HYPNOTIC SNAKES.

Franklin Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 139, 3 December 1934, Page 3

HYPNOTIC SNAKES.

A COMMON FALLACY. 1N SIIH M 01* NTA BL E PREJUDICE. In spite of the fuel that the majority of snakes are quite harmless the popular prejudice against them is insurmountable. Almost any absurd story about these reptiles is accepted at its face value and without the slightest attempt to ascertain'the true facts of the case. Specially remarkable is the current beliet that snakes have the power to “fascinate” or exert hypnotic influence over their victims. It is possible that the absence of eyelids and consequent inability to close the eyes may be partly responsible for this fetish; the creature’s sinuous movements and habit of probing the ground with its forked tongue may perhaps further encourage the common superstition. That tiie snake has from early times exerted a very powerful psyhchological influence over the imaginative mind of man there can be no doubt whatever. One has but to recall the grotesque story of the hoop snake or the American Indian’s belief that the rattlesnake adds a joint to its rattle every time it takes a human life. Serpents, moreover, have been deified in many lands, as is evidenced by the frequency with which many figure on innumerable tombs, temples, etc. The actual “fascinating” power of the snake over intended victims has been disproved by many carefully conducted experiments. Many years ago, when it was customary to feed the zoo’s snakes in public on living rats, mice, etc., it was usual to see such small animals contentedly feeding or cleaning themselves within a few inches of the reptiles. A Question of Appetite. Some years ago there was a curious instance illustrating the indifference that most small mammals show towards serpents. A white rat was offered as food to a four-foot long South African snake' kept in the Natural History Museum, but the reptile apparently not being hungry the rodent was left untouched for several months. With the approach of winter the snake retired into a snug hole which it had excavated. This retreat apparently appealed so strongly to the rat that it ejected the unresisting tenant and promptly appropriated the coveted shelter. Once more the snake dug itself a burrow, and yet again was the rightful owner ejected. Peace finally reigned for as considerable period. With the approach of spring, however, the snake recovered both appetite and initiative, with the result that the rat, one-time bully of the cage, was made to provide the snake with the first meal of the season. Certain tree snakes inhabiting Eastern Asia have the head produced into a lanceolate form often grotesquely patterned. The long bifurcated tongue is so marked that when thrust rapidly in and out it continues the markings of the head and gives the snake’s face the appearance of “telescoping” in a very startling fashion. It has been established that the small birds and arboreal lizards on which these snakes habitually feed watch this phenomenon until the snake is enabled to approach within striking distance, and so make a meal of them. Such an occurrence, however, can scarcely be regarded as an example of a snake exercising hypnotic influence, but rather evidence of a natural curiosity on the part of the birds and lizards.

Monkeys and Snakes. Monkeys alone appear to share the average human being’s often unreasoning terror of snakes .irrespective of size or species. Experiments have shown that this terror on the part of the simian is not hereditary, but is acquired by the precept and example of its elders in the family party or tribal group. An infant monkey taken from its parents at a very early age has no instinctive dread of snakes whatever. A small orang-utang that had been hand-reared by its keeper almost from birth at the London Zoo was introduced to a large and harmless snake of the kind that inspires most human visitors with terror and revulsion. The ape. so far from evincing the slightest fear, accepted the snake as a new and highly attractive plaything, festooning itself in its coils, dragging it along the ground, and generally treating it with such friendly roughness that humanity dictated its early removal. Though the experiment has not- presumably been made, it will probably transpire that the human infant shows as little fear of the snake as ’does the baby monkey. To test further the snake’s alleged powers of fascination, a large snake was shown to every kind of bird and mammal in the Zoo. Only the apes and monkeys showed any uneasiness. How completely serpents as a class are held in abhorrence was brought forcibly home some years ago to the Zoo’s curator of reptiles. A clergyman wrpte to him soliciting the loan of a harmless species in order that he might, as the reverend gentleman put it, “show his congregation the creature responsible for original sin.’ ’