THE SERPENT'S TONGUE 151 



principal agent in fascination, but only that it is 

 a necessary part of the creature, and of the creature's 

 strangeness, which is able to produce so great and 

 wonderful an effect. The long, limbless body, 

 lithely and mysteriously gliding on the surface ; 

 the glittering scales and curious mottlings, bright 

 or lurid ; the statuesque, arrowy head, sharp-cut 

 and immovable ; the round lidless eyes, fixed and 

 brilliant ; and the long, bifurcated tongue, shining 

 black or crimson, with its fantastic flickering play 

 before the close-shut, lipless mouth — that is the 

 serpent, and probably no single detail in the fateful 

 creature's appearance could be omitted and the 

 effect of its presence on other animals be the same. 



When, years ago, I had finished writing the 

 above paper, which appeared later in the Fort- 

 nightly Review, I made the following entry in my 

 Diary, and reproduce it here just to show that I 

 am not apt to set too high a value on my own 

 theory. 



" This paper was not too long, but I'm glad it's 

 finished and done with. Not because the subject 

 didn't interest me — on the contrary, it had a 

 tremendous attraction for me — but because, having 

 written it, a difficulty has been removed, a pain 

 relieved, a want satisfied. True, that I've only 

 imagined this use for a serpent's tongue, and that 

 it may not be the true use — if any use there be ; 

 but if we have a need to build, and there is any 

 wind or cloud to build on, 'tis best to go on bravely 



