1 882.] Hypnotism in Animals. 723 



tancc from the fence called the dead line. It is but a step to 

 cross it, but I need not say that step is not taken. This line is as 

 forbidding to the prisoner as is the chalk line to the hen. 



2. Dissembling.— Trickery and collusion on the part of the 

 human subject which enters as such an important element into 

 human exhibitions, I dismiss with the mere mention. There is 

 not time to discuss it within the limits of this paper. 



Dissembling in animals I have perhaps already referred to 

 sufficiently in taking exception to Czermak's statement that "with 

 animals every one feels safe from all thoughts of deception." I 

 therefore simply refer again to our old friends the opossum, the 

 turkey buzzard and the goose. 



Under this head also would be classed the " playing dead " of 

 insects, worms, &c, and the familiar example of the skill shown 

 by birds in pretending to be wounded, fluttering helplessly along 

 the ground, to draw an intruder, away from the nest. 



3. Curiosity. — I believe that curiosity plays a part in the power 

 exercised by the snake charmers of India. The operator goes to 

 a stone pile, and his noises and motions excite curiosity on the 

 part of the serpents. So also is it probable that music has 



Another probable element is, that the Indian magician has 

 studied the calls of the serpents, and by his imitation draws them 

 forth. We know how easy it is in this way, by imitating their 

 notes, to call birds. The success of the shooter of " shore 

 birds" depends very much upon his expertness in imitating the 

 whistle of the different species. The phenomena of handling ser- 

 pents, rendering them stiff or flaccid at pleasure, I do not pretend 

 to understand, but hope an explanation will be developed in the 

 course of the discussion. 



Examples of curiosity displayed by animals are numerous and 

 well known. The hunter on the plains decoys deer by simply 

 lying down and kicking up his heels. Ducks are. toled on the 

 shores of the Chesapeake by waving a red flag, or by having a 

 httle dog trained to run up and down the bank barking. The 

 ducks swim in to see what the strange object is, until they are 

 brought within range of the gun. 



Mr. Henry Elliott, in his monograph on the fur seal (Census of 

 the Fisheries, 1882) tells how the crafty foxes of the Pribylov 



