In spite of all this effort, the institution of the bounty has not answered expectations, and, with the exception of a few districts, Vipers remain as plentiful as ever, showing what little man can do in altering the equilibrium of Nature, except by interfering with the natural conditions under which animals live. Cultivation of the ground or destruction by fire of the vegetation of the wilderness seems to be the only efficacious means of getting rid of so abundant and prolific a creature as the Viper.
A word may be said, however, in defence of Vipers: they do a great deal of good to agriculture by the destruction of small rodents, on which they feed chiefly, and whose multiplication they serve to keep in check. It must be pointed out that, with the exception of the species of Coluber and Zamenis, other European snakes are to be regarded as indirectly injurious to agriculture, feeding as they do mainly on lizards or frogs and toads, which, as insectivores, deserve to be protected.
Snakes are not of much economic value to man. Tanned skins of Boas and Pythons are utilized for making shoes and fancy articles, such as purses, pocket-books, blotters, etc., and the Siamese make the drum-heads of native drums out of the skins of Pythons and Acrochordus. To say nothing of savages, who seem to be partial to the flesh of large snakes, the peasantry in some parts of France do not disdain snakes as an article of food, the Grass-snake being occasionally served in village inns under the name of Anguilles de haies, or hedge-eels.
Viper fat has for a long time been in request as an ointment in the case of various affections, and much used by quack doctors in the preparation of their remedies. Some forty years ago a chemist in Challans (Vendée) collected Vipers (V. aspis) for medicinal purposes, and was able to send several thousands to Paris in the course of a few years, thus realizing a considerable sum of money, but the demand has gradually fallen off since.
Very frequent in the past, snake-worship is still prevalent in many parts of India, where the Cobra is held in great veneration, and is never willingly killed by the Hindoo. In pre-Buddhist days the gods were represented with a canopy of five or seven Cobras over them. The North African Cobra was sacred to the ancient Egyptians, and is profusely represented on the monuments and tombs; it was also an emblem of the physical sun, and, as a sign of royal power, along with the sun’s disc, formed part of the headdress of all solar deities. The Greeks and Romans also worshipped snakes, and the god of medicine is represented holding a snake, which is supposed to be Coluber longissimus, the so-called “Æsculapian snake”; the occurrence at the present day of certain common Italian species (Zamenis gemonensis, Coluber longissimus, Tropidonotus tessellatus) in isolated localities of Central Europe, formerly Roman settlements, has been attributed to their importation for use in the temples.
Snake-charmers have existed from the remotest antiquity, and are still to be found among all races of men, from the accomplished Indian juggler down to the more commonplace European snake-catcher, who boasts of his immunity, and of his art of attracting snakes by devices of which he has the secret. The Libyan Psillii of the ancient Romans have handed down their art to the present day, and their performances are to be witnessed in most of the towns of Egypt and Tunisia. But India above all lands is reputed for its snake-charmers, and the favourite species used by them is the Cobra, which, by the way in which it raises the anterior part of the body and expands the region behind the head, lends itself better than any other to the display. Constantly facing the man before him, and swaying the raised anterior part of the body, it seems to dance to the music performed by the snake-man, people believing it to be charmed by the sounds of the instrument. However, anyone sitting on the ground in front of a Cobra, and swaying the body from side to side as does the man, can obtain the same result without the aid of any sort of music.
The most puzzling thing about these performances is how the man can thus play with impunity with so deadly a snake. It is a mistake to think that the snake is rendered harmless through the poison fangs having been extracted, although this subterfuge is frequently resorted to by the less accomplished jugglers. The immunity of the snake-charmer is to be explained by the fact that the man has submitted himself to a series of successive and graduated inoculations of the venom, a process similar to vaccination, which renders his blood proof against the venom of the particular species of snake, and that one only, used for his performances.
Another deadly snake shown by the snake-charmers in North Africa is the Horned Viper, Cerastes cornutus. The presence of an erect spike above the eye is, however, not a constant character in this snake, and hornless specimens are made to look more formidable by spines of the hedgehog being inserted in the proper place; the illusion is such that even naturalists have been deceived by this trick.
Indian snake-charmers profess to have a belief in the efficacy of snake-stones, or bezoar stones, as a remedy to be applied on the part bitten by a poisonous snake, a belief shared by the natives of many tropical countries. These stones, extracted from various reptiles, birds, and mammals, are calcareous concretions from the stomach or bladder, sometimes composed of superphosphate of lime, sometimes of phosphate of ammonia or magnesia. The value of a bezoar stone being supposed to increase with its size, the larger are sold in India at very high prices.
In many places a popular belief prevails that such stones are found in the heads of snakes. Mr. J. A. Bucknill, now Attorney-General at Hong-Kong, who spent five years in Cyprus, has informed the author that the Viper of the latter island, Vipera lebetina, is commonly believed to contain a stone which, when applied to the bite of a poisonous snake, quickly nullifies the effect; it is also believed that, when this stone is allowed to stand in a glass of water and the water is drunk, it endows the drinker with surprising virility. Indeed, there was an action tried by the English judge at Larnaka in which the plaintiff claimed the return, or damages for the non-return, of one of these “Viper-stones” which he had lent for a monetary consideration to the defendant for the promotion of his manly vigour, and Mr. Bucknill’s recollection is that the plaintiff recovered £10 for the loss.