838 



ON SYMPATHY AND FASCINATION. 



There are some philosophers and historians, who have ventured to disbe- 

 lieve that any such extraordinary power has ever been possessed by any peo- 

 ple. The very cautious writers of the Ancient Universal History express no 

 small degree of skepticism upon this point :* and M. Denon, one of the chief 

 of the literati that accompanied Buonaparte to Egypt, has been bold enough 

 to laugh at the assertion, and to regard every pretension to such a power as 

 a direct imposture. He offers, however, no sufficient ground for his ridicule, 

 and is flatly contradicted by the concurrent testimony of all the best travel- 

 lers, both to Africa and South America. Mr. Bruce is very full and very ex- 

 plicit upon the subject. He distinctly states, from minute personal observa- 

 tion, that " all the blacks in the kingdom of Sennaar, whether Funge or Nuba, 

 are perfectly armed {by nature) against the bite of either scorpion or viper. 

 They take the cerastes (or horned serpent, being the most common, and one 

 of the most fatal of all the viper tribes) in their hands at all times, put them 

 in their bosoms, and throw them to one another, as children do apples or 

 balls ;"t during which sport the serpents are seldom irritated to bite, and when 

 they do bite, no mischief ensues from the wound. The Arabs of the same 

 country, however, he tells us as distinctly, have not this protection naturally; 

 but from their infancy they acquire an exemption from the mortal conse- 

 quences attending the bite of these animals, by chewing a particular root, 

 and washing themselves with an infusion of particular plants in water. 



The Nuba and Funge, liowever, or those who are preserved naturally from 

 the bite and venom of the viper and scorpion, are also highly skilful in the 

 knowledge and application of these roots, and other parts of plants, to those 

 who have no natural protection or charm. Mr. Bruce has given a particular 

 account of several of these plants, some of which seem only capable of act- 

 ing against the power of the serpent, others only against that of the scorpion, 

 and a third sort against both. And in either instance, where they secure 

 against the bite or sting, and thus operate as a preventive or prophylactic, 

 they also secure equally against the poison, when introduced into the system 

 by a wound, and thus operate as an antidote. 



In South America the natural charm does not seem to be possessed by any 

 tribe : but the artificial charm, obtained by the use of peculiar plants, is known 

 as extensively, and employed as successfully, as in Africa, and is found to 

 possess the same double virtue of an antidote and a preventive. One of the 

 most satisfactory accounts of this singular fact is contained in a memoir 

 drawn up, in 1791, by Don Pedro d'Orbies y Vargas, a native of Santa Fe, 

 which details a long and accurate list of experiments which he instituted to 

 ascertain it. The plant chiefly employed by the American Indians, he tells 

 us, is denominated in that part of the world vejuco de guaco, guaco-withy, 

 from their having first observed that the bird of this name, or, as Catesby 

 calls it, the serpent-hawk, usually sucks it before it attacks poisonous ser- 

 pents, and then attacks them without mischief.^ Prepared by drinking a 

 small portion of the juice of this plant, and inoculating themselves with it 

 also, by rubbing it upon three small punctures in the hands, breast, and feet, 

 and thus impregnating the body with its virtues, Don Pedro himself, and all 

 his domestics, were accustomed to venture into the open fields, and fearlessly 

 seize hold of the largest and most venomous serpents. It was scarcely ever 

 that the animal thus charmed or fascinated had power to bite, and when he 

 did so, the wound produced was slight and of no consequence. M. Acrell, 

 in the Amcenitates Academicae, after mentioning the same plant, tell us thai 

 the senega is possessed of a like power.^ 



Of the truth of the fact, therefore, thus confirmed by the most trusty travel- 

 lers and historians, in different quarters of the world, there can be no doubt; 

 and it adds to the facility of believing it to find that other animals besides 

 men are possessed of a similar power. Thus the conder and the wild boar 

 feed harmlessly on the rattlesnake, which appears to offer no resistance to 



* Vol. iii. p. 491 , Ai)pendix. f Travels, Appendix, p. 303. 



tit appears to be the ophiorrhiza Mungos of Linnaeus. 



§ Amoen. Acad. vol. vi. No. 112. Morsura Serpentum, 1762. 



