Prefenfut'ion of Animals of Changes in the JVeafher. 211 



This fimilarity in the means hy which both elcftricitv and 

 galvanifm appear to l)e excited, inadJition to the refemblance 

 that has been traced between their effcfts, fliows that they 

 are l)oth efilntiallv tiic fame, and confirms an opinion that 

 ]ias ah'cady been advanced bv oliicrs, that all the differences 

 difcoverable in the cffevits of the latter, mav be owino- to its 

 being lefs intcnfe, but produced in much larger quantity. 



XXXVII. On the Vrcfenfalion ivhich Animals have of 

 Ch,t7igcs in the IVeather. By Dr. F. A. A. Mever, at 

 G'otlingen *. 



I 



SHOULD only repeat what has been already long known, 

 if I fhould attempt to prove that, Ijy. the great enlargement 

 of our knowledcre refpeftina; the natural hiftorv of foreign 

 animals, by means of various learned travellers, we are now 

 enabled to explain, to the falisfaction of the judicious natu- 

 ralifl, many phsenomena which occur among indigenous 

 animals. The fenfations which take place in anim:d bodies 

 before a chanee of weather, which animals cxprefs by va- 

 rious external appcarai'ices, and which, without taking part 

 in the difpule wliether animals are endowed or not with 

 fouls, mav be called a frefenfation, feem however to require 

 confiderable explanation. I am well aware that it will be 

 injpoflible for me to explain things which have not as yet 

 been perfccllv explained by men of the greatefl: knowledge : 

 but I am convinced that every thing which can contribute 

 to the iUuftration of an obfeure fubjeA deferves to be fub- 

 mitted to a prwjf, and that it is of ufe to communicate even 

 fingle obfervations on point? concerning uhich fyftcms can- 

 not be formed till after the expiration of centuries. Con - 

 fidering the fubjeft in this point of view, I prefent the fol- 

 lowing. 



Prei'cnfation may be admitted under three heads: — T. The 

 prefciifation whicli animals have of drv fair weather. II. The 

 prcfenfation which animals have of raiyy weather. III. The 

 J) re fen fa ti.on which animals have of (lormy weather. 



What regards the two fird claffes of the prcfr?nfation of 

 animals is taken from the Gwttingcn Pocket Almanac for 

 the year 1779, ^^^ editor of which, as is \\A\ known, was 

 at that period couiifellor Lichtcnberg. In that work I found 

 the moft authentic obfervations of the lateft writers colledcd 



Fioiu Miigctv.'in f'lff da! Nairflr aus dff Phyfk, vol. vii. 



O 2 together. 



