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 flutterings 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 



