If he can get a crust sufficient for the day, he leaves the evil of it should visit him.The first time I saw him was in the high noon of a scorching day, at an inn in Laytonstone.He came in while a sudden storm descended, and a rainbow of exquisite majesty vaulted the earth.Sitting down at a table, he beckoned the hostess for his beer, and conversed freely with his acquaintance.By his arch replies I found that I was in company with an original--a man that might stretch forth his arms in the wilderness without fear, and like Paul, grasp an adder without harm.He playfully entwined his fingers with their coils and curled crests, and played with their forked tongues.He had unbuttoned his waistcoat, and as cleverly as a fish-woman handles her eels, let out several snakes and adders, warmed by his breast, and spread them on the table.He took off his hat, and others of different sizes and lengths twisted before me; some of them, when he unbosomed his shirt, returned to the genial temperature of his skin; and some curled around the legs of the table, and others rose in a defensive attitude.
He irritated and humored them, to express either pleasure or pain at his will.
Some were purchased by individuals, and Jack pocketed his gains, observing, ``Afrog, or a mouse, occasionally, is enough for a snake's satisfaction.''
The Naturalist's Cabinet says, that ``In presence of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, while the philosophers were making elaborate dissertations on the danger of the poison of vipers, taken inwardly, a viper catcher, who happened to be present, requested that a quantity of it might be put into a vessel; and then, with the utmost confidence, and to the astonishment of the whole company, he drank it off.Everyone expected the man instantly to drop down dead; but they soon perceived their mistake, and found that, taken inwardly, the poison was as harmless as water.''
William Oliver, a viper catcher at Bath, was the first who discovered that, by the application of olive oil, the bite of the viper is effectually cured.On the first of June, 1735, he suffered himself to be bitten by an old black viper; and after enduring the agonizing symptoms of approaching death, by using olive oil he perfectly recovered.
Vipers' flesh was formerly esteemed for its medicinal virtues, and its salt was thought to exceed every other animal product in giving vigor to a languid constitution.
According to Cornelius Heinrich Agrippa (called Agrippa of Nettesheim), a German philosopher, and student of alchemy and magic, who was born in 1486, and died in 1535, ``if you would handle adders and snakes without harm, wash your hands in the juice of radishes, and you may do so without harm.''
Even though it may seem a digression, I
yield to the temptation to include here an extraordinary ``snake story'' taken from An Actor Abroad, which Edmund Leathes published in 1880:
I will here relate the story of a sad death--I might feel inclined to call it suicide--which occurred in Melbourne shortly before my arrival in the colonies.
About a year previous to the time of which I am now writing, a gentleman of birth and education, a Cambridge B.A., a barrister by profession and a literary man by choice, with his wife and three children emigrated to Victoria.He arrived in Melbourne with one hundred and fifty pounds in his pocket, and hope unlimited in his heart.
Poor man! He, like many another man, quickly discovered that muscles in Australia are more marketable than brains.
His little store of money began to melt under the necessities of his wife and family.To make matters worse he was visited by a severe illness.He was confined to his bed for some weeks, and during his convalescence his wife presented him with another of those ``blessings to the poor man,'' a son.
It was Christmas time, his health was thoroughly restored, he naturally possessed a vigorous constitution; but his heart was begining to fail him, and his funds were sinking lower and lower.
At last one day, returning from a long and solitary walk, he sat down with pen and paper and made a calculation by which he found he had sufficient money left to pay the insurance upon his life for one year, which, in the case of his death occurring within that time, would bring to his widow the sum of three thousand pounds.He went to the insurance office, and made his application--was examined by the doctor--the policy was made out, his life was insured.From that day he grew moody and morose, despair had conquered hope.
At this time a snake-charmer came to Melbourne, who advertised a wonderful cure for snake-bites.This charmer took one of the halls in the town, and there displayed his live stock, which consisted of a great number of the most deadly and venomous snakes which were to be found in India and Australia.
This man had certainly some most wonderful antidote to the poison of a snake's fangs.In his exhibitions he would allow a cobra to bite a dog or a rabbit, and, in a short time after he had applied his nostrum the animal would thoroughly revive;he advertised his desire to perform upon humanity, but, of course, he could find no one would be fool enough to risk his life so unnecessarily.
The advertisement caught the eye of the unfortunate emigrant, who at once proceeded to the hall where the snake charmer was holding his exhibition.He offered himself to be experimented upon;the fanatic snake-charmer was delighted, and an appointment was made for the same evening as soon as the ``show''
should be over.
