Travelers' Tales of Colonial Natural History
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2777906 |
|---|---|
| Authors | James R Masterson (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1946 |
| Volume | 59 |
| Issue | 231 |
| Pages | 51 |
| Publication date | 1946-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American Folklore (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8715 • E-ISSN: 1535-1882 |
| Publisher | University of Illinois Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/536559 |
| OpenAlex | W2323826326 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
In our excursion through the kingdom of nature we have now considered all but one of the chief subjects in natural history that served as nuclei for the accumulation of travelers' tales. This one, however, was of greater interest to lovers of the marvelous than all the others combined. We must therefore examine the most egregious reports concerning snakes-their size, odor, anatomy, habits, fascinating power, virulence, and therapeutic properties. Colonial rattlesnakes attained considerable size. In the mountains of Pennsylvania there was many a snake (eine manche Schlange) from ten to eighteen feet long, and many men and cattle were mortally bitten by these fearful and wicked beasts.126 New Jersey rattlesnakes, with heads like those of dogs, could bite off a man's leg as clear as if it had been hewn down with an axe.127 Louisiana rattlesnakes were thicker than a man's leg, and long in proportion.128 Though noncommittal regarding the belief that a rattlesnake grows one added rattle every year,129 a Louisiana captain wrote that at any rate he himself had seen a rattlesnake that was not less than twenty-two feet long, with twenty-five rattles.'30 A disappointed naturalist in the Southeast found none longer than eight feet.131 The doghead snake of Dominica was large enough to swallow a negro's leg.'32 In the woods of St. Lucia four men
Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Biology · Colonialism · Geography · Natural (archaeology) · Natural history · Animal and Plant Science Education · Ecology · History · Yersinia bacterium, plague, ectoparasites research
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.03 |
| Citation span | 1959 - 2022 (64) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |