ANunalcuhiy in Snoiv. . hi 



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I am conscious of the unrequited lia/.ard of a siaieniojiL of any 

 facts, inconsistent with ordinary observation ; }'et 1 am equally con- 

 scious of the propriety of cotirage to bear witness to trnthS; however 

 extraoi'dinary may be their aspect. 



With this, perhaps necessary preface, I will state to you a plic- 

 uomenon which, a {^v^ winters ago, came within my observation, as 

 well as that of most of my friends, wlio are in the habit of social in- 

 tercourse with me. 



When tlie winter had made a considerable j^ogress, without much 

 frost, there happened a heavy fall of snow ; apprehending that 1 might 



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not have an opportunity of filling my ice house with ice, I threw in 

 snow, perliaps enough to half fill it ; there Avas afterwards severely 

 cold weather, and I filled the remainder w^tli ice ; about August the 

 waste and consumption of the ice, brought us down to the snow; 

 when it Avas discovered that a glass of water which w^as cooled with 

 it, contained hundreds of animalcules; I then examined another glass 

 of water, out of the same pitcher, and with the aid of a microscope, 

 before the snow w^as put into it, found it perfectly clear and pure; 

 the snow was then thrown into it, and on solution the water again ex- 

 hibited the same phenomenon; hundreds of animalcules, visible to 

 the naked eye with acute attention, and when viewed through the 

 microscope resembling most diminutive shrimps, and wholly unlike 

 the eels discovered in the acetous acid, were seen in the full enjoj'- 

 ment of animated nature, 



I caused holes to be dug in several parts of the mass of snow irt 

 the ice house, and to the centre of it; and in the most unequivocal 

 and repeated experiments had similar results ; so that my family did 

 not again venture to introduce the snow ice into tlie water they drank, 

 which had been a favorite mediod, but used it as an external refri- 

 gerant for the pitcher. 



I ask, whence these animalcules could possibly have been derived; 

 how, and where generated ? how so intimately mixed with the mass 



of snow ? 



That they should have been capable of enduring the temperature 



in which they were immersed was, certainly, not anomalous in tlie 

 animal economy ; instances innumerable have established, that tlie 

 living animal is possessed of a peculiar power to generate heat and 

 support its own temperature under astonishing circumstances ; and 

 as a well known i)hysiologist has remarked, " whether environed by 

 Vol. XVIIL— No. 1. 8 



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