L ANIMALCULA OF INFUSIONS. 8 1 



work tranflated by me (i), I find confirmed by 

 M. De BufFon, in his firll volume on birds, pub- 



lifhed 



covered their natural pofition, and walked about the cham- 

 ber, but had not ftrenglh to fly. As the animal fundions 

 returned, refpiration gradually became more fenfible and 

 quicker ; the eycb opened, motion and life were re-acquir- 

 ed. In three hours the fwallows could fly. 



* They were again expofed to the cold of o twenty mi- 

 nutes. Two expired ; the other two revived in five hours, 

 but were unable to ufe their wings Is this torpor a real 

 lethargy fimilar to what is mod improperly called the 

 ileep of many animals ? Immobility of the body, almoft 

 e;?tinguiflied refpiration, fufpenfion of the fenfes, and re- 

 covery of them are ftrong prefumptions. But the fame 

 fymptoms may attend real afphixy, fimilar to that of ani- 

 mals immerfed a certain time in water, or brought within 

 the fphere of fome mephitic gas : an afphixy eflentially dif- 

 ferent from lethargic fleep, which may be continued feve- 

 ral months without injuring the exiftence of the animal, 

 while the other will foon deprive it of life. 



* To afcertain this point, I entered with greater eager- 

 nefs on new experiments, as they afforded me an oppor- 

 tunity of correding an error, when formerly fpeaking inci- 

 dentally of the lethargy of fwallows. In one of my notes 

 to La ContevipJatton de la Nature., I faid, feveral fwallows 

 which were kept in an apartment adjoining to an ice-houfe, 



where 



(i) Firft printed 1769, 1770. The experiments' were 

 made five years before. 



Vol. I. F 



