THE SERPENT'S STRANGENESS 161 



South America, and exists still among some tribes, 

 as it still does in Egypt, India, and China. Mean- 

 while the area over which it once held sway in 

 Europe has also been extended ; among those who 

 once regarded the serpent as a sacred animal we 

 now include the Goths, British Celts, Scandinavians, 

 Esthonians, and Finns. It would no longer be rash 

 to say that in every part of the earth inhabited by 

 the serpent this animal has at one time or other been 

 reverenced by man. 



Into the subject of serpent - worship, about 

 which scores of books and hundreds of papers 

 have been written, I do not wish to go one step 

 further than I am compelled by my theme, which 

 is, primarily, the serpent, and the effect on the 

 hximan intelligence of its unique appearance and 

 faculties. At the same time the two matters are so 

 closely connected that we cannot treat of one 

 without touching on the other. We find that the 

 authorities are divided in their opinions as to the 

 origin of this kind of worship, some holding that it 

 had its rise in one centre — ^Furgusson goes so far 

 as to give the precise spot — from which it spread 

 to other regions and eventually over the earth ; 

 others, on the contrary, believe that it sprang up 

 spontaneously in many places and at different 

 periods. 



The solution of this question is, I believe, to be 

 found in ourselves — in the effect of the serpent on 

 us. Much is to be gained by personal experience 

 and observation, and by close attention to our own 



M 



