Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review Volumes 32 and 33.djvu/274

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belief in snake stones, which have magical properties, particularly the power of curing snake-bite or acting as an antidote to poison, is widely distributed. In tropical climates, where venomous reptiles abound in great variety and man under more primitive conditions of living is less protected against attack, the absorbing terror of snake-bite is intelligible enough. In Western Europe, however, where snakes are less numerous, and poisonous varieties comparatively infrequent, the preoccupation with snake-bite is more surprising. None the less, medieval medicine and modern folklore testify to the deep impression made by terror of the snake upon popular imagination, and it is significant that Pliny gives to snake-bite the place of honour in his list of ills which may be remedied by simples. For this preoccupation the instinctive horror inspired by reptiles, to which classical poets plead guilty, and only the impartial man of science rises superior, may in part account, together with the awe-inspiring disproportion between the size and insignificance of the serpent and the speedy and fatal results of its attack.