CORRESP ONDENCE. 



841 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



SERPENT-CHARM. 



Messrs. Editors. 



IT would seem that, in his paper on " Ser- 

 pent - Charm " in the September num- 

 ber of the " Monthly," Dr. Oswald over- 

 looks a factor which is of too great impor- 

 tance to be wholly disregarded. That this 

 is the case may be shown by an incident 

 coming under my own observation, and 

 two or three references. 



While passing through a poultry-yard' 

 in September, 1878, I noticed a turkey-hen 

 with neck stretched to the utmost, eyes 

 fixed, and wings slightly raised, gazing most 

 intently at some object on the ground three 

 or four feet from where it stood. Watch- 

 ing it for some moments, I found that the 

 turkey moved slowly around the attracting 

 object in a circle, without withdrawing its 

 gaze for a moment. After it had made a 

 full circle, I approached to learn tKe cause 

 of its extraordinary behavior, and found that 

 the attracting object was a small striped 

 snake partially concealed by some low 

 weeds ; and not until I touched it did the 

 turkey notice my presence, though ordinari- 

 ly it would not permit me to approach with- 

 in two or three yards. Even when driven 

 away, the turkey persisted in returning to 

 fix its eyes on the little snake anew, when 

 it would immediately cease to regard me in 

 the least ; and only when driven to the op- 

 posite corner of the large yard did it seem 

 to forget its attraction to the spot. 



Several other fowls, including chickens, 

 other turkey-hens, and an old turkey-cock, 

 were then driven singly in the direction of 

 the snake, and each was found to be more 

 or less affected on catching a glimpse of it, 

 though most of them were satisfied to re- 

 tire after viewing it attentively from several 

 points. Nearly all, however, walked slowly 

 entirely around it, and all extended their 

 heads toward it in the most ludicrous man- 

 ner. Finally, a flock of geese was driven 

 by. On seeing the reptile they tipped their 

 heads to one side and watched it attentively 

 while they turned aside to pass around it, 

 and, after all had passed in safety, expressed 

 their relief by loud outcries. 



Satisfied that the condition of the fowls, 

 on seeing the reptile, was a purely subjec- 

 tive one, I approached to kill it, when, to 

 my astonishment, I found it already dead, 

 its head being crushed out of all semblance 

 to its original shape, and covered with dust. 

 I subsequently learned that it had been 

 killed by a member of the family. I have 



since had two or three opportunities to veri- 

 fy the fact that fowls may be thrown into a 

 condition in which volition seems to be par- 

 tially or completely paralyzed by the sight 

 of a perfectly harmless snake, and it seems 

 to be almost wholly immaterial whether the 

 reptile is alive or dead, provided it retains 

 its natural form and position. 



Monkeys are similarly affected by the 

 sight of a snake, though they are not so 

 completely paralyzed as fowls often are. 

 Brehm relates that his monkeys were filled 

 with dread on seeing some serpents, yet 

 they "could not desist from occasionally 

 satiating their horror in a most human fash- 

 ion by lifting the lid of the box in which 

 the snakes were kept " ; and Darwin ob- 

 served the same thing in the monkeys in 

 the London Zoological Gardens, among 

 which he introduced a stuffed snake : " Af- 

 ter a time all the monkeys collected round 

 it- in a large circle, and, staring intently, pre- 

 sented a most ludicrous appearance. They 

 became extremely nervous, so that when a 

 I wooden ball, with which they were familiar 

 as a plaything, was accidentally moved in 

 the straw, under which it was partly hidden, 

 they all instantly started away. ... I then 

 placed a live snake in a paper bag, with the 

 mouth loosely closed, in one of the larger 

 compartments. One of the monkeys imme- 

 diately approached, cautiously opened the 

 bag a little, peeped in, and instantly dashed 

 away. Then I witnessed what Brehm has 

 described, for monkey after monkey, with 

 head raised high and turned on one side, 

 could not resist taking a momentary peep 

 into the upright bag, at the dreadful object 

 lying quietly at the bottom." (" Descent of 

 Man," Appletons, 1877, pp. 71, 72.) Simi- 

 lar excitement was exhibited by the mon- 

 keys in the Philadelphia Zoological Gardens, 

 when a dead snake was placed in their cage, 

 as recorded by Mr. A. E. Brown in " The 

 American Naturalist," and quoted in " The 

 Popular Science Monthly " for July, 1878 

 (Vol. XIII., p. 379). 



The condition into which these monkeys 

 and more particularly the fowls mentioned 

 above are thrown on seeing the frightful 

 object is so nearly identical in its causes 

 and its manifestations to hypnotism or kat- 

 aplexy as to indicate a very intimate rela- 

 tionship therewith ; and to this condition 

 many birds and small animals are extremely 

 subject. " Preyer has succeeded in render- 

 ing kataplectic various species of toads, 

 newts, frogs, ducks, poultry, peafowl, par- 



