Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-02-12
DO SNAKES CHARM?
THERE ARE PROS AND CONS TO THIS
 QUESTION APPARENTLY.

A gopher snake at Escendido 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 naturalists had the unusual but fortunate experience at Escondido of happening upon large gopher snake just as the reptile was about to overcome a trem- bling cottontail rabbit and envelop the animal i'll its deadly coils For some time the naturalist watched tho snakes movements.
 It was within 10 or 12 inches of the apparently fascinated rabbit. Silently and almost impereeptibly the snake had wormed it's way nearer and nearer to it's 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 repulsiye and intended to be terrifying, appeared to exert an entirely different influence npon 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 a hypnotic condition of such strength that it could not break the spell and run away from impending death. Tine forked tongue darted out of the snake's mouth almost as regularly and rapidly as the needle of a sewing machine rises and falls i'll the cloth. The 1.-the body crept nearer and nearer. Tho 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 ill 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 a 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 despairing cry almost hu- man ill it's intenseness and sound. It was the rabbits last earthly utteranee 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 if the snake had certainly fascinated the animal. As a gopher snake is not poi sonous and has no well developed fangs it's only means of killing prey is by con striction. h 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 ei ther birds or animals. One man who has given the matter much study remarked that mo 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 ren- 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 i'll operation will be grievously disappointed. Chickens, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, all move about with an utter absence of fear of the snakes. My belief is that it is possi- ble to account for the popular belief that snakes possess power to faseinate for several reasons. An observer may come on the scene and find a number of birds mobbing snake just as they will mob an owl or a buzzard The dashes of the bird toward the snake and their flutter- ing round 1t may easily be put down to the effect of the snake s 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 a victim. not to the power of fascination in the snake. but to the force of her maternal feelings.
 It may be the mobbing of the snake by the companions of a victim that has been seized or of mother whose nest has been robbed 1t may be simply the effeet of poison already injected before the observer has come upon the scene, or it may bo simple curiosity. In ninety nine cases out of a 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, eases of which have undoubtedly been recorded? The explanation lies in tho probability that it is case of self hypnotism.
 It is all error to suppose that will power has anything to do with the eff feet The matter has been taken up sci entiiically by the medical profession and it has been found that the hypnotic state of sleep or trance, or whatever it may be termed, can be produced by looking fixedly at the operator or at q coin or at the tip of one's own nose. It is not necessary to go into the question of how the resnlt is hroupht ahonI hn6