542 Fascination. [December, 



FASCINATION. 



lis Theory — A Wdl Observed Case — KesnJts Unfavorable to the Popular 



Belief — It Loses its Poetry. 



BY DAVID CHRISTY. 



The power of serpents to charm the smaller classes of animals, 

 which they capture for food, has long been held as an undoubted 

 fact. It has also been believed that they could fascinate the larger 

 orders of animals, so as to bring them within the range of their 

 deadly fangs ; and that even the intellect of man is not exempt from 

 their influence. The common theory upon this subject gives to the 

 serpent, having the power of fascination, an ability to gain the atten- 

 tion of its victim, to paralyze it as if by an electrical influence, and 

 to attract it toward itself as if by magnetism. 



Birds, more generally, are supposed to be the victims of these 

 charmers. They have been seen moving around serpents in such a 

 manner as to indicate, in the opinion of the observers, that they were 

 under the power of fascination. The testimony upon this point 

 describes the birds as moving in a circle or semi-circle around the 

 serpent. If upon the ground, they run, with extended wings, grad- 

 ually narrowing their circle of motion, but never stopping for an 

 instant, till within a few inches of the serpent. Then, as if conscious 

 of their peril, and just at the moment they are about to be seized, 

 they fling themselves backwards, on the wing, so as to be out of 

 the reach of their terrible enemy. The birds, thus escaping for the 

 moment, stop, and survey the foe from their distant position. This 

 seems to be a fatal dallying with danger. The serpent's eye, quick 

 as the lightning's flash, again darts its mysterious magic into theirs ; 

 and a^aiu and again they advance and recede, as if drawn, irresist- 

 ably, toward the point which has now become the all-absorbing 

 center of attraction. If the serpent is upon a tree, the bird flutters 

 around it, advancing and retreating as when on the ground. 



The popular interpretation of these movements of the birds is 

 this : the serpent establishes a connection between itself and them, 

 by which it controls their will, and draws them within its reach. In 

 accomplishing this object, it does not go in pursuit of them, but lies 



