CHAPTER XXXV 
INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS OF REPTILES 
The Point of View. — In studying or not 
studying the world of reptiles, everything de- 
pends upon the point of view. With persons in 
middle life, who hold up their hands and shudder 
at the mention of the word “reptile,” there is 
nothing to be done. They are victims of an un- 
reasoning prejudice that often is deliberately 
taught to young people, both by precept and ex- 
ample, until at last it becomes bone of their bone 
and flesh of their flesh. Human children are not 
born with the inherited fear of reptiles which is so 
characteristic of the apes and monkeys of the 
jungles; and it is not fair to terrorize their inno- 
cent souls with awful “snake stories,” any more 
than with the “ghost stories” which most care- 
ful parents forbid. 
With young people whose minds have not been 
artificially warped by older persons who abhor 
all reptilian life, much may be done. 
Now, come! Let us reason together. 
Despite electricity and steam, this world is 
yet a fairly large place. That it has existed 
through countless ages, and that its animal life 
has gone through many marvellous transforma- 
tions, no one can deny, without being put to 
shame by the silent and immutable testimony 
of the rocks. This world, the animals now liv- 
ing upon it, and those lying within it, entombed 
by Nature’s hand, have been millions of years 
in forming. If you doubt it, go into an Arizona 
canyon, half a mile in depth, and at the bottom 
of a mountain-wall of rock, dig out the remains 
of a fossil, then ask yourself this question: “How 
long has it taken Nature to pile half a mile of 
solid rock upon the grave of this creature, and 
then cut down to it again ? ” 
In the evolution of the birds of to-day, the 
reptiles of the past have played an important 
part ; and the study of the Class Reptilia is very 
much worth while, if for no other reason than to 
learn the nearness of the relationships between 
its members and the birds. 
Remember, first of all, that the reptiles of to- 
day are actually insignificant in comparison 
with those which existed ages ago, the bones of 
which are now fast coming to light. A twenty- 
four-foot python or anaconda of to-day, lying 
beside a sixty-foot dinosaur, with a hind leg ten 
feet high, would be like a garter-snake beside a 
kangaroo. 
In this day of liberal thought and broad rea- 
soning, any person whose knowledge of the world 
of reptiles is limited to the false notion that all 
these creatures are either “slimy” or dangerous, 
is to be pitied. A persistence in that all-too- 
connnon estimate is a distinct loss to all those 
who entertain it. It means the shutting out, 
with the black curtain of Ignorance, of a whole 
world of interesting forms and useful facts, and 
also a lifetime of cringing fear, largely without 
cause. 
Young Americans, I exhort you to take a broad 
and sensible view of the reptilian world, — as of 
every other great subject. Many of these creat- 
ures are worth knowing, some because they are 
wonderfully interesting, some because they are 
useful, and others because they are dangerous. 
None of them, however, are “slimy"! A snake 
may be cold to the touch, but its skin is as clean 
and free from slime as a watch-chain. What is 
more, there is no living creature, not even a 
dolphin, dripping from the sea, which possesses 
a skin displaying the beautiful pattern of colors 
and the rainbow iridescence of the reticulated 
python, of the East Indies. In reality there are 
a great number of reptiles that are undeniably 
beautiful. 
I would it were possible to touch upon all the 
Orders of Reptiles, extinct as well as living, and 
introduce some of the gigantic and wonderful 
lizards that were like kangaroos, rhinoceroses, 
and sea-lions, and also like nothing else under 
the sun; but in this volume it is impossible. 
There is space available only for the four Orders 
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