Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses Page: 159
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TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 159
less a person than Dr. Wm. B.
Philips, who has held the chair of
geology at the State University
at Austin, and who has been con-
nected with Government and
State surveying expeditions
throughout the entire West and
Southwest for a good many years,
contradicts all of these wild ru-
mors. He told me that while
camped in various parts of Ari-
zona he found them always in
and about camp and that they
were always harmless absolutely;
that they even had them for pets.
If I remember right, on several
occasions they kept one or two
tied right in camp for observation,
that the very worst part about
them was the foul odor emitted
from their throats when they his-
sed, a habit which they seemed
to have. Dr. Philips ventured the
opinion, upon being asked, that
about the worst that could result
from a bite would be ptomaine
poisoning."
Now, concerning above data, I
again must say, I have no person-
al experience-i. e. having seen a
person bitten or having treated a
case of a (ila bite. However, I
do know from personal experience
that these animals-similar to the
rattlesnake, impart a very dis-
quieting and fearful impression,
and I must yet see the reptile
dealer who does not handle these
obnoxious beasts exceedingly cau-
tious and with all precautionary
measures, especially with a solid
iron rod! This impression was al-
so made upon me when I endeav-
ored years ago and succeeded to
photoreproduce a fine specimen
of Gila Monster (a view of which
appears herein) at Mr. Learn's
reptile collection. Mr.- Robin-
son, then a partner of Mr. Learn,
being present. We had the Gila,
a very lively specimen (imported
only a few days before from the
Arizona Mountains), removed
from its cage to the rear yard of
Mr. Learn's herpetorium, afterpreviously having focused the
soot where the reptile was to be
deposited. I quickly took its pic-
ture in the right moment. Some
years before that I had taken the
picture of two other live Gilas at
David Menck's Zoologicum at the
San Pedro Springs Park. Mr.
Menck had fed the Gilas on milk
in a saucer. When drinking the
milk, these queer animals would
lift their long neck upward, sim-
ilar to a chicken, and in this po-
sition the Gila can best be photo-
renroduced.
As to its deadly vituperacy, the
Gila, like so many other dangerous
animals, may become quite tame
and trusted-as indicated in the
above contribution; sex, breeding
time, violence, or other disturbing
influences, may play a role there-
by; but the real modus operandi
of the Gila virus seems yet ob-
scure. The Gila has two power-
ful jaws which it snaps together
like a turtle does when annoyed
and in grabbing an object, and it
implants its teeth deeply, when
undoubtedly the saliva inoculates
the lacerated tissues, which soon
become gangrenous, with senti-
caenmia setting in. This is also
more or less the case in lacerated
bites of some other animals (some
rodents, the canine and feline
species),. the inoculated particles
of saliva undoubtedly containing
a peculiar and very virulent pto-
maine virus, secreted by the sal-
ivary glands and inoculated into
the lacerated tissues during the
biting act.
I beg to append herein a pub-
lished and graphically depicted
case of the Gila bite which has ap-
peared in a medical journal (Au-
thor not recollected) and which I
also had published years ago in
then the "Texas Field and
Sportsman" to wit:
Florence, Ariz., June 22, 1893.
Richard M. Farthingay, a
tourist from Minneapolis, re-
turned here last evening with the
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Menger, R. Texas Nature Observations and Reminiscenses, book, 1913; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth143558/m1/163/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries.