396 A Handful of “ Nuces Zoologies,” [July, 
“ evil eye,” still widely prevalent in the Mediterranean 
Basin, in Eastern Europe, and in many parts of Asia. 
A fixed gaze was in the Middle Ages accounted one of the 
many means by which the sorcerer, or the fiend in human 
shape, could gain power over his intended vidtim. In the 
witch-trials it was a principle that the judges should parti- 
cularly avoid catching the eye of the accused, lest they 
might lose the power of condemning, or of passing a suffi- 
ciently rigorous sentence. 
Serpent-charming is another curious fadt. Setting aside 
the jugglery and the downright fraud with which the question 
has been complicated, there seems to be little doubt but that 
by the produdfion of certain shrill but monotonous sounds, 
such as whistling, the most vicious snakes — e.g., the re- 
doubtable cobra — can be drawn from their holes and lulled 
into a dreamy state, during which they are harmless. The 
iguana, a large lizard found in the tropical regions of the 
western continent, is captured by means of whistling. The 
lizard listens intently, and ceases to pay attention to any- 
thing else, till a noose is slipped round his neck. 
These fadts are naturally connedted with certain pheno- 
mena which have been experimentally produced both in the 
lower animals and in man, and upon which no little non- 
sense has been talked and written. 
It was at one time a not uncommon trick to lay a hen 
upon a table, with her breast, neck, and the under side of her 
beak resting flat upon the surface, whilst a chalk line was 
drawn upon the table from the point of her beak onwards. 
On the operator removing his hands the bird generally re- 
mained motionless in this awkward position, squinting ludi- 
crously at the chalk line. This experiment is now never 
performed, and may, for anything I know, fall within the 
provisions of the well-known Vivisedtion Adt. 
Very similar results may be produced both on birds and 
mammals. The subjedt operated upon is bewildered by 
finding itself temporarily placed in some unusual position 
where motion is impossible, and on being released it does 
not offer to move. The horse-taming operations of Rarey 
and others are referred by Dr. Beard to the same class. 
He remarks, “ The horse is a timid and — save in narrow 
lines, as in memory of places — a stupid animal, else he could 
not be so easily frightened and subdued.” How widely this 
assertion differs from the popular view need scarcely be 
stated ; but it has often been noticed that, as regards the 
lower animals, man is apt to confound docility with intel- 
ligence. 
