Animal Life and Intelligence. 



train or engine that they have been unable to save them- 

 selves by getting out of the way, though there was ample 

 time to do so. This may have been through the effect of 

 terror. But one man, who was nearly killed in this way, 

 only just saving himself in time, informed me that he 

 experienced no feeling of terror ; he was unable to explain 

 why, but he couldn't help watching the train as it darted 

 towards him. In this case it seems to have been a sort of 

 hypertrophy of attention. His attention was so rivetted 

 that he was unable to make, or rather he felt no desire to 

 make, the appropriate movements. He said, " I had to 

 shake myself, and only did so just in time. For in another 

 moment the express would have been on me. When it had 

 passed, I came over all a cold sweat, and felt as helpless as 

 a baby. I was frightened enough then." Cases of so-called 

 fascination in animals may be due in some cases to terror, 

 but more often, perhaps, to a hypertrophy of attention, 

 such as is seen in the hypnotic state. Speaking of the 

 effects of artificial light on fish, Mr. Bateson says,* 

 " Bass, pollack, mullet, and bream generally get quickly 

 away at first, but if they can be induced to look steadily 

 at the light with both eyes, they generally sink to the 

 bottom of the tank, and on touching the bottom commonly 

 swim away. ... In the case of mullet, effects apparently 

 of a mesmeric character sometimes occur, for a mullet 

 which has sunk to the bottom as described will sometimes 

 lie there quite still for a considerable time. At other times 

 it will slowly rise in the water until it floats with its dorsal 

 fin out of the water, as though paralyzed. . . . When the 

 light is first shown, turbot generally take no notice of it, 

 but after about a quarter of an hour I have three times 

 seen a turbot swim up, and lie looking into the lamp 

 steadily. It seemed to be seized with an irresistible 

 impulse like that of a moth to a candle, and throws itself 

 open-mouthed at the lamp." As a boy I used frequently 

 to " mesmerize " chickens by making them look at a chalk 



* Journal of Marine Biological Association, New Series, vol. i. No. 2, 

 pp. 216, 217. 



