83 ANIMALS AND VEGETABLES ne. 
but alfo in proportion to the increafe of heat.. 
Twice I obferved the reverfe, which we muft 
confider as arifing from fome accidental circum- 
ftance. ay nt 
I delayed until winter to make the experiment ” 
inverfely ; that is, to learn whether the death of 
animals was retarded in proportion to the increafe 
of cold... The experiment fucceeded with vipers 
and newts, which were the animals I then had at 
command. ‘The newts lived twenty-two days in 
the fmalleft veflel; in the middle-fized, thirty- 
four ;.and in the largeft, two months.. Vipers 
furvived ftill longer. The veffels were in a fitua+ 
tion where the thermometer ftood at 48°. 
Life was protracted in a greater degree of cold. 
When the veflels were kept. under fnow, or; 
which is the fame, at freezing, the animals did 
not perifh'in three months. On taking them 
from the fhow, and expofing them fome days to 
the atmofphere, during [pring, both kinds died. 
Such are the principal refults which I have 
been able to collect from the experiments related 
in this chapter ; refults moft ufeful in themfelves, 
becaufe they elucidate the fubje@ : but they leave 
us to fappofe the caufe, or rather induce us to 
feek for it; which the reader will endeavour to 
difcover, if: he isa philofopher.. Why is the 
death of animals accelerated in fmall veffels, and 
retarded: in large? Why is it accelerated: more 
by- 
