FAS 
banda,ge. See Architecture, vol.it. p. 65, 104, and 
Plate XXII l.—In anatomy, it denotes a muffle which in- 
cjofes or binds others like a filjet. 
FASCI A'LIS,/: [fafcia, Lat. a fillet.] A name of the 
fartorius mufcle, becaufe itcrolfes fome ol the muffles ot 
the thigh and leg, like a fwath or fillet. 
FAS'CI ATED, adj. [from fafcia.~\ Bound with fillets; 
faflened with a bandage. 
FASCIA'TION, J. [from fafcia.'] Bandage. In for¬ 
gery, the a 61 or manner of binding up difeafed parts.— 
Three efpecial forts of fafciation, or rowling, have the 
worthies of our profelTion commended to pollerity. Wifeman. 
F AS'CICLE, y. in botany, a fpecies of inflorefcence, 
or manner of flowering ; as where the blotfoms Hand in a 
bundle or bunch. See Botany, vol. iii. p. 253, and the 
correfponding engraving. 
FASCl'CULAR, adj. [fafcicularis , Lat.] Belonging to 
a bundle or fardel. 
To FAS'CINATE, v. a. [fafcino, Lat.] To bewitch ; 
to enchant ; to influence in fome wicked and fecret man¬ 
ner.—There be none of the affedtions which have been 
noted to fafcinate or bewitch, but love and envy. Baron. 
FASCIN A'TION, f. The power or act of bewitching ; 
enchantment; unfeen inexplicable influence.—He had 
fucli a crafty and bewitching fafhion, both to move pity 
and to induce belief, as was like a kind of fafcination and 
enchantment to thofe that faw him and heard him. Bacon. 
The power of fafcination,- has in all ages been attributed 
to many fpecies of the ferpent tribe, but in a mod emi¬ 
nent degree to the crotalus or rattie-fnake. Benjamin 
Smith Barton, M. D. profed'or of natural hidory in the 
univerfity.of Pennfylvania, is, perhaps, the firlt author 
who can claim the honour of endeavouring to detect and 
remove the error. Numerous have been the writers in 
fupportof this bewitching faculty in fnakes ; and lingular, 
and curious, are many of the inftances which they have 
recorded of it ; but all thefeappear now tobecaufes, de¬ 
rived from a very different, and much more natural effedt. 
The manner in which this Juppofcd fafcinating power is 
ufually exerted, is thus colledted from different (tate- 
ments, by Dr. Barton : 
“ The fnake, whatever, its fpecies may be, lying, at 
the bottom of the tree or bufli upon which a bird or 
fquirrel fits, fixes its eyes upon the animal it defigns to 
fafcinate or enchant. No fooner is this done, than the 
unhappy animal, (I ufe for the prefect the language of 
thofe who differ from me in opinion, on this fubjedt,) is 
unable to make its efcape. It now' begins to utter a molt 
piteous cry, which is well known by thofe wdto hear it, 
and underftand the whole machinery of the bufinefs, to be 
the cry of a creature enchanted. If it is a fquirrel, it 
runs up the tree for a fhort difiance, comes down again, 
then runs up, and, laftly, comes lower down. ‘ On that 
occafion,’ fays an honed but creditjous writer, profelfor 
Peter (Calm, ‘ it has been obferved, that the fquirrel al¬ 
ways goes down more than it goes up. The fnake (till 
continues at the root of the tree, with its eyes fixed on 
the fquirrel, with which its attention is fio entirely taken 
up, that a perfon accidentally approaching, may make a 
confidej'able noife, without the fnake’sfo much as turning 
about. The fquirrel as before mentioned comes always 
low'er, and at laft leaps down to the fnake, whole mouth 
is already wide open for-its reception. The poor little 
animal then with a piteous cry runs into the fnake’sjaws, 
and is fwallowed at once, if it be not too Big ; but if its 
lize w ill not allow it to be fwallowed at once, the fnake 
licks it feveral times with its tongue, and (moothens it, 
and by that means makes it fit for (wallowing !” 
It would be eafy to cite, from different authors, oilier 
accounts of the manner in which the enchantment is per¬ 
formed ; or, more properly fpeaking, of the condudt, or 
behavi.our, of the enchanting, and enchanted, animals. 
But between thefe accounts, there is hardly a (pecific dif¬ 
ference. There is confiderable unity in all the relations 
that we have heard, or read. However, thofe who wifii 
Vol. VII. No. 425. 
FAS dOb 
to examine this part of the fubjedt more fully, will, at 
leaft, receive fome degree of entertainment from the pe- 
rufal of the many authors who have believed and aflerted, 
that ferpents poffefs a powerof attradling andof fafcinating 
other animals. Vaiilant, in his African Travels, even 
mentions the circumfiance of a Dutch captain at the 
Cape, who declared lie had been partly attrabfed to, and. 
fafcinated by, an enormous ferpent in the ifiand of Cey¬ 
lon : but the dory is too ridiculous to merit a ferious in- 
vefiigation. Fear and fancy, when mutually fupporting 
each other, become the parents of fuperdition, and often 
give a falfe colouring to the mod fimple forms and ope¬ 
rations of nature. 
“ It is / certain that in the mythology of Ada and of 
Africa we difcover fome traces of this notion, fo 
intimately connedted with the fuperfiitious credulity of 
the'people, and even fo naturally anting out of an imper¬ 
fect view of the manners of ferpents. If we may believe 
the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather, Mr. Dudley, and other 
perfons, who had refided in North America, we are to 
look for the beginning of this ridiculous notion among 
the Indians. How far, however, this is really the Cafe 
may, I think, be doubted. It is certain that, at prefent, 
the opinion is by no means univerfal among the Indians. 
Several intelligent gentlemen, w ho are well acquainted 
with the manners, with the religious opinions, and with 
the innumerable fuperfiitious prejudices, of the Indians, 
have informed me, that they do not think thefe people be¬ 
lieve in the notion in quedion. Mr. John Heckewelder 
writes, that he does not recoiled!, to have heard the In¬ 
dians fay that fnakes charm birds ; though be has fre¬ 
quently heard them fpeak of the ingenuity of thefe rep¬ 
tiles in catching birds, fquirrels, &c. Mr. William 
Bartram fays, in the Philofophioal Tranfadtions, that he 
never underdood that the nations of Indians among whom 
he travelled, had any idea of the fafcinating power of 
fnakes. On the other hand, however, a Mohegan-Indian 
told me that the Indians are of opinion that the rattie- 
fnake can charm, or bewitch, fquirrels and birds,and t IPat it 
does this with its rattle, which it (hakes, thereby Inviting 
the animals to defeend from the trees','after which they 
are eafily caught. According to this Indian, his country¬ 
men do not think that.the fnake, in any manner, accotn- 
plidies the bufinefs with its eyes. A Choktah-Indiau 
allured me that the rattie-fnake does charm birds, &c. 
but be was honed enough to confefs that he did not know 
in what manner it was done. The interpreter, through 
whom I converfed with this Indian, laid that the; fnake 
charms by means of its rattle.” See Crotalus, vol. v. 
p. 392. 
Profedor Blumenbach, of Gottingen, in the “ Magazin 
der Naturkunde,” 1798, has fuppofed tHat the noife of 
the rattles caufesanimals (whether impelled by a kind of 
curiofity, mifuhderftanding, or dreadful fear) to follow it, 
as it were of their own accord. This notion was propa¬ 
gated by Dr. Mead about fixty years ago ; and feems to 
have been colledted from the writings of the earlier natu¬ 
ral ids. Upon this- Dr. Barton proceeds to fay : “ The 
refillt of not a little attention to the fubjedt has taught 
me, that there is but one wonder in the bufinefs;—.the 
w under that the dory dioiiid ever have been believed by 
men of underdanding and of obfervation.” Fafcination, 
we are informed, is almolt entirely limited to birds that 
build low, and “ Inal mo ft every indance, 1 found that the 
fuppofed fafcinating faculty of the ferpent was exerted 
upon the birds at; the particular feafon of their laying 
tlieir eggs, of their hatching, or of their rearing their 
young, dill tender, and delencelefs. I now began to 
fufpedt, that the cries and fears of birds fuppofed to be 
fafcinated originated in an endeavour to protect their ned, 
or their young. My inquiries have convinced me ihat 
this is the cafe. Though the rattie-fnake does not climb 
up trees, yet the black-fnakw, and fome other fpecies of 
the genus coluber, do. See the article Coluber, vol. iv, 
p. 784; and Anguis, vol.i. p. 711, where the fafcinating 
