FOLLOWING THE TRAIL OF THE SERPENT 
Returning again to the thought so well expressed in Gen. 
3 •!» we are prone to inquire further, or to ask, “Whence comes 
the serpent’s reputation for cunning, subtlety and wisdom?” A 
number of factors determine the answer to this question. 
The serpent, instinctively conscious of the enmity of man¬ 
kind, is stealthy and secretive, sparing no pains to conceal his 
presence from man on all occasions, hiding behind rocks, con¬ 
cealing himself in the grass, and ofttimes invoking his inherent 
knowledge of the art of camouflage, utilizing dead grass, twigs, 
leaves, rotten wood, etc., with which his natural color and 
markings blend perfectly, to the end that man may pass him 
by unnoticed. When discovered, his appearance invariably 
causes surprise, horror, fear, and a desire to destroy. Al¬ 
though but a few out of the many species of serpents are 
poisonous, in the popular mind all are regarded as deadly and 
are avoided or killed at sight. 
The very form of the serpent and its method of locomotion, 
both of which it shares with the worm, are repulsive to the 
human mind, hence overcoming the effect of the actual beauty 
of the bodily markings of a number of species. Scripture de¬ 
clares that the serpent was instrumental in the fall of man, 
hence his traditional enemy. 
But the predominant factor in man’s antipathy to the ser¬ 
pent is its power of fascination, which links it closely to the 
art of hypnotism. This power is exerted occasionally upon 
small animals and birds for the purpose of securing food, and 
is aided by the rhythmic movement and symmetrical markings 
of the body; the forked, darting tongue; the piercing eyes 
from which a fixed and baleful influence radiates; and in case 
of the rattlesnake, at least, a characteristic odor. The few 
who have ever taken notice of such odor exhaust their mental 
resources in a vain effort to link it with something with which 
the average person is familiar. By different persons the odor 
has been associated with that of a he goat, skunk, wet dog, 
garlic, or possibly an angry house cat. If it is in order for the 
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