Connecticut western news., 1896-02-20
DO SNAKES CHARM?
THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO THIS
 QUESTION APPARENTLY.

QUESTION APPARENTLY.
 A Tale Frsm Texas Which Supports the
 Amrmatfve, but There Are NaturaIist'
 Who Say No-Claim That the Snake.
 yictims Are Self Hypnotized-
 A gopher snake at Escondido has been the cause of much earnest discussion among local uaturalists. The question discussed was, Do Snakes Charm or Hypnotize Their Prey?" One of the naturahsts had the unusual but fortunate experience at Escoudido of happening upon & large gopher snake just as the reptile was about to overcome a trem- bling cottontail rabbit and envelop the animal in its deadly coils. For some time the naturalist watched the snake s movements.
 It was within 10 or I2 inches of the apparently fascinated rabbit Silently and almost imperceptibly the snake had wormed its way nearer and nearer to its victim. Its eyes ghstened with an in tense brightness. Not movement did it make which might alarm the timid rabbit The forked tongue. which to the eye of human being is so repulsive and intended to be terrifying. appeared to exert an entirely different influence upon the mind of the innocent rabbit
 This darting tongue either excited the victims curiosity or caused the ami nal to so concentrate its mind on the snakes tongue as to throw that mind into 8 hypnotic condition of such strength that it could not break the spell and run away from impending death. The forked tongue darted out of the snakes mouth almost as regularly and rapidly as the needle of a sewing machine rises and falls in the cloth. The 1.-the body crept nearer and nearer. The rabbit was motionleSs Its eye was fixed on the piercing eye of the snake. Even the waving of the wind kissed shrubs about the rabbit failed to break the spell, and softly and slowly grim death iu snake form wreathed it's folds about the creature. Then was the spell broken.
 But the strong coils of the snake were in position. Never rabbit lived that could break that embrace of death. Realizing at last the terrible peril, the terrified rabbit struggled vainly to es- cape, and as the rings of the snake drew closer about the frail form so tightly that breathing became difficult the rab- bit uttered desra;ring cry almost hu- man in it's intenseness and sound. Il was the rabbits last earthly utterance, An extra twist of the cruel coils and poor bunny was no more. Lungs, heart and bones were literally crushed The snake did not relax the pressure for full ly ten minutes. Unwinding itself, the snake dragged the prey under an ad- joining bush for dinner.
 To the naturalist who watched the capture of the rabbit it appeared as ii the snake had certainly fascinated the animal. As gopher snake is not poi. sonous and has no we'll developed fangs it's only means of killing prey is by con striction. In order to catch an animal it seems almost necessary for the snake to fascinate the victim.
 Other naturslists claim that snakes dc not possess the power of fascinating ei. ther birds or animals. One man who has given tho matter much study remarked that "no error is apparently more rooted in the human mind than that which at tributes to snakes this peculiar power oi fascination By this power they are said to be able so to paralyze their vic, tims that the birds or animals are rem dered utterly incapable of movement and wait for the attack of snake or even gc forward to meet it in fear and trembling. but without any power of retaliation.
 Now. any one who watches the be- havior of small animals placed alive as food in the cages in which snakes are kept in captivity in the hope of seeing this marvellous power in operation will be grieyously disappointed. Chickens, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, all move about with an utter absence of fear oi the snakes. My belief is that it is possi ble to account for the popular belief that snakes possess @ power to fascinato fol several reasons. An observer may come on the scene and find number of birds mobbing snake just as they will mol an owl or a buzzard. The dashes of the bird toward the snake and their fiutter. ing round it may easily be put down tc the effect of the snakes glance. while they are in reality merely attempts oi the birds to drive off the intruder. A mother bird whose young are attacked will almost certainly behave in this way and may herself fall a victim, not to the power of fascination in the snake. bu, to the force of her maternal feelings It may bs the mobbipg of the snake by the companions of a victim that ha: been seized or of mother whose nest effect of poison already injected before the observer has come upon the scene, or it may besimple curiosity. In ninety nine cases out of hundred one or the other of these causes has been at work What. then, of the hundredth case, and what about the fascination exercised or man, cases of which have undoubt edly been recordedf The explanation lies il the probability thai it is 8 case of sell hypnotism.
 It is an error to suppose that vii power has anything to do with the eff feet. The matter has been taken up sci entifcally by the medical profession ant 1t has been found that the hypnotic state of sleep or trance. or whatever il may be termed. can be produced by looking fixedly at the operator or at { coin or at the tip of one's own nose. | is not necessary to go into the question of how the result is brought about, bu there is physiological explanation What happens then in the hundredtl case is that the man or the animal may be self hypnotized by gazing fixedly a the snake, the subject being thus throwi into sort of trance, making no attempt to move out of danger unless reused D, some exterior influence. Dieso Cor Chicago Times Herald.
 
 The general" of our army has n, duties prescribed.
 An Unsatisfactory Consultation. "I wonder how warm the room Is, 1" sal