THE SERPENT’S TONGUE 149 
leading. What its future history ——in science— 
will be cannot be guessed. In France it has been 
used to describe a mild form of hypnotism in- 
duced by the contemplation of a bright spot, and 
no doubt there would be a certain propriety in 
applying the word to the soothing somnolent effect 
produced on the human subject by the revolving 
mirror invented by Dr. Luys. But this is not the 
form we are concerned with. Fascination in 
serpent life is something very different; in the 
present state of knowledge on the subject the old 
word cannot be discarded. We are now in pos- 
session of a very large number of well-authenticated 
cases of undoubted fascination in which the victims 
are seen to act in a variety of ways, but all alike 
exhibit very keen distress. The animal that falls 
under the spell appears to be conscious of his loss 
of power, as in the case of the frog pursued by the 
ring-snake. He is thrown into violent convulsions, 
or trembles, or screams, or struggles to escape, and 
sometimes rushes in terror away only to return 
again, perhaps in the end to jump into the serpent’s 
jaws. A brother of mine once observed a pipit 
running with flutterimgs round and round a coiled 
snake, uttering distressed chirps and cries; the 
snake, vibrating its tongue, moved its head round 
to follow the motions of the bird. This is a common 
form—the desire and vain striving to escape. But 
when an animal is seen to remain motionless, 
showing no signs of distress or fear, attentively 
regarding the gradually approaching snake, such 
