62 "WESLEY MILLS OM 



natural shape of the stomach, giving rise to an appearance suggestive of" a rudimentary 

 second stomach. 



Intestines. — Small ; evidences of an old peritonitis ; adhesions everywhere ; there 

 were several constricted portions from three to six inches long ; in no place was there 

 complete stricture, and no scars were present ; above the coustricted portions the iutes- 

 tine was much distended. 



C^CUM. — Walls much thickened and much venous congestion ; inner surface dark 

 red, and roughened ; had appearance of numerous A'aricose veins in wall. 



Ascending Colon. — One portion constricted, and part preceding dilated ; transverse 

 colon, normal ; descending, slightly dilated. 



Kidneys. — Right; very small, about 2] inches long; apparently normal. Left; 

 about an inch longer than right; apparently normal ; capsules non-adherent. 



"We may sum up the case by saying that in the subject under consideration, we have 

 a woman inheriting from parents an intensely neurotic organization in conseqiience of 

 which she showed many indications of an ill-balanced and unstable nature culminating 

 in various vital crises including periods of stupor. In fact, this woman seems to have 

 spent nearly one-third of her whole existence in an unconscious condition, being then a 

 purely vegetative organism. 



At one period of her life she was a veritable Rip "Van "VViukle, finally sinking into 

 a long lethargy from which there was only a brief consciousness prior to the final stop- 

 page of the vital mechanism. But it is to be noted this curious condition was not the 

 result of any gross lesion of the brain, but of hidden molecular peculiarities, which renders 

 the case to my mind all the more instructive when considered in connection with all those 

 states I am now considering. 



II. 



I propose now to discuss the real natiire of hibernation and kindred states. 



In the paper on squirrels read before the Society in 1887, I said, speaking of hiberna- 

 tion ; " I think it is very probable that, when the matter has been fully investigated, all 

 degrees of cessation of functional activity will be found represented, from the daily nor- 

 mal sleep of man and other animals, to the lowest degree of activity consistent with the 

 actual maintenance of life." 



As a matter of fact this is the conclusion toward which all my investigations since 

 that time have tended. Though some maintain that in true hibernation there is cessa- 

 tion of respiration — it would be hard to prove this ; for, as Hall showed, the circulation 

 continues and the A'ery beating of the heart against the lungs displaces a certain amount 

 of air, and in any event we cannot leave out of account ditt'usion of gases which in all 

 cases of animals with lungs plays an essential part in the process of respiration. 



It would be interesting to know the condition of the heart in a hibernating frog or 

 turtle ; but in such creatures the skin, as also probably in snakes, has a respirating func- 

 tion. Live frogs will stay for hours at the bottom of a tank in winter provided fresh 

 water is flowing over them constantly. In fact, winter frogs kept under these conditions 

 respire largely by the skin. So far as the bat is concerned it is difficult to observe any 



