TOEPIDITY OF THE BAT. 81 



It is a remarkable propensity of various kinds of 

 animals to fall asleep in winter^ and to remain in a 

 state of torpidity till the spring returns ; insensible to 

 pleasure or pain, and preserving their existence with- 

 out the refreshment of food, partly from not exhaust- 

 ing themselves by action. Mr. Palmer's reply to my 

 inquiries on this interesting subject so well deserves 

 your attention, that I shall repeat it. — " The wise 

 provision of the Creator, for the comfort of every race 

 of creatures, is so admirably adapted to their wants, 

 and so convincing a proof of his providence, that I am 

 happy," said he, "^ to seize every opportunity of dis- 

 playing it to you, my young friends, in its proper 

 point of view. The torpidity of the bat leads me to 

 say, that the same contrivance prevails, not only 

 amongst many other animals, but is extended also to 

 vegetables. Your own observation must have shown 

 you, that in all those that survive the winter, there 

 is a living principle that resists the strongest frosts ; 

 the effect of these only occasioning disease in them, or, 

 if I may apply the term, putting them asleep. Our 

 native trees lose their leaves in winter, whilst their 

 stems remain uninjured. Many of our herbaceous 

 plants lose their stalks, though their roots retain their 

 functions. There are plants still more robust, which, 

 after their roots have been frozen in the ground, the 

 frost having penetrated several feet beneath their ra- 



