Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/428

 420 CHICKEN POX CHICKEN SNAKE United States government reaffirmed all the old treaty stipulations, and the Chickasaws gave up nearly 7,000,000 acres of land at 4 cents an acre, the money to go to their late slaves unless within two years they accepted them as members of the tribe. The Chicka- saws were very loath to lose the money or adopt the negroes, but finally accepted the latter alternative, Jan. 10, 1873. Since the war they have recovered greatly ; they have 14 schools and about 500 pupils. Their gov- ernment consists of a governor, senate, and house of representatives. The lands are still held hi common, though by act of Sept. 28, 1872, steps were taken to divide it among the members of the tribe. Their stock has al- ways been individual property. In 1871 they owned 4,500 horses, 15,000 sheep, and 25,000 swine; they had 14,500 acres under culti- vation, raising 300 bales of cotton and 380,000 bushels of corn. They receive a perpetual an- nuity of $3,000, and have in the hands of government nearly $1,200,000 in bonds, of which they receive the annual interest. CHICKEN POX (varicella), an exanthematous disease, characterized by the eruption of small vesicles appearing in successive crops. It is confined almost exclusively to children. The eruption is preceded by more or less fever for a day or two ; it appears first on the back, neck, and breast, whence it spreads to the face, limbs, and body. The eruption is very early, if not from the beginning, vesicular, resembling drops of water about the size of split peas, the con- tained fluid being transparent or straw-colored ; they sometimes run together, and assume a conical or globular form, which has given rise to the described varieties; they are usually surrounded by slight redness, and accompanied by considerable itching, which causes them to be very soon broken. About the fifth day they begin to dry up in scales, which fall off in a few days, leaving a discoloration and sometimes a slight permanent pitting of the skin. Some- times the contents of the vesicles become pus- tular, accompanied by higher and more lasting fever; English writers call such cases swine pox. The Latin name varicella is a diminutive of variola (smallpox), from the opinion which formerly prevailed that the two diseases were nearly allied, variola, varioloid, and varicella being all considered varieties of smallpox ; but chicken pox is now understood to be a dis- tinct affection. It may be distinguished from smallpox by its mildness, vesicular character, and the successive appearance of its eruption ; though some severe cases are with difficulty distinguished from mild varioloid. It occurs in persons who have been vaccinated and who nave had smallpox, and in those who have not experienced vaccination, varioloid, or va- riola; though often prevalent at the same time with variola, it has not been known to communicate the varioloid or the smallpox; it is not certain that it can be transmitted by inoculation, and it is generally considered very slightly, if at all, contagious. It is a disease unattended with danger, unless from accidental complications, and requires no treat- ment other than attention to diet, mild laxa- tives, and cooling drinks. CHICKEN SNAKE, a name given in the north- ern states to the coluber eximius (De Kay), ophibolus eximius and 0. clericus (Bd. and Gd.). The head is short and the snout rounded ; the nostrils are lateral, the eyes large, with a dusky pupil and gray iris ; the neck is contracted, the body long but robust, covered with smooth, small hexagonal scales above, and with broad plates below ; the tail is short, thick, soon be- coming cylindrical, and ending in a horny tip. The color, as described by Holbrook, is milky white above, sometimes tinged with red ; along the vertebral line is a series of dusky oval spots, bordered with black, sometimes giving the ap- pearance of transverse white and black bands (as described in Storer's report on the Massa- chusetts reptiles) ; alternating with these bands on the sides is another series of smaller round- ed and blacker spots, and sometimes a third smaller series lower down; the upper lip is Chicken Snake (Ophibolus eximius). milky white ; the abdomen is silver white, some- times yellowish ; each plate marked with one or two black spots, quadrilateral, near the cen- tre if single and near the margin if double, giv- ing a tessellated appearance, whence the specific name calligaster given by Say to the western variety ; in a specimen 3 ft. long, the head was 11 lines, body 30 in., and the tail about 5 in. ; the abdominal plates 198 to 208, and the sub- candal scales 47 ; it grows to the length of 5 ft. It is perfectly harmless; from its frequenting houses and dairies, it has been called " house snake " and " milk snake." It feeds on frogs, toads, mice, insects, and small birds. It does not appear to be found below lat. 87 N. ; west- ward it extends to the Mississippi ; it prefers shady and rocky places ; in the southern states it is replaced by scotophis guttatus. The chick- en snake of the south is scotophis quadrimtta- tus (Bd. and Gd.) ; the body is very long ; above, a greenish clay color, with four longitudinal brown bands ; yellowish beneath ; scales on the back ridged, on the sides smooth ; the head is quite distinct ; the tail is one fifth of the whole length ; in a specimen 4J ft. long, the head was 1$ in., body 3 ft., and tail 10 in. ; 233 abdom-