456 Remarks on the 
of its simplicity; and I, for one, would not 
refuse to adopt it, if the accuracy of the 
analogy were but fairly established. But as 
this appears to be an impossible task, I shall 
proceed immediately to state my objections to 
the supposed constitutional connexion of the 
birds under consideration, and the animals 
with which they are compared. 
Those quadrupeds, reptiles, and inseets, 
which pass the winter in a state of imsensibi- 
lity ; may be recalled to sensation and action 
at pleasure, by the application of a gentle 
degree of warmth. This constitutional sin- 
gularity of these animals, has induced philo- 
sophers to conclude unanimously, that the 
return of the sun in spring rouses them from 
a torpid condition, at a time when the bene- 
fits of the season are ready for their enjoy- 
ment. 'There is another circumstance, which 
gives something more than plausibility to 
the supposition when it is properly under- 
derstood. For the animals im question take 
ap their winter quarters, some of them in 
subterranean habitations, a little below the 
surface of the soil: others lodge in the cre- 
vices of walls or rocks; and a few, such as 
frogs, female toads, and water newts, bury 
themselves in the mud of shallow ponds. 
These retreats are all of them but slightly 
1 
