Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-02-15
DO SNAKES CHARM?
THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO THIS
QUESTION APPARENTLY.

QUESTION APPARENTLY.
"A Tale From Texas Which Supports the
Affirmative, but There Are Naturalista
Who Say No-Claim That the Snakes
Victims Are Self Hypnotized.
A gopher snake at Escondido has been
the cause of much earnest discussion
among local naturalists The question
discussed was, do Snakes Charm or
Hypnotic Their Prey?" One Of the
.naturalists had the unusual but fortunate
experience at Escondido Of happening
upon large gopher snake just as the
reptile was about to overcome trem-
bling cottontail rabbit and envelop the
animal in its deadly coils. For some
time the naturalist watched the snakes
movements
1t was within 10 or 10 inches Of the
apparently fascinated rabbit Silently
and almost imperceptibly the snake had
wormed its way nearer and nearer to its
victim It's eyes glistened 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 victim S curiosity or caused the ami
NAL to so concentrate it's mind on the
snakes tongue as to throw that mind
into 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. It's 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 in
snake form wroathed it's folds about the
creature. Then VS. tic spell broken.
But the strong coils Of ITO snake were
in position. Never rabbit lived that
could break tia. embrace of death.
Realizing at last the terrible peril, the
terrified raLb:t struggled v:inly to es-
cape, and IS iho:ir.s Ct Tho snake drew
closer about the frail form 50 tightly
that breathing became difficult the rab-
bit uttered desra;rinS cry almost hui
man in its intenseness and sound. 1t
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 fu /
ly ten minutes. Unwinding itself, the
snake dragged the prey under an adj
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
Isonous and has no we'll developed fangs
it's only means of killing prey is by con-
striotion. In order to catch an animal
it seems almost necessary for the snake
to fascinate the victim.
Other naturalists claim that snakes do
not possess the power of fascinating Ell
Their birds or animals. One man who has
given the 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 Of
fascination. By this power they are
said to be able so to paralyze their VIC
tins that the birds or animals are rem
dered utterly incapable Of movement and
wait for the attack Of snake or even go
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 grievously disappointed. Chickens,
rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, all move
about with On utter absence Of fear OF
the snakes. My belief is that it is posi-
Bile to account for the popular belief that
snakes possess power to fascinate for
several reasons. An observer may come
on the scene and find number Of birds
mobbing snake just as they will mob
an owl or buzzard. The dashes of the
bird toward the snake and their futter-
ing round it may easily be put down to
the effect Of the snakes glance, while
they are in reality merely attempts OF
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 victim, not to the
power Of fascination in the snake, but
to the force of her maternal feelings.
1t may be the mobbing Of the snake
by the companions Of victim that has
been seized or Of mother whose nest
has been robbed; it may be simply the
effect Of poison already injected before
the observer has come upon the scene,
or it may be simple 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 on
man, cases Of which have undoubtedly
been recorded? The explanation lies in
the probability that it is case Of self
hypnotism.
1t is an error to suppose thaG WILL
power has anything to do with the eff
feet. The matter has been taken up sci
entifcally by the medical profession and
! it has been found that the hypnotic
state of sleep or trance, or whatever 1t
may be termed, can be produced by
looking fixedly at the operator or at
coin or at the tip Of ones own nose. 1t
is not necessary to go into the question
of how the result is brought about, but
there is a physiological explanation.
What happens then in the hundredth
case is that the man or the animal may
be self hypnotized by gazing fxedly at
e snake. the subject being thus thrown