98 Of the FASCINATING FACULTY 



Thefe objedlions will, I am perfuaded, be fufEcient 

 to convince every unprejudiced reader, that the fyfl:em 

 of explanation offered by Mr. de la Cepede is unfounded 

 in fadls ; and, confequently, that the problem ftlll re- 

 mains to be folved, in another way. 



Among the number of ingenious men who have 

 amufcd themfclves with fpeculations on the fubjedl of 

 this memoir, and who, reje£ling the commonly received 

 notion of the exiftence of a fafcinating power in the rat- 

 tle-fnake, have attempted to explain the phsenomenon 

 upon other principles, it is with pleafure 1 recognife the 

 refpei!:fable Profeflbr Blumenbach, of Gottingen. This 

 gentleman, in a late publication, fpeaking of the rattle- 

 Inake, makes a few remarks on the fafcinating faculty 

 which has been afcribed to this reptile. Thefe remarks 

 I fhall tranflate at length. 



" That fquirrels, fmall birds, &c." fays he, " volun- 

 tarily fall from trees into the jaws of the rattle-fnake, 



no man experiences the force and the miferies of this prejudice in a greater 

 degree than I do. It is the only prejudice which, 1 think, I have not 

 ftrengthto fubdue. As the natural hiftory of the ferpents is a very curious 

 and interefting part of the fcience of zoology ; as the United-States aflford 

 an ample opportunity for the farther improvement of the hiftory of ihefe 

 animals, nnd as I have, for a long time, been anxious to devote a portion 

 of my leifure time to an inveftigation of their phyfiology, in particular, I 

 cannot but exceedingly regret my weaknefs and timidity, in this refpeft. 

 I had meditated a feries of experiments upon the refpiration, the digeftion, 

 and the generation of the ferpents of Pennfylvania. But, I want the f(y- 

 titude which it is neceflliry to poifefs in entering on the tafk. Inftead of 

 llowly and cautioufly differing and examining their flruflure and ihcir 

 funiftions, with that attention which the fubjed merits, 1 ."im more dif- 

 pofed, at prefent, to obey the injundlion of the Mmtuan poet, in the fol- 

 lowing beautiful lines : 



-Cape faxa manu : cape robora, paflor, 



Tollentemque minas et fibila colla tumentem 

 Dijice : jamque fuga tumidum caput abdiJit alie, 

 Cum medii nexus, exftremarqne agmina cauda; 

 Solvuntur, tardofque trahit finus ultimus orbes. 



GiORG. Lib. iil. 4^0 — 424. 



lying 



