The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-23

| them was set down by the doctor as an
 amusing coincidence. But Delsarte in 1 sists that he encountered time and
 again in the hospitals an inexplicable
 tendency of the imagination Of men
 who were suffering from the results of
 their own weakness to project the ser l pent into their consciousness without
 any ascertainable antecedent knoWl-
 edge on the part of the patient.
 This curious fact, if it be fact, opens
 up most disturbing line of thought.
 One shudders to think that the serpent
 can crawl out of the unexplored abyss
 eS of our nature and thus confront us.
 But quite aside from this aspect of l the matter, Delsarte's theory of the sus-
 ceptibility of the serpent to rhythm
 was carried to similar lengths. He
 found that the reptile, more than any
 other animal, was susceptible to dis
 turbance of what he called the "cosmi-
 cal regularities" He places rhythm in
 the sensuous world alongside the first degree of space in the world of form. It
 is the initial apprehension of the vital
 nature always preceding the appre-
 hension of melody and harmony, and in the case of the serpent is incapable of development because the spinal system i is complete sin itself. and has no termi- nation in cerebrum. His experiments to demonstrate this are worthy Of Sir John Lubbock and certainly make quick work with the snake charming
 business of the Indian fakirs. He claims to have proved over and over again that the cobra and the American rattlesnake are absolutely harmless un- less you irritate them by unrhythmcal action or noise when they are not al- ready irritated by desire for food. He utterly denied to the ophrdians any vo- lition. You have seen, he says, the rab- bits playing upon the body of the py- thon that has been fed. He will not even recognize them unless he is moved to it by his stomach. So, also, you have seen the decapitated rattlesnake continue to strike with its headless body in automatic obedience to its system. Your mountebank carries the cobra in his bosom without fear so long IS noth- ing initiates him. But, should some unforeseen extrenal cause awaken in him the springs of action, he is trans ferred in an instant into a death-d -deal- ing monster.
 Among other instances cited in Illus tration of this theory is that of public performer at Madras who in 1860 was exhibiting with an enormous boa be- fore an assemblage. As had been his practice for years, he wound the animal about his body. While standing thus enveloped before the people. muffied sound of cracking was suddenly heard, fbo of y1aly fall over to the ground The serpent had suddenly crushed him, and at the au- topsy one hundred and eighty fractures were counted On the body of the ser pent there was slight rent of about two inches caused by a hidden stlletto that the man had worn and to this the Indian experts attributed the disaster. An occurrence illustrative of the same fact came under the writer's notice. A student friend had obtained twelve foot South American boa to familiarize himself and servants with 1t had it brought into his study every day and turned loose. AS it evinced no mis- chievous propensities, 1t was allowed to have its own way, the better to observe it's natural habits On the occasion re- ferred to it had slowly wound itself about a bamboo Crocker with its head laid on the seat of the chair. While In this position a Maltese cat came in at the partly open study door, about eight feet away There was a sudden crack ling smash, and the serpent struck the open door, banging it shut. The chair was crushed into fragments, and the serpent with unexpected velocity be- gan to travel around the apartment. Had this incident been reported by the l usual narrator of animal instinct, the sudden action of the snake would have been attributed to the cat. But the fact was that q projecting splinter of the chair caused the unexpected con- as was demonstrated after wards when the snake was subjected to a similar experience while coiled | around an ordinary lime barrel.
 The snake-dealers learn very quickly | that serpent is a piece of mechanism | that is comparatively helpless unlessthe l peculiar conditions of his muscular con- | formation are disturbed. The constric- | tors are powerless for any lateral de- | If you can keep one at | full length, he is disarmed. This has |
 
 those animal tournaments which the Rajahs of India get up for their special | The pitting of large py- thon against number of jackals Is a frequent diversion, and the quadrupeds. after one or two of their number are killed, invariably range themselves in a line and advance upon the serpent at the moment when he is extended They then plant their feet upon his body and hold him down. and he is helplessly pounded to death The rat tlesnake cannot strike unless his body | Is first drawn into concentric circles. If one of them is in small hollow log, you can safely pull him out by the head l feat that you can often see the Indi- an boys do, only a gopher hole takes the place of a log.
 An enormous amount of occult non- sense has accumulated about the repu- tation group that has employed the in- senuity of archaeologists, biologists and theologians. A great deal of it no 1oubt springs from the literal accepta- ion of the Biblical assertion that the serpent was more subtitle than any beast of the field, and the after refer ence of Jesus to the wisdom of the serpent" The application of these say ngs literally to the snake as we now 1now him is no longer possible. Even lis power to charm his DreV has gone |