part, abstained from provoking it. I once laid 

 hold of a serpent's tail as it was crossing the path 



