OCR Text |
Show Mlscellaruj Serpents as Hypnotists. Not all . the eloquence of enthusiastic naturalists describing the beauty of coloring and the grace of motion that characterize many serpents can persuade the average person to admire those reptiles rep-tiles or even willingly to put up with their presence; Tllere is no doubt that the choice of the serpent to represent the destroyer of man's happiness In the Garden of Eden was based upon instinctive repugnance for the lurking, malignant nature of the ophidian, whose lethal weapon Is poison. To the questionable sort of compensation compensa-tion which nature bestowed upon the serpent ser-pent in its fangs was added 'another gift, by way of corollary, the power of fascination. fasci-nation. The existence of such a power has been strongly denied, and, no doubt, Its manifestations have been exaggerated: nevertheless, its reality seems to have been established. Cases of tasclnarion by serpents of birds and other small animals ani-mals have been too frequently reported to admit of serious doubt on the subject. sub-ject. Evidently it is simply a kind of hypnotism, and based, like human hypnotism, hypno-tism, on the effects of rhythmical Impressions Im-pressions made upon the nervous system. sys-tem. Experiment has proved that the monotonous mo-notonous swinging of a glittering object before the eyes will throw manv men and women Into hypnotic sleep. When a serpent charms or fascinates a bird or Small quadruped it employs a similar method. It sways its head with glittering glit-tering eyes, or sets Its brilliantly colored coifs into silent rhythmic movement, within sight of its victim, and the latter lat-ter gradually yields to the influence. But the most dangerous serpents are themselves, subject to this very hvpnotic control, a fact which is the basis 'of the proceedings of the serpent charmers of India, and those Of other countries where venomous snakes abound. Professor Profes-sor Garrett P. Serviss in the Us Angeles An-geles Examiner." |