CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
39 
tentions of laymen. It seems certain they would find some 
things worth investigating. We feel most confident that super¬ 
stition could not possibly account for the fact that almost 
everyone, learned and unlearned alike, within the territory in¬ 
fested by the rattler, stands convinced that he possesses some 
mysterious power, or force, by which he attracts his prey, and 
weaves some mysterious spell about him. Hypnotism, as prac¬ 
ticed by man, is a fact not to be denied, even though we may 
not understand it. When all the facts are in, pertaining to 
same, it will doubtless be learned that it was first practiced in 
the Far East, and that these wise old men, in turn, learned the 
rudimentary principles from reptiles. We wonder if anything 
really helpful to science will ever be gained by denying any¬ 
thing as a reality, which is readily apparent to the layman. 
We are even led to wonder just how much of the scientist’s 
purported knowledge about the rattler is theory, and how 
much of it is stubborn fact. 
Every well-read person recalls that during the recent Span¬ 
ish Civil War countless thousands of prisoners were driven 
hopelessly insane by nothing more than weird markings and 
designs upon the walls of the cells in which they were incar¬ 
cerated. When such odd designs first came under their obser¬ 
vation, they thought little or nothing of them—they appeared 
to make no sense whatever. They would dismiss it from their 
minds completely. They would return to it, however, much 
the same as the small animal or bird which appears to be 
thrown completely off their mental equilibrium by the gaudy 
array of colors and odd designs to be found on the back of a 
diamond-back rattler. No one understands just why such un¬ 
fortunate inmates of these old Spanish prisons were thus af¬ 
fected, but we do know that they were driven insane under 
such influence. Perhaps in these thoughts may be found the 
solution to the whole mystery, or to say the least of it, lead 
those who have heretofore doubted, to an admission of the 
reality of this power of the rattler. In the light of such recent 
revelations, science should not suffer the loss of any prestige. 
We shall return to this thought later. 
It came as a bit of good fortune to Uncle Dave when he 
