The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-01-24
CURIOUS SNAKE LORE
Theories of DeIsarte on the
Reptile Creation.
MAN HIMSELF PART SNAKE
Story in Genesis lngeniousIy
Accounted For.

1t is not generally known that the late
Francois Delsarte, who is associated in
the minds of most persons with system
Of dramatis aesthetics, made a long and
scientific study of herpetology, and ar
rived at some conclusions that have beer
more or less verified in different parts OF
the world, but concerning which our la
ter students of snake lore appear to be
either wholly ignorant or incredulous
Delsarte formulated a theory of his OWL
after innumerable experiments, and how
ever speculative many of his conclusions
may have appeared at the time, it is GER
tain that subsequent biologic investiga-
tons have not a all disturbed them, but
on the contrary, have thrown much cor
| roborative light upon them. The French
master at his death left many manu-
scripts treating upon this subject, and a
number of them came to this country in
| the hands of a favorite pupil.
| 1t may be interesting now to state as
briefly as possible what the Deisarte the
Dry was. AS is well known to those who
are familiar with his aesthetic philosophy
! he, like August Camte, laid down three
laws, which he called the vital, the af-
! fectional, and the intellectual. He desig-
mated them as zones of organization, -
indicative of the animal capacity to be,
! to feel, and to think. In the scheme of
animated nature, he found that the rep
! tile is, of all forms of vertebrate life
with which we are familiar, the one
strictly limited to the vital zone. 1t is in
its ophidian form essentially a spinal
system, without the functional germs of
the other two capacities. Delsarte de-
clared that the serpent represented, in
| animal life, the first degree of space. He
is line, mere extension and the last
link in the descending scale of familiar
vertebrates that give any evidence Of
| consciousness. purely vital organiza-
ton, the reptile represents the basic ele-
ment of life as we see and understand it,
He digested and secreted governed and
impelled only by the irritation of an ap-
petite or the disturbing accidents of his
environment. When his appetite was al
layed, he became dormant. His economy
| of forces was admirably adjusted to these
ends. He wasted little tissue and lived a
great age
1t was Delsarte's ultimate conclusion
that this serpent vitality, as distinct
factor in life, was embodied in man him
self in his spinal system. and with char
acteristic French alacrity he jumped to
psychic conclusions If singular if not
fanciful import. The one CHEAT mystery
Of the serpent is mans unconquerable re-
pugnance to him and fear of him, which
the mere physical facts do not explain.
An undefnable terror with regard to the
serpent has had possession of the race
from its infancy. 1t is not o6casioned,
says Delsarte, by the observation of a
stealthy animal, but by the observa ton
of what lies coiled within US. Thoreau in
one of his mystical moments entertains
an idea not dissimilar to this. eve are
conscious" he says, "of an animal in US
which aWakens as our higher nature
slumbers. 1t is reptile and sensual and
perhaps cannot be wholly expelled fear
that it may enjoy certain health of its
own, that we may be well but not pure. g"
LWalden.l Amiel, too, lin that feverish
insight which invalidsm often confers
says somewhere, What is this thing
that stirs me and slowly uncoils its length
at dark moments?'
Delsarte, without any assistance from
Philo Judaeas, Clement, or any other of
the Christian fathers, who held to the
symbolic import of the snake story in
Genesis, pointed out that the use of the
serpent in that narrative of the Fall is a
mystical presentation of a physical fact,
and that the serpent represented the spi-
nal element in man which was 10 work
y hoy IN do na1
sarte. to escape from the confusion and
contradiction of the commentors, is to
study the serpent in nature and in man.
He is the symbol and the cehtainty of the
! Unconscious He has in zoology no high
er brain. There is in his flattened head
no room for a cerebrum. He has no eye
lids those unfailing physiognomical in
| dices of sensibility and volition. He is
an automaton governed by surface irri-
tation and by rhythm Whatever may
be the limitations of that nature. it is
/ certain that II lies embedded in us.secret-
| ing, like the crotalidae, some kind OF vi
rus
Whatever may be the scientific value of
| these speculations. il is certain that once
entertained they throw curious side
y .
the relation of the serpent 10 man. that
has not been supplied by theology or BIZ
ology The awe and fear Of the serpent
that have been from the Oldest recorded
! times a characteristic Of all races have
| no explanation in the conformation or
/ habits of the animal. nor in its so-called
subtety 1t is of all theenemie- Of man
! the most easily destroyed. 1t h. little
| defence from a boy with stout 81 < or
/ a man with heavy boots. and yet Hol,a1
saw a brave English officer faint at TIE
sight of a cobra that Hindu woman
/ killed with a bamboo. If its back is
broken, It is helpless, and the lightest
/ blow brushes its skull. II never pUrsues.
and, If left 10 Itself. never attacks, IN
less to obtain food. Why then the aston
ishing and inexpIicable, dread which It
/ excites? Why does il assert Itself ia
phantasmal hideuosness in delerium tre-
mems or insanity and il morbid dreamsE
/ IN reply to the easy assertion that
| these are mere occurrences Of an heredlt-
airy or educational dread. Delsarte col
lected a unmber Of facts 20 show thatthe
/ instructive terror was manifested by men
who were ignorant Of the Biblical story
and with no antecedent experience q
snakes He declares that the serpent ap-
/ pears IN the deierium of men who have
never heard OF or seen the serpent. and
/ that the instsnc; OF dread : as iadepend-
ent az education as the terror Of the
/ young chicken al a chlcken-hawk- Dr..
c. NJ Beard once narrated in the pres
exec OF the writer an experience with a
! very ignorant Irishman who vas safer
/ ing from mania q poiu AT Bellevue Hos
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