"To a question as to what it all meant, an evasive answer was returned. Waiving all my solicitations to explain the emblematic devices, the old gentleman resumed his remarks, by observing: 'Never mind now what these things mean; you will know one of these days. At present let us continue our talk on other matters. A little while ago you observed that Mesmerism was a force Spiritual; but I am not so sure that you are correct. In my view it is a power Physical--ultra physical or material it may be, but physical still.'
"'What!' said I, in amazement, 'human magnetism, that mighty agent or power, which effects such grand effects, and works such wonderful effects, Physical? Impossible! The very idea, excuse me, is absurd; the assertion is simply ridiculous!'
"'So I once thought,' rejoined Ravalette, 'but think so no longer; and, mark me, the time is not very distant when you will come to my side of the question. I will endeavor to illustrate the point, one point of many, that confirms my view. For instance, the serpent tribe. We know that those reptiles charm birds and other animals, and that they exert an influence upon their prey precisely like that exerted by the magnetizer upon his subject, with this difference, that the human subject exhibits none of that peculiar terror manifested by the lower orders of being when under the spell of fascination, and this difference arises from the fact that the animal has a clear instinct that the power is exercised for its destruction, which the human subject is, of course, entirely free from.
"'We see the snake exert the same marvellous power that the human magnetizer does, and observe effects resulting therefrom no less remarkable, and yet no one for an instant supposes that serpents are spiritual beings.'
"'Now you are completely at my mercy,' thought I, as I responded: 'Certainly the snake is a spiritual being so long as he is alive, and exerts volition. He is a spiritual thing just as much as you or I.'
"'And dead?' said Ravalette, inquiringly, 'is a mere lump of clay--nothing more.
"'Then, Monsieur Beverly, the argument is against you, and is mine _par un coup majestique_! for the snake charms just as powerfully when his skin is stuffed with straw and cotton, as when with his own proper flesh, blood, and bones. Innumerable experiments, instituted expressly to test this question, have been made, and it has been over and over again decided that the charming or fascinating power is just as strong after as previous to death. This has been settled by the actions of birds, who utter the same plaintive and pathetic cries, exhibit the same terror and other phenomena, in presence of a stuffed as in that of a living serpent. This is a strong point in my favor; but one that is still stronger, indeed quite irrefutable, shall now be adduced. Persons employed in the _Jardin des Plants_, and other zoological institutions, find it dangerous work to clean out the dens of certain serpents, even for weeks after the occupants have been removed, for the effluvium--which, I take it, you will not claim to be other than physical--which they have left behind, and which constantly exhales from the floor and sides of the den, is found to be identical with that aura or sphere which it is known they exhale when excited by the presence of prey; and the affects of this emanation from the den are precisely those that characterize the action of the living, present, excited snake. Now, these facts had long been noticed, and the results attributed to the fancy of the human subject, until, at length, an unusual circumstance led to the institution of a course of experiments to set the matter at rest forever.