the action of Cold on Animals. 113 



hog and the bat ; in the Rodentia, as the dormouse, hamster, 

 marmot ; if we, in short, consider that while in our climates it 

 is during winter that animals become lethargic, — in the torrid 

 zone, which has also its sleeping animal, the tenrec, it is only 

 during the greatest heat that it sleeps ; if we consider all these 

 points, we shall have but a faint idea of the curious details, 

 the singular effects, and the difficulties almost insolvable, of 

 this extraordinary phenomenon. 



A phenomenon like this, of so high an interest, might natural- 

 ly have been expected to arrest the attention of physiologists, 

 and the mechanism of it being so obscure, it ought particu- 

 larly to havebeenthe subjectof their speculations. The ancients, 

 who explained much and observed little, have left us on this 

 subject, as on so many others, merely words ; and, as Fonte- 

 nelle remarks, these words '* have no other merit but that of 

 having been long mistaken for things." 



The two first naturalists that studied this subject were 

 Haller and Spallanzani; but it was particularly about the be- 

 ginning of the present century that the Academy of Sciences, 

 having made this great phenomenon the subject of a double 

 prize, the emulation of philosophers speedily collected from all 

 quarters an infinite number of valuable facts and observa- 

 tions, and that there appeared in Germany the works of 

 MM. Herold and Kafn, in Italy that of M. Mangili,* and in 

 France those of MM. Saissy, Prunelle, &c. The following 

 experiments, which may be regarded as a continuation of them, 

 were made in the south of France on the lerot or garden Dor- 

 mouse, (J/, nitela, Desm.) an animal of the size of a rat, with a 

 grey fur on the back, white under the belly, having its eyes en- 

 circled with a black band, and its tail tufted at the extremity. 



The lerot lives on fruits. It is particularly fond of fishes, 

 pears, apricots, &c. which allure it into our gardens, and even 

 into our houses. In winter it retires into holes, where it hy- 

 bernates, and where we often find several lying beside and 



• An abstract of Mangili's observations, and of tbe labours of English as 

 well as of foreign naturalists, will ])e found in the copious and valuable ar- 

 ticle on Hybernation, by the Rev. Dr Fleming, in the Edinburg'h Ency" 

 clopcedia, vol. xi. p. 385-105. — Ed. 



NEW SERIES. VOL. II. NO. I. JAN. 1830. H 



