AN
_ESSAY_
TOWARDS A
NATURAL HISTORY
OF
_SERPENTS_:
IN TWO PARTS.
I. The First exhibits a general View of SERPENTS, in their various
Aspects; such as their Kinds, Bulk, Food, Motion, Propagation,
Coverture, Colours. In which is inserted a short Account of Vegetable,
Mineral, and Animal Poison, particularly that of the SERPENT; and its
Cure in various Nations; where also the SERPENT is used as Food and
Physick.
II. The Second gives a View of most SERPENTS that are known in the
several Parts of the World; described by their various Names,
different Countries, and Qualities.
Illustrated with COPPER-PLATES, Engraved by the BEST HANDS.
III. To which is added a Third Part; containing Six DISSERTATIONS upon
the following Articles, as collateral to the Subject.
1. Upon the PRIMEVAL SERPENT in PARADISE.
2. The FIERY SERPENTS that infested the Camp of ISRAEL.
3. The BRAZEN SERPENT erected by MOSES.
4. The DIVINE WORSHIP given to SERPENTS by the NATIONS.
5. The ORIGIN and REASON of that MONSTROUS WORSHIP.
6. Upon the ADORATION of different Kinds of BEASTS by the EGYPTIANS,
with divers Instances of the same Stupidity in other Nations.
The whole intermix’d with Variety of ENTERTAINING DIGRESSIONS,
PHILOSOPHICAL and HISTORICAL.
----------------------------------------------------------------
By CHARLES OWEN_ D. D.
----------------------------------------------------------------
_LONDON:_
Printed for the AUTHOR.
Sold by JOHN GRAY, at the _Cross-Keys_ in the _Poultry_, near
_Cheapside_.
M.DCC.XLII.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
_TO_
Sir _Hans Sloane_ Bar^t.
_SIR_,
The Serpent [_Subject_ of the following Sheets,] being one part of your
celebrated and expensive Collection of Rarities, naturally leads me to
beg the Honour of your Name to grace its Entrance into the publick
World.
I can’t enter into the vanity of thinking, that the Book can be any
improvement to one who has been so long and laborious an Enquirer after
Truth, and penetrated so far into the Empire of Nature: but as in
Divinity, a willing Mind; so in Learning, the best Endeavour will be
accepted. And tho’ the Book cannot recommend it self to you, your Name
may recommend it to others.
Happy are the Times, when Knowledge is the study of those who have
superior Abilities for it: Happy therefore is the present Age, that has
you, among many other Learned, so eminent an Encourager of it.
Tho’ elevated Minds direct all their concern to what they _should be_,
and not to any Applause for what they _really are_; yet, if to delineate
their Excellency be offensive to Modesty, the Sincerity with which it is
done, will, it is hoped, secure their Pardon.
Now, what is it that makes the great Character, but Knowledge in all its
diversity, a Sollicitousness for the Spread of Arts and Sciences,
excelling in one’s particular Station of Life, and being divinely
forward to all the high Offices of Humanity? This is the Picture of real
Worth, and what can forbid to say, that Sir HANS SLOANE is the Life?
That you may long continue the Restorer of Health, the Ornament of the
Day, and in triumph over all the deadly Power of the _Old Serpent_, at
last possess eternal Health, are the most sincere Wishes of him, who
with a just Sense of Obligation, and the greatest Regards, is,
_SIR_,
_Your most humble_,
_and devoted Servant_,
WARRINGTON,
_March 1, 1741-2_.
Cha. Owen.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
_TO THE_
_READER_.
_The Divine Wisdom so variously displayed in the Works of Nature, even
the lowest Order of them, entertains the human Eye with Prospects
exquisitely beautiful and pleasurable: As our Knowledge is defective, we
are at a loss how to account perfectly for the particular Ends of their
Formation, and Manner of their Subserviency to the Whole of the Eternal
Design._
_However, by Observation and Improvements in Natural Philosophy, we are
assured thus far; that as the Almighty Creator made nothing in vain, so
all his Works are good, and admirably fitted to answer the Purposes of
his Will, and that his Wisdom, like his tender Mercies, shines through
all the Systems of his Creatures._
_That there is not a wise Purpose in every thing that is made, because
we do not understand it, is as absurd as for a Man to say, there is no
such thing as Light, because he is blind, and has no Eyes to see it._
_For the Illustration of this, we may take a short View of Creatures, in
vulgar account too diminutive and despicable a Species, to deserve a
close Attention: And among these, if we consider the Noxious, we shall
find, if not an Argument why they should be made, yet we shall be able
to discern no Reason why they should not, because their Noxiousness is
not so unavoidable, but that we may, and almost every one does avoid
it._
_General Histories of these Kinds we have been furnished with in the
Writings of the Learned: Here I apply myself to the Discussion of one_
particular Species, _viz._ the Serpent: _in which I don’t pretend to new
Discoveries, but only to collect, and bring into one View, what has been
said by different Persons, which is not to be found by any without_ many
Books, _and_ much Time; _and which, without the present_ English _Dress,
would not be understood by others at all_.
_In accounting for some things relative to the Subject, I have always
chosen the Words of the Learned in the Physical Profession._ _The
Subject being like_ Dust, _the_ Food of the Serpent, very dry, _I have
endeavoured to give it some Agreeableness, by a Variety of Passages from
History, and Reflections of many kinds; which, though they may not
always naturally arise from the Subject, yet being intended for the
Reader’s Entertainment and Instruction (as he goes along in the
principal Design of the Book) I hope they will find a favourable
Judgment_.
_Give me leave, upon this occasion, to adopt Sir_ William Temple’_s
Words_, viz. “It is not perhaps amiss, _says he_, to relieve or enliven
a busy Scene sometimes with such _Digressions_, whether to the Purpose
or no.”[1]
Footnote 1:
_Temple_’s Memoirs from 1672 to 1679. _Second Edit^n. p._ 57, 58, 59.
_I shall only add, that in cultivating this Subject, I have attempted to
give a short Display of the Divine Perfections, which, as they appear
eminent in the System of the Creation in general, so in the Serpent they
may be seen in particular; and if it produces in the Reader a more
exquisite Perception of God in all his Works, I have my End; who am_
Your Humble Servant.
[Illustration]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Directions for the Binder, where to put the Plates,
Plate I. after p.
54.
Plate II. after p.
70.
Plate III. after p.
78.
Plate IV. after p.
86.
Plate V. after p.
94.
Plate VI. after p.
142.
Plate VII. after p.
152.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pag. ERRATA[TN].
25 Read _Bocca_, instead of _Baca_.
25 Four Lines from bottom, after _honor_,
r. _other_.
34 Line 2. r. _tho’ the Venom may_.
53 After _Dauphiny_, r. _and instead of
or_.
58 Quotation, r. _Natural History of
Lancashire_.
74 L. 14. instead of _Amphisbænick Animals_, r.
_Whether there be two-headed Serpents
or not_.
76 L. 14. from bottom, for _Tython_, r. _Python_.
95 L, 5. r. _made_, for _move_.
109 L. 3. for _could_, r. _would_.
112 L. 1. r. _Quinquennian._
114 L 17. for _emits_, r. _emit_.
115 L. 2. for _if they_, r. _the wounded_.
122 Head r. _Americina_.
LXXXIV.
132 Head r. _Agnasen_.
CXI.
134 —— CXIV. r. _Attaligatus_.
141 Head for _Navigation_, r. _Natation_.
CXXVI.
147 —— r. _Reptiles and Insects_.
CXXXIV.
148 Head for _it_, r. _them_.
IId.
162 Instead of _Dæmon_, r. _Damon_. L. 4.
from bottom, in Quotation, r. _ποιημα_
171 L. 9. r. _their other Faculties were_.
195 r. _Verdegrease_.
196 r. _Nehushtans_.
211 r. _Gades_.
231 Dele 3.
237 L. 14. a Comma should be after _adore_.
_N. B._ In the Story of the Elephant, pag. 86. it is a mistake, to place
the Action at _Newcastle_; the Scene of it being in the _East-Indies_,
according to a Book called _Hamilton’s Travels_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration]
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──────────
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[Illustration]
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[Illustration]
A
NATURAL HISTORY
_OF_
_SERPENTS_
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PART I.
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SECTION I.
I begin with the Division of Serpents, which I distribute into
_Terrestrial_, that live upon Land only; _Aquatick_, that live in Water;
and _Amphibious_, that inhabit both Elements. Under these I comprehend
all the Relatives to the venomous Tribe. But how can Land-Serpents live
in Water? I answer, their Bodies are equally formed for both Places.
Among Animals, some breathe by _Lungs_, and others by _Gills_, as all
sanguineous Fish, (excepting the _Whale_.) By _Gills_, I mean those
membranous cartilaginous Parts on both sides the Head, whereby they hear
and respire: What we call _Gills_ in Fish, are properly their _Lungs_.
Respiration (which is an involuntary Motion of the Breast, whereby Air
is alternately taken in and thrown out) is as necessary to Fish as to
Land-Animals: In Water, is a great Quantity of Air inclosed, and it is
that Air they respire, and by their _Gills_ they separate the Air from
the Water, and present it to the _Blood_, after the same manner as ’tis
presented to the Lungs of Land-Animals.
The _Gills_ of Fish have an alternate Motion of Dilatation and
Compression; when they _dilate_ their _Gills_, the Water is taken in;
when they _contract_ them, ’tis expelled again. Thus the Water is
carried in by the Mouth, and carried off again (stript of its Air) by
the _Gills_, which perform the Office of Lungs. Their sucking Water is
Breathing, and their Food as little of Water, perhaps, as other
Creatures use.
_SERPENTS_ will swim in all Liquids; this appears in the Experiment made
by a _learned Italian_, who put a Serpent into a large Glass-Vessel of
Wine, where it lived swimming about six Hours: and when it was by force
immersed and kept under that Liquid, it lived only about an Hour and a
half. He put another in common Water, where it lived three Days; but
when it was kept under Water, it lived only about twelve Hours[2].
Footnote 2:
_Fr. Redi Exper. circa res nat._ p. 170.
Some Serpents are reptitious, creep on the Belly, and some have Feet;
the Form of their Legs is peculiar and different in divers Species,
whence the slow Motion of some, and wonderful Agility and Swiftness in
others: Their Feet are some cloven (as it were) into Hoofs, others
divided into Claws, with Variety of different Nails to answer the
several Purposes of Life; among them are _Flying Serpents_: for which
purpose, they are furnished with Wings to buoy themselves up in the
fluid Air, whereby they keep their Bodies on a due Balance in their
Motion.
Serpents are provided with Tails of different Length and Size; these
also are necessary to adjust their Motion, and guard them against
Stimulation of Flies. In winged Serpents, the Tail serves as a Rudder to
govern them in flying through the Air; and, in the marine Serpents, they
serve as Oars. But another says, the flying of a Bird, in effect, is
quite a different Motion from the sailing of a Ship: Birds don’t vibrate
their Wings towards the Tail, as Oars are struck towards the Stern, but
waft them downward; nor does the Tail of the Bird cut the Air at right
Angles as the Rudder does the Water, but it is disposed horizontally,
and preserves the same Situation what way soever the Bird turns[3].
Footnote 3:
_Borelli._
They are painted with variety of Colours, as red, black, white, brown,
green; the Composition of these, in some of their Garnitures, forms
Beauties exquisitely fine. Some of them have very little Eyes, others
large ones: Some wound with their Teeth, others with the Tail that
terminates in a Sting, which is an Apparatus in the Body of certain
Insects like a little Lance, serving them as a Weapon of Offence.
Mention is made by Historians of harmless Serpents, and of Persons who
have tamed Serpents, and whose Hair has been kissed by a tame Dragon,
and which, with its Tongue, gently lick’d its Master’s Face[4].
Footnote 4:
_Raii Synopsis. Ælian. Hist._
The Serpent seems to be one of the distinguished Favourites of the Air,
seeing it subsists by aerial Food all Winter; that is, in those Regions
where it dare not turn Ranger. Sleep is the Nurse of Nature, a Nurse
that greatly indulges the animal Spirits, and, by arresting voluntary
Motion, prevents their daily Consumption, and, at the same time, allows
the perpetual Motion of the Arteries, Veins, Heart. We know but little
of the real peculiar Nature of what we call Air, only that it is the
most heterogeneous Body in the World, a kind of secondary Chaos, being a
Compound of minute Particles of various Kinds, Earth, Water, Minerals,
Vegetables, Animals, _&c._ collected either by solar or artificial Heat.
These Particles together constitute an Appendage to our Earth, called
Atmosphere; or that thin, elastick, fluid Mass, wherein we live, move,
and have our being; which Air we continually receive, and expel by
Respiration, and no Animal can live, or Vegetable grow without it.
Thus Serpents inclosed in the Receiver, are immediately (I may say)
starved when deprived of Air, which is their only Winter-Food.—_N. B._
Whatever is put in a Receiver so exhausted, is said to be put _in
Vacuo_: Animals that have two Ventricles, and no _Foramen Ovale_, as
Birds, Dogs, Cats, Mice, die in it in less than half a Minute; a Mole
died in one Minute; a Bat lived seven or eight; Insects, as Wasps, Bees,
Grashoppers, seem dead in two Minutes[5].
Footnote 5:
_Derham._
Nor will any Vegetation proceed _in Vacuo_, or without Air: Seeds
planted will not grow. OBJECTION. _Beans grow in Vacuo._ I answer, they
grow a little tumid, but that kind of Vegetation is only owing to the
Dilatation of the Air within them; they swell a little by the Expansion
of the Air, but they never bud.
Among the Ancients were very strange Notions about the _Original_ of
Serpents, and other Animals: _Bees_, says a certain Orator, Historian,
and Philosopher, were bred from the Carcass of Oxen; _Wasps_ from the
Corruptions of Horses; _Beetles_ from Asses; and _Serpents_ from human
Marrow: Hence they consecrated a Dragon to Kings and Princes, as a
Creature peculiar to Man[6].
Footnote 6:
_Plutarch_’s Lives of _Cleomenes_ and _Agis_.
I don’t know how to form an Apology for the old Philosophers, whose
Account of spontaneous Generation is perfectly romantick: What can be
more so, than to say Frogs are engendered of Slime, or in the Clouds,
and dropt down in the Showers of Rain? So the _Egyptians_ said, that
Mice were produced from the Mud of _Nilus_, and Insects from putrified
Matter animated by the Sun. The Principle of this equivocal Generation,
was the old Doctrine of _Egypt_, and now justly exploded, as contrary to
Reason and common Sense, as well as to the Design of the Creator in
making Animals Male and Female; the End of which Difference in Sexes,
all Animals exactly answer, as if they were endued with human Reason. No
Woman more tender of her Babe, or careful in providing for it, than
Animals are of their Young Ones.
----------------------------------------------------------------