192 OPHIDIANS. 
by as many persons of undoubted veracity, to which I add 
my own evidence, without a shadow of doubt or hesitation. 
Will Dr. Holmes, who has woven such a fascinatingly singu- 
lar romance around psychological facts of a similar nature in 
his novel, entitled “Elsie Venner,” please use his “deep-sea 
lines” of mental acumen, and tell us “the reason why” of 
this fact? .A common element in the two beings is animal 
magnetism! I believe few physiologists deny its having some 
intimate and powerful influence upon the menstrual flow. 
The snake, or its kind, is undoubtedly the most highly 
charged with magnetism, or animal electricity, of any other 
known reptile or animal, simply because its locomotive move- 
ments are those most peculiarly adapted to the development 
of this physical agent. Can it not be possible that this same 
agent is more closely allied to (is it not, possibly, one and the 
same thing as) the vital force itself, than is generally accepted 
as a creed in physiology? Does the larger quantity of mag- 
netic fluid in the woman possess a positive character, and dis- 
charge itself upon the weaker and negative fluid of the reptile, 
causing a shock which stupefies it for a time? Does not a 
like shock cause conception between the male and female? Is 
this magnetic fluid the vehicle through which vitality is 
communicated to the germ which develops into a fetus? 
Who will answer these queries? 
Let us examine into some of the properties of the galls of 
serpents. 
A chemical analysis of these would probably give a com- 
mon element as a base, although the human bile is known 
to consist of cholic and choleic acids and cholesterin. 
The poisons, as far as analyzed, give each its characteristic 
element for a base. 
This appears to be further indicated in the fact that a prep- 
aration of the gall of a very venomous variety serves as a 
