IV CERCERIS TUBERCULATA 59 



ful to say, after all this length of time, the intestines 

 were as fresh as ever, and I found dissection as easy 

 as if the creatures were alive. No, in presence of 

 such facts one cannot talk of an antiseptic, and 

 believe in real death ; life is still there — life latent 

 and passive — vegetative life. It alone, struggling 

 successfully for a time against the destructive in- 

 vasion of chemical forces, can thus preserve the 

 organism from decomposition. Life is still there, 

 but without motion, and we have under our eyes 

 such a marvel as chloroform or ether might pro- 

 duce — a marvel caused by the mysterious laws of 

 the nervous system. 



The functions of this vegetative life are slackened 

 and troubled no doubt, but still they are feebly 

 exercised. I have the proof of this in that action 

 of the viscera which takes place normally and at 

 intervals in the weevils during the first week of 

 that deep slumber, which will never be broken, and 

 yet which is not death. It only ceases when the 

 intestine is empty, as is shown by autopsy. But 

 the faint rays of life which the creature manifests 

 do not stop there ; and though sensation appears 

 annihilated for ever, I have succeeded in reawakening 

 some vestige of them. Having placed weevils, 

 recently exhumed and absolutely motionless, in a 

 bottle with sawdust moistened with benzine, I was 

 not a little surprised to see a quarter of an hour later 

 moving antennae and feet. For a moment I thought 

 I could recall them to life. Vain hope ! these 

 movements, last trace of a sensitiveness about to 

 cease, soon stopped, and could not be excited a 

 second time. I have repeated this experiment from 



