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HARDWICKE'S SCI BNCE- GOSSIP. 



Hated and head erect, wliile the victim gradually 

 approaches its enemy, till at last it is received with 

 open jaws. It is easy to understand how a squirrel 

 — poor little beast — might be bewildered by the 

 continued aud voracious glare of a cobra, but surely 

 such bewilderment would induce the squirrel to 

 run away as fast as his legs could carry him — cer- 

 tainly not to march complacently to execution. 

 No, it is very evident that " to fascinate " means 

 something more than " to bewilder," — save and ex- 

 cept in certain milliners' shops, where a customer 

 is very apt to get bewildered by the succession of 

 " fascinating novelties " so pertinaciously thrust 

 before his eyes. Then, again, we cannot agree with 

 Dr. Barton, who has investigated fascination as re- 

 gards serpents, and who appears to think that birds 

 — the objects on which snakes most frequently ex- 

 ercise their powers — are only subject to their attacks 

 when they build on or near the ground in marshy 

 and snake-frequented districts, where first the young 

 birds, in attempting to fly, and afterwards the 

 parents, in defending their offspring, fall an easy 

 prey to their expectant foes. No exhibition of 

 mesmeric power is required in such a method of 

 capture ; in fact, it differs as much fi'om true 

 fascination as " chalk from cheese." 



Dr. Bird gives an apparently well-authenticated 

 instance of fascination exercised on a human being. 

 It appears that two boys lighted by chance on a 

 large black snake, and one of them determined to 

 discover wliether the creature, so celebrated for its 

 powers, could fascinate him. He accordingly ad- 

 vanced to within a few yards of the snake, which 

 raised its head with a quick motion, and, as the lad 

 says, something appeared to flash in his eyes, like 

 the rays of light thrown from a mirror when turned 

 in the sunshine. The brilliancy dazzled his eyes 

 and confused his brain, so that he fancied himself 

 in a whirlpool, every turn of which brought him 

 nearer to the centre. His comrade seeing him 

 gradually approaching nearer and nearer to the 

 snake, ran and dispatched it. It can hardly seem 

 improbable that man should be fascinated by ser- 

 pents, since we have on record several instances 

 of such animals as antelopes and goats falling vic- 

 tims to the mesmeric faculty. 



There is a certain African snake called the Booms, 

 lange {Bucephalus capensis) which possesses no 

 poison. It frequents trees, and is furnisbed with 

 large eyes and teeth directed backwards, to enable 

 it to hold its prey with greater firmness. The pre- 

 sence of one of these creatures in a tree is soon dis- 

 covered by the birds of the neighbourhood, which 

 fly round it, uttering loud cries, until one, more 

 panic-stricken than the rest, actually touches its 

 jaws, and is immediately snapped up. During these 

 proceedings the snake has its body coiled round a 

 bough, with its head raised ten or twelve inches, the 

 mouth open, and the neck inflated. Apparently it 



is well aware of the terror excited by its own ap- 

 pearance, and tries to look as ferocious as possible, 

 knowing that the more savage it appears, the more 

 food it will obtain. Dr. Smith, after giving an ac- 

 count of this reptile, in his " Zoology of South 

 Africa," concludes by saying : " Whatever may be 

 said to ridicule fascination, it is nevertheless true 

 that birds, and even quadrupeds, are, under such cir- 

 cumstances, unable to retire from the presence of 

 certain of their enemies ; and, what is even more 

 extraordinary, unable to resist the propensity to 

 advance from a situation of actual safety into one 

 of the most imminent danger. I have heard of 

 instances in which antelopes aud other quadrupeds 

 have been so bewildered by the sudden appearance 

 of crocodiles, and by the grimaces and contortions 

 they practised, as to be unable to flee, or even move 

 from the spot towards which they were approaching 

 to seize them." 



The Rev. Henry Bond, cited in Gosse's " Natural 

 History," relates how, one day in August, he was 

 attracted by the fluttering agitation of a hedge- 

 sparrow in a hawthorn bush. Regardless of the 

 presence of an observer, the bird continued its re- 

 markable motions, getting, at every hop from bough 

 to bough, lower and lower down in the bush. Draw- 

 ing nearer, Mr. Bond saw a snake coiled up on the 

 ground, but having its head erect, watching the 

 sparrow. The moment the snake saw him, it glided 

 away, and the sparrow flew off with its usual mode 

 of flight. 



These instances might be multiplied indefinitely, 

 and prove the existence of the fascinating faculty in 

 snakes beyond the shadow of a doubt. It might, 

 perhaps, be expected that, after giving so many ex- 

 amples, I should put forth some theory to account 

 for them. In common with far wiser and more ex- 

 perienced men, I must confess my utter inability to 

 do so. It seems to me that, apart from all ques- 

 tions of " spiritualism," human beings possess, in a 

 greater or less degree, almesmeric power : this I 

 take to be beyond question. It is therefore natural 

 to suppose that a faculty possessed by men and ser- 

 pents, in each case nearly the same in its eff"ects, 

 and the same as regards the concomitants of its 

 exercise, is also the same in all other essential points. 

 Consequently, if we can discover the causes and 

 nature of the faculty in man, we shall be able to 

 elucidate analogically the conditions of its existence 

 in the snake tribe. 



Meanwhile we can only lay down that the power 

 of fascination is possessed by harmless (in the sense 

 of non-poisonous) as well as by poisonous serpents, 

 and that it may even be present in crocodiles, tigers, 

 cats, or possibly — as it has been maintained else- 

 where (page 30) in the present volume— by all 

 carnivorous animals. In the case of snakes it seems 

 really necessary ; for, since they are not furnished, 

 like other animals, with legs and wings, their mo- 



