Synopsis: The Bookman, Vol. 35 (March-August 1912), p. 635: The Snake, by F. Inglis Powell, needs only a passing word. It is a fantastic tale about a passionate and ill-disciplined English girl, whose Hindoo nurse dedicates her to the worship of a "hamadryad," or gigantic cobra. The chief priest of this cobra and of the cult it represents has a grudge against Ashton Kaye, the father of Diana, the girl in question; and he malevolently satisfies it by getting the girl into his power, making her lose her own strength of will and little by little merge her identity in that of the snake, so that a time comes when, in spite of herself, she falls again and again into a trance, her soul passes into the body of the snake, and while in that form commits hideous deeds,—among others, the murder of her own father and mother. The Register (Adelaide, South Australia), May 18, 1912: The possibilities of Eastern hypnotism have been adapted by Mr. Powell with good effect. Without overstraining the sensational element, he has provided a sufficient number of thrills in an entertaining and original plot, the scene of which is laid in a lonely spot in India, before the Mutiny. An Anglo-Indian child, left mainly to the care of an outcast, Rajput aryah, learns to believe in the native stories, the evil powers of the gods, to become, in fact, thoroughly permeated with the doctrines of idolatry and superstition. During her education in England she never loses the insidious influence of the Hindu teaching. On her return to her Eastern home, circumstances which arouse her jealousy also stir the evil instincts of her early training. Anxious to gain the love of a man who dislikes her, she appeals to a 'holy man' for aid. This aghorri, who has suffered ill-treatment from the girl's father, uses her for purposes of revenge. He persuades her to renounce her spirit to the goddess Kali. She is hypnotized, and during semi-consciousness her soul leaves her body, and enters into that of the Nag, a snake of deadly reputation, regarded by the natives as a god. Not even death can dissolve this partnership. The soul of the girl is doomed to enter into the snake at any time, at the hypnotic suggestion of the aghorri, to do whatever work he wills. Should the snake die while the soul of the girl is in it, her body will also die; thus her wandering soul must be homeless until it can find refuge in the body of some woman who will allow it to overcome the good spirit within her. The subsequent evil influence of the girl is the theme for a stirring and gruesome story, which gains considerably from the fluent manner of the narrative.