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to land, and come down to modern times. Meanwhile it must be borne in mind that the serpent as a totem may have originated in many lands, and in fact is found all over the world in connection with the worship of deceased ancestors, being almost universally regarded as the receptacle of the soul, or spirit, of chiefs of aboriginal tribes; but it is in his aspect of benefactor, the giver of wealth, the teacher of agriculture and of the metallurgic arts, that I regard the serpent myth as of such great anthropological importance.

CHAPTER IX.1

SERPENTS AND PRECIOUS STONES.

The Good Serpent or Dragon in Christian times-Emblem of Kingly Power-King Arthur-Owen's History of SerpentsMen Serpents-Moses and the Serpent-Good and Evil Serpents-The former the Symbol of Gods and Benefactors— The Midgard Worm-Indian Legend-The Serpent as Guardian of Gems-Virtues of the Guardian transferred to the Gems-Legends of Gems-Abraham and the Ruby-The Gesta Romanorum-The Serpent-stone, or Bezoar-Musk as an Antidote to_Snake-bites-Sculptured Snakes rendered Tombs Sacred-Legends of Serpents in connection with Rude Stone Monuments-The Serpent and Sun-worship-Serpent Mounds-The Serpent Egg of the Druids, and the Mundane Egg-The Serpent Myth of Turanian Origin-Disseminated by Colonists of that Race.

ALL those who have visited the reptile house at the Zoological Gardens must have experienced, in a greater or less degree, that sensation of mingled loathing and fascination which the sight of the writhing, hissing, double-tongued monsters contained therein commonly excites in all beholders. "Cursed art thou above cattle, and above every beast of the field," seems to spring spontaneously to the lips, yet probably at least half of those who are so ready to use the words of the curse, bear about their persons, either in pin or ring, necklace or bracelet, or ear-ring, the semblance of the reptile they look upon with so much abhorrence. The lady places upon her finger, and the gentleman upon his breast, a jewel of price set in the head of a golden serpent, the valued gift probably of a lover or friend, who would

1 Reproduced in part from St. Paul's Magazine.

symbolize thereby the eternity of his or her attachment. "The serpent with a ruby in its mouth" has always been a favourite love-token, doubtless at first employed as a charm, with a deeply mystical meaning; but the modern jeweller, as he fashions the scaly monster to adorn the finger of the dainty lady or the breast of the warrior, little dreams that he is perpetuating one of the oldest superstitions of the heathen world. Had he lived in those remote ages, the lady and her lover must have been content without the coveted jewel, for the venerated form of this deadly reptile was sacred to the gods, and adorned only the images of divinities and their attendant priests, or the sovereign, who was himself looked upon as divine. He might indeed have been called upon to make a collar of gems; but it would have been to adorn the neck of the living reptile-the gift, not of a lover, but of a devout worshipper of the divinity enshrined within the writhing folds of the pampered serpent, for one of the curious anomalies in the history of this deadly reptile is, that it has ever been looked upon as god-like in all countries, the symbol of power and dominion, the revealer of hidden knowledge, the guardian of hidden treasure, and the emblem of good and beneficent goda, until gradually it became changed both in form and character, and, as the cragoz, is now looked upon 2 Christian contres a the embe of sin and of the devil; yet evez in any Christa

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stands Arthur as one of the Christian worthies surrounding the tomb of the Emperor Maximilian at Innsbruck. In almost all ancient nations the dragon seems to have been borne as a standard, as it is at present in China, and the bearers were called Dracones. The Romans borrowed the custom from the Parthians or Assyrians, and their dracones were figures of dragons painted red on the flags; but among the Persians and Parthians they were like the Roman eagles, figures in full relievo, so that the Romans often mistook them for real dragons.1

"Among serpents," says Owen, the historian of the serpent, "authors place dragons, creatures terrible and fierce in aspect and nature. They are divided into Apodes and Pedates; some with feet and some without; some are privileged with wings, and others are destitute of wings and feet.”

According to Herodotus some serpents are born with necklaces of emeralds, and in many old books of Natural History we find snakes figured with crowns on their heads, being told that they are to be met with thus adorned by nature, in the deserts of Africa. It was doubtless one of these crowned serpents which disputed the march of his brother Alexander the Great into his dominions, and kept his whole army at bay for a considerable time.2 I say his brother, for it is reported that both that great conqueror and Scipio Africanus claimed to be descended from serpents, sharing that enviable parentage with large tribes of high antiquity in India, Africa, and America, now almost extinct.

Of all the strange pages of the world's history, that which relates to this deadly reptile is the most romantic and contradictory. If we turn to the Bible, we find the following strange anomalies: the sinful tempter, set forth as the type of Him who was tempted, yet without sin; the most venomous of beasts presented as the image of the healer; the seducer of our first parents, proposed as an example of wisdom to Christians.

1 Encyclopædia Britannica, 8th Edition.
2 See Owen's History of Serpents.

That these apparent contradictions should have given rise to innumerable controversies is not surprising, but into these I do not wish to enter. We are all, I presume, now ready to agree with Josephus when he says, that "Moses in speaking of events which occurred after the seventh day, did so philosophically;" wherefore, we may assume his serpent to be a philosophical serpent, rather than that monster represented by later. Rabbinical writers, who, according to Owen, affirm, that "Satan when he wished to tempt Eve, came riding upon a serpent of the bigness of a camel," and, doubtless, all glittering with gold and gems, or as described by Milton

"Not with indented wave,

Prone on the ground, as since, but on his rear
Circular base of rising folds, that tower'd
Fold above fold a surging maze, his head
Crested aloft, and carbuncle his eyes;
With burnish'd neck of verdant gold erect
Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
Floated redundant; pleasing was his shape,
And lovely-"

The Universal History tells us that—

"The serpent whose body the devil possessed was not of the common kind, but something like that fiery sort which we are told are bred in Arabia and Egypt. They are of a shining yellowish colour like brass, and by the motion of their wings and vibration of their tails, reverberating the sunbeams, make a glorious appearance ; these serpents are called in Scripture seraphs or seraphim, and gave name to those bright angelical beings which we commonly understand by that appellation, and it is probable that the angels when they ministered to Adam and Eve were wont to put on certain splendid forms, some of them the form of cherubim or beautiful flying oxen, and others the shape of seraphim, winged and shining serpents."

Certain it is that Moses in making the serpent the revealer of hidden knowledge, adopted a symbol easy to be understood by the Israelites after their long sojourn in Egypt, where the serpent was adored long before the

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