364 Memoir on amphibia. 



Admitting thefe effeds, attefted by fo many perfons, 

 and by fo many refpeclable authorities, efFeds of which I 

 pretend not to deny the reahty, but which I am likewife 

 far from irrevocably adopting, it appears to me repugnant 

 to reafon to attribute them to enchantment, giving to that 

 expreflion the full latitude which it prefents to the imagi- 

 nation. We are no longer in that barbarous age in which 

 men gave credit to enchantments, witchcraft, and mi- 

 racles. 



Reafon which ought to be the fole guide of all men, 

 reafon, thebcft gift of the author of all things, and the 

 peculiar attribute of man, has ar length afllimed the upper 

 place and driven out that general fanalicifm which former- 

 ly triumphed over unrefled:ing credulity. I do not pre- 

 tend however to fay, that we are yet enabled to explain 

 every thing ; there are fa£ts, (and the fubjed: of which I 

 am treating is an example) whofe caufes we have not yet 

 been able to difcover. But the men of the prefent day 

 are fufficiently enlightened to remain in fufpenfe, and in 

 fuch cafes to rejed every idea of the fupernatural, fortile- 

 geous, or miraculous. 



If then the effedls in queftion really exift, we may be 

 allowed to believe that ferpents, deftined by nature (our 

 common mother, always confident with herfelf ; always 

 equally beneficent and juft,) to fubfift on animals which 

 have the advantage of fuperior flight and fpeed, ought to 

 be endowed with proper arms and a power by whofe aid 

 they may fiu-prize and fccure their prey. But what are thefe 

 arms ? What this power ? Is it one of thofe fecret opera- 

 tions which nature feems to envelope in impenetrable 

 myftery ? No. It is fimply a fad till now unknown, 

 merely becaufe, ift, Thefe animals, whofe pretended ugli- 

 nefs and danger have been fo much exaggerated, inftil 

 into us a fpecies of repugnance which few have the cou- 

 rage to overcome, ad, Becaufe few well-informed natu- 



lalifts 



