The inquirer leaves it undecided whether any vestiges of the opinion are to be discovered in the Greek and Roman writers. It is probable that in the mythology of Asia and of Africa, we shall discover some traces of this notion, so intimately connected with the superstitious credulity of a people, and even so naturally arising out of an imperfect view of the manners of serpents. If we may believe the Reverend Dr. Cotton Mather *, Mr. Dudley †, and other persons, who had resided in North-America, we are to look for the beginning of this ridiculous notion among our Indians. How far, however, this is really the case may, I think, be doubted. It is certain that, at present, the opinion is by no means universal among the Indians. Several intelligent gentlemen, who are well acquainted with the manners, with the religious opinions, and with the innumerable superstitious prejudices of the Indians, have informed me, that they do not think these people believe in the notion in question. My friend Mr. John Heckewelder, of Bethlehem, writes to me, that he does not recollect to have heard the Indians say that snakes charm birds; though he has frequently heard them speak of the ingenuity of these reptiles in catching birds, squirrels, &c. Mr. William Bartram says, that he never understood that the nations of Indians among whom he travelled had any idea of the fascinating power of snakes. On the other hand, however, a Mohegan- Indian told me that the Indians are of opinion that the rattle-snake can charm, or bewitch, squirrels and birds, and that it does this with its rattle, which it shakes, thereby inviting the animals to descend from the trees, after which they are easily caught. According to this Indian, his countrymen do not think that the snake, in any manner, accomplishes the business with its eyes. A Choktah-Indian assured me that the rattlesnake does charm birds, &c. but he was honest enough to confess that he did not know in what manner it does it. The interpreter, through whom I conversed with this Indian, said that the snake charms by means of its rattle. The veneration, or regard, which has been paid to the rattlesnake by certain North-American tribes seems, at first sight, to favour the opinion, that these tribes attributed to this hideous reptile some hidden power §, perhaps that of fascinating animals. Mr. William Bartram informs me, that the southern Indians, with whom he is acquainted, seem to hold the rattle-snake in a degree of veneration . Mr. Heckewelder says that, to his certain knowledge, this reptile was once held in particular esteem by the Delawares. He was several times prevented, by these Indians, from killing the rattlesnake, being told that it was their grand-father, and, therefore, must The Philosophical Transactions, abridged, vol. v. part ii. No. 339. p. 162.' Ibid. vol. vi. part iii. No. 376. p. 45.' MS. note, communicated to the author by this ingenious gentleman.' Vis abdita. Lucretius.' MS. note communicated to the author. M m 2 not not be hurt. At other times, he was told, he must not kill this snake, because the whole race of rattle-snakes would grow angry, and give orders to bite every Indian that might come in their way But, of late, especially among those Indians who have had connection with the whites, these ridiculous notions have mouldered away, and our Indians, at present, kill their rattling "grand-father" with as little ceremony as the Eskemaux are said to kill their parents in old-age.' After some desultory mention of eminent men who were believers in serpent-fascination, and of others who were sceptics, Dr. B. quotes a passage from M. de la Cépède,-whose work we reviewed a few years ago,-who thought that the deleterious power of snakes (and particularly of the rattle-snake) was exerted in two different ways, neither of which can properly be considered as fascination. Sometimes, he conceived, the victim-animal might be disabled by the mephitic breath of the snake from effecting its escape; and at others it might fly into the mouth of its devourer during the agonies produced by the bite. Against the former explanation, Dr. BARTON alleges the following arguments: I know, indeed, that in some of the larger species of serpents, inhabiting South-America, and other countries, there is evolved in the stomach, during the long and tedious process of digestion in these animals, a vapour, or a gas, whose odour is intensely fetid. I have not, however, found that this is the case with the rattle-snake, and other North-American serpents, that I have examined. But my own observations on this head have not been very minute. I have made inquiry of some persons (whose prejudices against the serpent-tribe are not so powerful as my own), who are not afraid to put the heads and necks of the black-snake, and other serpents that are destitute of venomous fangs, into their mouths, and have been informed, that they never perceived any disagreeable smell to proceed from the breath of these animals. I have been present at the opening of a box which contained a number of living serpents; and although the box had * In my Historical and Philosophical Inquiry (not yet published), I have collected many facts which seem incontestably to prove, that the mythology, or superstitious religion, of the Americans is a fragment of that mythology whose range in Asia, and in Africa, has been so extensive. Possibly, the veneration, or regard, which was paid to different kinds of serpents in America did not originate in this continent, but had its source in Asia, from which portion of the globe (after long and laborious attention to the subject) I cannot doubt, that almost all the nations of America are derived. It is unnecessary, in this place, to cite instances of the religious veneration which was, and still is, paid to some species of serpents, in various parts of the old-world. These instances must be familiar to every person, who is acquainted with the historians or with the poets of antiquity, and with the history of the Gentoo-Indians. been been so close as to admit but a very small quantity of fresh air, although the observation was made in a small warm room, I did not perceive any peculiarly disagreeable effluvium to arise from the bodies of these animals. I am, moreover, informed by a member of this society, who has, for a considerable time, had a rattle-snake under his immediate care, that he has not observed that any disagreeable vapour proceeds from this reptile. On the other hand, however, it is asserted by some creditable persons of my acquaintance, that a most offensive odour, similar to that of flesh, in the last stage of putrefaction, is continually emanating from every part of the rattlesnake, and some other species of serpents. This odour extends, under certain circumstances, to a considerable distance from the body of the animal. Mr. William Bartram assures me, that he has observed horses to be sensible of, and greatly agitated by, it, at the distance of forty or fifty yards from the snake. They showed," he says, "their abhorrence, by snorting, winnowing,, and starting from the road, endeavouring to throw their riders, in order to make their escape t." This fact, related by a man of rigid veracity, is extremely curious; and, in an especial manner, deserves the attention of those writers, who, like M. de la Cépède, imagine that this fetid emanation from serpents is capable of affecting birds, at small distances, with a kind of asphyxy . It even gives some colour of probability to the story related by Metrodorus, and preserved in the Natural History of Pliny §.' 'Some experiments, which have been made in this city, do not accord with those of Mr. Vosmaër. The birds, which were put into the cage that contained the rattle-snake, flew or ran from the reptile, as though they were sensible of the danger to which they were exposed. The snake made many attempts to catch the birds, but could seldom succeed. When a dead bird was thrown into the cage, the snake devoured it immediately. He soon caught and devoured a living mole, an animal much more sluggish than the bird. A few days since, I had an opportunity of observing the following circumstance. A small bird, our snow bird, had been put into a cage containing a large rattlesnake. The little animal had been thus imprisoned for several hours, when I first saw it. It exhibited no signs of fear, but hopped about from the floor of the cage to its roost, and frequently flew and sat upon the snake's back. Its chirp was no ways tremulous; but perfectly natural: it ate the seed which were put into the cage, and by its whole actions, I think, most evidently de monstrated, that its situation was not uneasy.' To demonstrate that the phænomena of fascination cannot arise from the sudden virulence of an animal poison, Dr. B. observes that upon inquiry, it is found that the power of be witching different animals is not an exclusive gift of those serpents which nature has provided with envenomed fangs: it is a gift which as extensively belongs to that more numerous tribe of our serpents, whose bite is innocent, and whose creeping motion is their only poison *.' Dr. Blumenbach has supposed that the noise of the rattles causes animals (whether impelled by a kind of curiosity, misunderstanding, or dreadful fear) to follow it, as it were of their own accord. This puerile notion is, however, easily set aside. Having thus disposed of the doctrines of some of his predecessors, Dr. BARTON proceeds to say: The result of not a little attention to the subject has taught me, that there is but one wonder in the business;- the wonder that the story should ever have been believed by a man of understanding, and of observation.'-Fascination, we are informed, is almost entirely limited to birds that build low, and in almost every in stance, I found that the supposed fascinating faculty of the serpent was exerted upon the birds at the particular season of their laying their eggs, of their hatching, or of their rearing their young, still tender, and defenceless. I now began to suspect, that the cries and fears of birds supposed to be fascinated originated in an endeavour to protect their nest or * If there is any impropriety in this mode of expression, the impropriety has its source in my feelings, with respect to the serpents. Perhaps, no man experiences the force and the miseries of this prejudice in a greater degree than I do. It is the only prejudice which, I think, I have not strength to subdue. As the natural history of the serpents is a very curious and interesting part of the science of zoology; as the United-States afford an ample opportunity for the farther improvement of the history of these animals, and as I have, for a long time, been anxious to devote a portion of my leisure time to an investigation of their physiology, in particular, I cannot but exceedingly regret my weakness and timidity, in this respect. I had meditated a series of experiments upon the respiration, the digestion, and the generation of the serpents of Pennsylvania. But, I want the fortitude which it is necessary to possess in entering on the task. Instead of slowly and cautiously dissecting and examining their structure and their functions, with that attention which the subject merits, I am more disposed, at present, to obey the injunction of the Mantuan poet, in the following beautiful lines: -Cape saxa manu: cape robora, pastor, GEORG. Lib. iii. 420-424." young. My inquiries have convinced me that this is the case. Dr. B. thus comments on the latter circumstance: trees. In I have already observed, that the rattle-snake does not climb up But the black-snake and some other species of the genus coluber do. When impelled by hunger, and incapable of satisfying it by the capture of animals on the ground, they begin to glide up trees, or bushes, upon which a bird has its nest. The bird is not ignorant of the serpent's object. She leaves her nest, whether it contains eggs or young ones, and endeavours to oppose the reptile's progress. doing this, she is actuated by the strength of her instinctive attachment to her eggs, or of affection to her young. Her cry is melancholy, her motions are tremulous. She exposes herself to the most imminent danger. Sometimes, the approaches so near the reptile that he seizes her as his prey. But this is far from being universally the case. Often, she compels the serpent to leave the tree, and then returns to her nest * It is a well known fact, that among some species of birds, the female, at a certain period, is accustomed to compel the young ones to leave the nest; that is, when the young have acquired so much strength that they are no longer entitled to all her care. But they still claim some of her care. Their flights are awkward, and soon broken by fatigue. They fall to the ground, where they are frequently exposed to the attacks of the serpent, which attempts to deyour them. In this situation of affairs, the mother will place herself upon a branch of a tree, or bush, in the vicinity of the serpent. She will dart upon the serpent, in order to prevent the destruction of her young but fear, the instinct of self-preservation, will compel her to retire. She leaves the serpent, however, but for a short time, and then returns again. Oftentimes, she prevents the destruction of her young, attacking the snake, with her wing, her beak, or her claws, Should the reptile succeed in capturing the young, the mother is exposed to less danger. For, whilst engaged in swallowing them, he has neither inclination nor power to seize upon the old one. But the appetite of the serpent-tribe is great: the capacity of their stomachs is not less so. The danger of the mother is at hand, when the young are devoured. The snake seizes upon her: and this is the catastrophe, which crowns the tale of fascination!' * Horace, though he has not, like his contemporary, Virgil, given any great proofs of his knowledge in natural history, appears to have known, full well, the anxiety of birds for the preservation of their young: "Ut assidens implumibus pullis avis EPOD. I. The author of these two fine lines, had he lived in America, the land of fascination, would, I am inclined to think, have disbelieved the whole story. They would have been a clue to light and truth on this subject.' |