PR0CEEl)I\G8 OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 325 



of heat and cold is fairly cousidered, the necessity for this inference 

 seems to l>c not so very ol)vions. And no one appears to liave tried 

 the experiment of subjecting- the same iiidivirluals to great differences of 

 temperature, whereby tlie immense effect of inherited adaptation would 

 Imve been thrown out of the account. 



With the exception of the often-quoted paragraph from Humboldt 

 and Bonpland, none of the foregoing observations attest a higher tem- 

 perature than 1130 F., noted by Saussure as endured by eels in the hot 

 s])rings of Aise. This is but little above the temperature ol>served at 

 r\)rt Yuma, in California, which is occupied as a military post. 



I have not yet found the original passage. from which the statement 

 credited to Humboldt and Bonplaud, as to living fish in water at a tem- 

 ])erature of 210° Fahr., is quoted. Yarrell gives no indication of the 

 pi-ecise ])lace from which he cites. In an essay* ^^ iSur toie nouvelle 

 r.sjUTe (k pimelodm''^ {P. cijclopnm), however, Humboldt writes: "L'ha- 

 sard a voulu que ces inondations voh;aniques n'eussent pas lieu l'ann6e 

 (|ue j'ai passee dans les Andes de Quito; mats les poissons vomis par les 

 volcans sont un phenoinene si comnmn et si generalement (*onnu de 

 tons les habitans de ce pays, qu'il ne pent pas rester le moindre doute 

 sur son authenticite." From which it appears that, on the occasion re- 

 ferred to at least, he was obliged to rely uj)on second-hand testimony ; 

 especially upon that of M. de Larrea, of Quito, who had collected a cab- 

 inet of minerals, was instructed in chemistry, and had looked into the 

 records of many villages around Cotopaxi. From this gentleman he 

 learned that in 1(391 myriads of the fishes in question were vomited up 

 from the volcano of Imbabarri, causing a fever among the neighboring 

 people. Some Indians assured him ("quelques Indiens m'ont assure ") 

 that the fishes were living as they came down the side of the mountain, 

 " mais ce fait ne me paroit assez arcrc:'' Very few of the specimens 

 that he saw were suflSciently disfigured, in his opinion, to indicate ex- 

 posure to very great heat, and the specimens came out of the mountain 

 mixed with an argillaceous mud. Humboldt conjectures the existence 

 of subterranean lakes whence he supposes the fishes to have come. ]S"ot 

 having found the original passage, I cannot, of course, say how lar its 

 context might modify the inferences which have been drawn from it as 

 (pioted, but it is evident that at the time here referred to, at least, he 

 had no idea that the fishes were alive when thrown out from the moun- 

 tain, nor did he make any record of the temperature (210° Fahr.) named 

 in the citation. 



The instances of frozen fishes thawed into life again differ in kind 

 rather than in degree from familiar experiences with frozen fingers, toes, 

 and ears restored to their integrity by gradual thawing, irhoi they have 

 not heen frozen too lomj. In no case, so fiir as I know, has any attempt 

 been made to ascertain whether the frozen fish retains in its interior 

 parts a temperature above the freezing-point ; nor is it stated that 



*/?ecHfi7 (Vobsvrfcitiom de zoologieet (Vaiiatomie comparee, Paris, 1811, tonic 1'', ]). 22. 



