Hypnotism By Animals

The power attributed to the snake and feline families of "charming1" their victims seems to me past dispute, says a writer in Science. Is it not merely a sort of hypnotism? Livingstone tells us that when at one time seized by a tiger he feit neither terror nor pain; all his senses seemed to be benumbed. Bates, in his "Naturalist on the Amazon," states that one day in the woods a small pet dog flew at a large. rattlesnake. The snake fixed its eyes on the dog.erected its tail, and shook its rattle; it seemed in no liaste to seize the 'dog. trat as if waiting to put the dog into a more suitable condition for being seized. As to the dog, it neither continued the attack nor retreated, could not or would not move when called, and was with difficulty dragged away by its master. I have seen one case ol a snake charming a .bird, but I had a better opportunity to study a cat charming a bird, and probably the process is much alike in both. The cat placed itself on the outside sill of my window, near to a pine tree. A bird presently lit on the pine tree, no doubt not observing the cat. The cat fixed its attention on the bird. The cat's eyes were widely opened and shone with a peculiar brightness; its head was raised and intent, the fur on its neck and about its face slowly stood up, as if electrified. Except for this rising of the fur and a certain intensity of life in the whole attitude of the beast it was as still as if cut from stone. The bird quivered, trembled, looked fixedly at the cat, and finally, with a feeble shake of the wings, feil toward the cat, which bounded to seize it. A lady tells me that she "does not believe that cats can charm birds, because she has seen a cat try to charm a parrot, and the bird, greatly alarmed, scolded loudly." This proves nothing; the parrot in general, or, more probably, that particular parrot, did not prove a good subject for the mesmeric power. I have seen people who cannot be hypnotized; they resent the effort, and nervous action beuomes intensified.