Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste,
because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his
blanket. Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery,
and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious
circumstance alluded to. May not the mistake of the serpent be
attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste? Take this
reason: All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal
substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake
detected the animal quality--the ammonia--in the wool of the
blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was
something suitable to his digestive organs. It is certain that he
committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to
the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness. We throw
out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what
contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a
hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute
opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.