CROCODILE'S TEARS.
[TO THE EDITOR or TRH " SPECT/TOR,"]
Era,—In a review of Mr. Steele's " Mediwval Lore," appearing in the Spectator of March 25th, a quotation is given on the natural history of the crocodile, in which the old monk, Bar- tholomew, quaintly describes how the crocodile, before dining, weeps copiously upon his prey; he does not enlighten us as to the cause of this display of emotion, but we may infer, from the usual value set upon crocodilian tears, that the whole performance probably was an example of hypocrisy, only to be paralleled by the case of a certain well-known walrus. Fanciful, however, as the monk's natural history may seem, there is a deal more truth in it than would appear at first eight. In fact, if we substitute "snake" for "crocodile," the story is practically true ; for it is the much-abused snake that really gives itself up to transports of grief (given that tears are a measure of grief) during meal-times. I regret that I must have recourse to a few details of anatomy to show that this is really the case. The eye of the snake is protected from dust, Sze., by the eyelids, which are transparent and ininerl to each other, forming a layer of skin between the eye and the outer world ; in other words, the snake always goes about with its eyelids shut.
Thus the real occupation of the tears is gone, there being no dust on the surface of the eye to be washed off. Instead, however, of the tear-gland being reduced in size, it is ex- ceptionally large; in some snakes, indeed, in which the eyes are reduced and practically functionless, the gland is some two or three times larger than the whole eye. This peculiar state of affairs was explained by the discovery that the gland had lost its connection with the eye, and opened through the mediation of the tear-canal directly into the mouth, thus doubtless by means of its secretion aiding the true salivary glands in making the descent of Avernus smooth and easy to any unfortunate creature that the snake may have taken a fancy to. This was probably not quite what good Bartholomew meant by his crocodile's tears ; but it affords a curious example of bow very near a false popular superstition may unwittingly come to the truth.
It may, I fear, be somewhat saddening to the poetic mind to think of tears being pressed into such a very homely and unsentimental service; still there is a certain fitness in the fact that the snake, the personification of all that is objectionable, is the perpetrator of this desecration. But, apart from the sentimental aspect of the case, one could hardly wish for a more beautiful example of the adaptation of an already existing structure to the peculiar needs of its
owner.—I am, Sir, eec., R. H. BURNE. Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's Inn Fields, April 17th.
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