ON SYMPATHY AND FASCINATION. 



241 



In truth, the rattlesnake does not seem to be the only serpent that is pos- 

 sessed of this extraordinary influence. The American writers contend that 

 the larger snakes of various kinds have a similar power. Dr. Barrow, in his 

 travels into the interior of South America, asserts this to be a fact well known 

 to almost every peasant in that quarter of the v/orld ; and Vaillant, in his 

 travels into Africa, affirms that, at a place called Swortland, beholding- a 

 shrike in the very act of fascination by a large serpent at a distance, the fiery 

 eyes and open mouth of which it was gradually approaching with convulsive 

 tremblings, and the most piteous shrieks of distress, he shot the serpent 

 before the bird had reached it ; still, however, the bird did not fly, and on 

 taking it up, it was already dead, being killed either by fear or by the fas- 

 cinating influence of the serpent, although npon measuring the ground he 

 found the space between them to be not less than three feet and a half. 



M. Acreil, in a very interesting paper upon this subject in the Swedish 

 Amcenitates Academicae,* contends that the coluber Berus, or common viper, 

 is in some degree endowed with the same fascinating power as the rattle- 

 snake. And there is a case much in point inserted in one of the early 

 volumes of the Philosophical Transactions, which states that a mouse, put, 

 by way of experiment, into a cage in which a female viper was confined, ap- 

 peared at first greatly agitated, and was afterward seen to draw neai' to the 

 viper gradually, which continued motionless, but with fixed eyes and dis- 

 tended mouth, and at length entered into its jaws and was devoured. 



There is, in truth, a secret kind of influence, but whether of the same kind 

 or distinct from it, we have no means of ascertaining, which other animals 

 possess on particular occasions, and which is even in some cases possessed 

 by man, and is known to disarm the fury of the most enraged or vicious 

 quadrupeds. " This is peculiarly seen at times in the case of watch-dogs, over 

 whom some housebreakers have found out the secret of exercising so seduc- 

 tive and quieting a power, as to keep them in a profound silence while the 

 burglary is committed. M. Lindecrantz, another interesting writer in the 

 Amoenitates Academicae of Sweden, tells us, that the natives of Lapland and 

 Dalarne are in possession of this secret generally, insomuch that they can 

 instantly disarm the most furious dog, and oblige him to fly from them with 

 all his usual signs of fear, such as dropping his tail, and suddenly becoming 

 silent.f 



Grooms are sometimes found possessed of a similar power over horses. 

 Mr. Tovvnsend, a clergyman of excellent character and considerable learn- 

 ing, has a striking anecdote to this effect, in his account of James Sullivan, a 

 native of the county which forms the subject of his pen. The man, an awk- 

 ward, ignorant rustic of the lowest class, was by profession a horsebreaker, 

 and generally nicknamed the whisperer, from its being vulgarly supposed that 

 he obtained his influence over unruly horses by whispering to them. The 

 actual secret of his fascinating power he kept entirely to himself, and it has 

 died with him. His son, who is in the same occupation, knows nothing of it. 

 But it was well known to every one that, however unbroken or vicious a 

 horse, or even a mule, might be when brought to him, in the short space of 

 half an hour he became altogether passive under his influence, and was not 

 only entirely gentle and tractable, but in a very considerable degree continued 

 so, though somewhat more submissive to himself than to others. There was 

 a little mystery in his plan, but unquestionably no deceit. When sent for to 

 tame an unruly horse, he ordered the stable door to be shut upon himself and 

 the animal alone, and not to be opened till a given signal. This singular 

 intercourse usually lasted for about half an hour; no bustle was heard, or 

 violence seemingly had recourse to : but when the door was opened on the 

 proper sign being given, the horse was always seen lying down, and the fas- 

 cinator by his side, playing with him familiarly as a child with a puppy. " I 

 once," says Mr. Townsend, " saw his skill tried on a horse that could never 

 before be brought to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day after Sullivan's 



* Vol. vi. No. 112. Morsura Serpentum, 1762. f Vol. iv. No. 53, Canis Familiaris, 1753. 



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