Serpentine group

“ O! that the Great Spirit would give the Charming Serpent his voice of thunder—then would he stand upon the highest peak of the Alleghanies, with the forked lightning in his red right hand, and tell a listening and heart-struck world the wrong of his race. And, when all of every tribe of every people had come crouching in the valleys, and had filled up the gorges of the hills, then would the Charming Serpent hurl vengeance on the oppressor. But come,” said he, taking the candle in one hand, and myself by the other, “the Pawnee talks like a squaw. ”

“ LVIII. SERPENS Indicus Coronatus, an Indian Serpent, that makes its Appearance with a crowned Head, which it holds up on high, as if proud of the Honour. This is an Emblem of Pride, that Dropsy of the Mind; to yield to its Thirst, is to swallow the Bait, that turned the Seraph into a Devil.
The Remedy used by the Indians for its Wounds, is what they call the Serpent-Stone, which, according to Thevenot and others, is an artificial Composition, and not taken out of this Serpent’s Head. ”

“ Many other valiant men were in the Serpent, although we cannot tell all their names. In every half division of the hold were eight men, and each and all chosen men; and in the fore-hold were thirty men. It was a common saying among people, that the Long Serpent's crew was as distinguished for bravery, strength, and daring, among other men, as the Long Serpent was distinguished among other ships. ”

“ Ask him, instead, for the ring which he wears on his little finger, for in that ring lies a magic power; you have only to throw it from one hand to the other, and at once twelve young men will appear, who will do your bidding, no matter how difficult, in a single night.’
So they started on their way, and after much wandering they reached a spot where a great rock rose straight up in the middle of the road. Instantly the Serpent uncoiled itself from his neck, and, as it touched the damp earth, it resumed the shape of the lovely damsel. ”

“ The last-discovered of the topes in India represents Serpent-worshippers gathered around their deity, holding their tongues with finger and thumb. No living form in nature could be so fitly regarded in that attitude. Not only is the Serpent normally silent, but in its action it has ‘the quiet of perfect motion.’ The maximum of force is shown in it, relatively to its size, along with the minimum of friction and visible effort. ”

“ It was inferred that if a group of constitutional units belonging to one individual which have become moulded into relatively exact congruity with the organism and with one another by long co-operation, are mingled with some belonging to another individual which, differently circumstanced, has become somewhat different in itself and in its units, then the mass formed by the union of the two groups will be relatively unstable—relatively modifiable by incident forces. ”

“ Serpent. (1) In Christian archæology an emblem of the principle of evil; the Virgin Mary is frequently represented trampling on the head of the serpent. It is especially a symbol of cunning, lying, and envy. (2) Generally. The serpent with its tail in its mouth describes a circle which is the symbol of eternity. In Classic Art it is an attribute of Æsculapius, and of Apollo; and a symbol of the Genius Loci (esp. of temples, &c.) .
Serpentine Verses begin and end with the same word:
“Ambo florentes ætatibus, Arcades ambo.” ”

“ We have said that the instruments of progressive motion in the Serpent tribes are the multitudinous ribs. The vertebræ of the spine admit of excessive flexibility, and the ribs are jointed upon them in a manner which allows the latter an extent of motion unusually great. The mode in which a Serpent proceeds will be understood from the following observations, the reader bearing in mind that the whole under surface of the body is shod, as it were, with broad plates, or scuta, the hinder margins of which are free. ”

“ In those that go upon their Bellies, the Movement is very singular, which is in a Form curvilineal, different winding of their 18Bodies. The Serpentine Line, among Mathematicians, is borrowed from the Foldings of a Serpent in its Motion.
The Learned observe, there is a great deal of geometrical Niceness in the sinuous Motion of Snakes, Vipers, and other Serpents; to assist them in the right Management of it, the annular Scales under their Bodies are very remarkable, lying cross the Belly, contrary to what those in the Back, and the rest of the System do ”

“ The Serpent in the flesh shows itself in individuals in all the colours of its skin. It manifests itself in all the deceptions men practise upon themselves and one another. Its most insidious and dangerous manifestations emanate from the pulpit, and ecclesiastical thrones. In these, the Serpent presents himself to mankind, presumptuously entertaining them with things he does not understand. From thence he delights them with the assurance of wisdom upon principles in harmony with their nature. ”

“ He was so very old that he could no longer catch mice or other animals for food. As he lay, one day, by the edge of a pond, a certain Frog saw him there and asked him:
"Are you so old, Serpent, that you no longer care to eat?"
"Leave me, kind sir," replied the subtle reptile; "The troubles of a poor wretch like me cannot interest your noble mind."
"Let me at least hear them," said the Frog somewhat flattered.
"You must know then, kind sir," began the Serpent, "that twenty years ago, in Brahmapootra, I bit the son of Kaundinya, a holy Brahman, from which cruel bite he died. ”

“ So he cursed the Dawn and gave her over to Suyettar’s third offspring, the Three-Headed Serpent.”
“Tell me, granny,” Log said, “where do the three Serpents keep prisoner the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn?”
“Listen, my son, and I will tell you: When they go far out in the Ocean they carry with them the Sun and the Moon and the Dawn. The Three-Headed Serpent stays out there one day and then returns at night. The Six-Headed Serpent stays two days and then returns, and the mighty Nine-Headed Monster does not return until the third night. As each returns a faint glow spreads over the land. ”

“ But ’tis most probable, that the royal Stile is given to this Serpent, because of its majestic Pace, which seems to be attended with an Air of Grandeur and Authority. It does not, like other Serpents, creep on the Earth; which if it did, the sight of it would not be frightful, but moving about, in a sort of an erect Posture, it looks like a Creature of another Species, therefore they conclude ’tis an Enemy. Serpents are for Uniformity, therefore can’t endure those that differ from them in the Mode of Motion. ”

“ But the labourer, who was used to the loneliness of the forest, replied, “Very well, eat me if thou hast a mind to!”––Then the Serpent said, “Nay! I will not eat thee; only do what I tell thee!” And the Serpent began to tell the man what he had to do. “Turn back home,” it said, “and thou wilt find thy master angry because thou hast tarried so long, and there was none to work for him, so that his corn has to remain standing in the field. Then he will send thee to bring in his sheaves, and I’ll help thee. Load the wagon well, but don’t take quite all the sheaves from the field. ”

“ One night, behold, the Serpent-charmer came home with great plenty of meat and drink and took his seat calling them to eat with him: but they refused his company and showed him anger; whereupon he began to coax them with fair words, saying, “Lookye, tell me what you would have, that I may bring it you, be it meat or drink or raiment.” Answered they, “O our father, we want nothing of thee but that thou open this pannier that we may see what is therein: else we will slay ourselves.” ”

“ The only way in which, in the course of time, remnants of foreign groups are apparently absorbed and the group becomes homogeneous, is that the foreign element dies out. In like manner people who live by aberrant mores die. The aberrant forms then cease to be, and the mores become uniform. In the meantime, there is a selection which determines which mores shall survive and which perish. This is accomplished by syncretism.
120. Syncretism. Although folkways for the same purpose have a great similarity in all groups, yet they present variations and characteristic differences from group to group. ”

“ Now, my dear Joan, whether all this is a good or a bad thing, who can tell? The Serpent undoubtedly shuffled the cards; and who the Serpent is and what are his intentions, are certainly open questions. Some believe him to be the Devil, but the minority think his true name is Wisdom. All one really can say is that the future lies on the knees of the gods, and that among all men the Snake is the symbol of Knowledge, and is therefore surrounded with fear and hatred. ”

“ At the base of the spine is what the Easterners call the Serpent Fire. It is the seat of Life itself.
"In the average Westerner this great force is dormant, asleep, almost paralysed with disuse. Actually it is like a serpent coiled at the base of the spine, a serpent of immense power, but which, for various reasons, cannot escape from its confines for the time being. This mythical figure of a serpent is known as the Kundalini, and in awakened Easterners, the serpent force can arise through the channel in the spinal nerve, rise straight up to the brain and beyond, beyond into the astral. ”

“ N. B. Some of these Eastern Serpents may coincide and agree in Character with those in America, and other Regions. Where there is such an infinite Variety of them, and delineated by so many different hands, ’tis difficult to give an exact Description of every individual Serpent.
Other parts of the East-Indies (Continent and Islands) are infested with Serpents of various kinds and sizes, and he must be more than a Conjurer in History, that can charm them to make their Appearance in one Place, and all in their proper Habiliments. ”

“ It is very thinly veiled, and the Old Serpent has not succeeded in blinding the eyes which the Spirit of God has opened. True, we see in all Rome's pictures and statues the foot of Mary, on the Serpent's head, but the foot is not coming down, nor is the head crushed! Rather is the woman's foot resting on its head; and the woman herself supported by the Serpent. ”

“ The Serpents form a division of the Reptile Class too well known by their elongated scaly bodies, and their total deprivation of external members, to require any minute description of their organization. They are also held by the generality of mankind in so much abhorrence, and regarded for the most part with such strong feelings of unmitigated disgust, that we feel but little inclined to dwell upon their history, how much soever they may on many accounts be considered as deserving of a more extended notice. ”

“ Warriors and braves, give unto me the brand, that the Charming Serpent may light the steps of the boy to the hiding-place of the pale-face. He shall listen to the eloquence of the Charming Serpent when he takes the white man by the hand—he shall learn how to move alike the heart of the pale-face and the red man. ”

“ The common Tradition is, that when Men by Inchantments and Charms have attempted to take these Serpents, they stopt one Ear with the Tail, and the other was either deaf, or made so by laying it close to the Ground. Some are of Opinion, that there is a sort of Asp that really is deaf, which of all others is the most dangerous, and is meant by the Royal Prophet here.
That there was a Practice of charming Serpents by some Art or other, so that they could neither bite nor sting, seems evident from the sacred Writings, e. g. Eccl. x. 11. Surely the Serpent will bite without Inchantment. ”

“ Though these contrasts are partially obscured by intermixtures, they are not so much obscured as to hide the truths that the most-nearly-allied varieties of Man are those which diverged from one another at comparatively-recent periods; that each group of nearly-allied varieties is more strongly contrasted with other such groups that had a common origin with it at a remoter period; and so on until we come to the largest groups, which are the most strongly contrasted, and of whose divergence no trace is extant. ”

“ Conversely, physiological units which form a small group involved in a larger group, and are subject to all the forces of the larger group, will become subordinate in their structural arrangements to the larger group—will be co-ordinated into a part of the major whole, instead of co-ordinating themselves into a minor whole. This antithesis will be clearly understood on remembering how, on the one hand, a small detached part of a hydra soon moulds itself into the shape of an entire hydra ”

“ No sooner did Gangadatta see the Serpent than he thought, "If I take this Black Serpent back to my Well, I shall be able to destroy all my Heirs."
So thinking, Gangadatta went to the mouth of the hole and called to the Serpent, "Come here, Priyadarsana, come here!" When the Serpent heard himself called, he said to himself, "Whoever calls me is certainly not one of my species, for this is not the voice of a Serpent. I have no ties of friendship with any other creature in the world. ”

“ The Powers of Darkness that excel in Science, know how to regale the human Mind with pleasant Scenes, and how to divert the Senses with delightful Charms; Charms that have no Existence but in a deluded Imagination.
The Cure by a brazen Serpent, might also be to shew, that the Almighty in relieving distressed Supplicants, is not tied to any particular Medium. When the Israelites were poison’d by real Serpents, he heals them by the Image of a Serpent. When he would destroy Goliath the Tyrant, he does it by a Sling in the Hands of David a Youth, a very unlikely Person to encounter a Champion. ”

“ Some impute their Effects to the old Serpent, others to the Nature of the Metal, and to the Influence of the Constellation. This Author therefore would make us believe, that the brazen Serpent cured just as the Talismans cure certain Distempers, by the Sympathy there is between the Metals of which they are made, or the Influence of the Stars under which they are formed, and the Disease they are to cure. Every one may believe as he pleases [364] . ”