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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