HAVE SERPENTS TASTE?

Some naturalists have surmised that serpents have no sense of taste, because the boa-constrictor in the Zoological Gardens swallowed his blanket.  Chemistry may, however, assist us in solving the mystery, and induce us to draw quite an opposite conclusion from the curious circumstance alluded to.  May not the mistake of the serpent be attributed to the marvellous acuteness of his taste?  Take this reason:  All vegetable substances contain starch, all animal substances contain ammonia; now it is most probable that the snake detected the animal quality—­the ammonia—­in the wool of the blanket, and he therefore naturally enough inferred that his bed was something suitable to his digestive organs.  It is certain that he committed an error of judgment, but that error may be traceable to the subtilty of his taste rather than to its obtuseness.  We throw out this suggestion as a specimen, if nothing better, of what contradictory inferences may be drawn from a single fact, and as a hint of how much caution is necessary in arriving at absolute opinions, even when the evidence is apparently most unmistakable.

AN AMERICAN EDITOR.

He is a dangerous man to be trifled with.  The grand hickory-stick he twirls in his hand would be enough, with his dare-devil look, to frighten most persons; but when we state that in the depth of the pocket of the remarkable check-coat that he wears he conceals one of the most beautiful ‘persuaders’ ever manufactured by Colt, we are satisfied he will be a terror to all evil-doers.  We should also state that generally he is occupied doing out-door business, but that on every Saturday until one o’clock P.M. he is always at the office, perfectly ready and willing to give any and every satisfaction for the articles he publishes.—­Boston Rouge Gazette.

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