APPENDIX. 481 



aftivity and exertions, but the circulation of the blond, and the aflive pow- 

 ers of life (lil! remain. And from the one to the other of ihcfe (fates all 

 the animals of which we have any information, have a regular and natural 

 tranfition. When wearied or rtduced by aftivity and exertion, the ani- 

 mal Irame relaxes and yields, and we find in rcll and fleep both relief and 

 refrefhmcnt. When the body has been relieved and refrcfhed by reft, ih« 

 powers of nature feem to be recruited, the pulfe gradually quickens, the 

 organs of fenfc refume their fundlions, and the animal awakes from fleep. 

 In mod animals, both thefe flaies are ncccfTaryto his hcalih and life ; they 

 regularly fucceed each other, and the one is as natural and neceflfary as the 

 other. 



In fome animals this alternate arj rep,ular fucceffion of fleepingand wak- 

 ing is cither not kept up, or it is fubjeft to veiy long periods of lime. 

 Bears, Serpents, Toads, Frogs, Flies, and various other animals arc known 

 to live through the winter months in a torpid Hate. At the approach of 

 cold wather they retire into the earth, to the bottom of waters, or tolbme 

 place of fecurity, and do not appear again till the warmth of fpring has 

 fottened and vivified the earth. They then leave their places of conceal- 

 ment, and come forth into the atmofphere ; app.irently weak at firfl, but 

 not emaciated, lean, or deprived of their flefb. 



During this period of their torpid rtatc, the appearances are, that they 

 exifl without any regular (upplies of food ; but not without fomething 

 that operates to their prefervaiion, fupport, nourifhment, or continuation. 

 As nature is not wearing away by continued aftivity, or by conffaiit per- 

 fpiration, it fhould feem that it does not require ccnftant fupplies of food^ 

 to recruit, what in the torpid ftate is not much fpent or wafted. An ani- 

 mal then may exift in the torpid ftate without regular fupplies of food or 

 "Viftuals, to reftore or recruit that wafte of nature, which always takes place 

 in the aflive, but does not feem to have much tfFeft in the torpid ftate of 

 exiftence. But ftill, fomething is necefTaiv to preferve the animal in that 

 ftate in which it went to fleep, and fell into the infenfible lethargy. In 

 fome animals, water anfwers this purpofe ; in others, earth contributes to 

 the effeft ; in others, a rock, or a tree, or any thing that tends to preferve 

 and fupport the powers of nature, and prevent their being exhaufted. Antl 

 to every fpecies of animals, the author of nature fecms to have given a fa- 

 culty, todifcern and felcft what is beft fuiied to their purpofe. 



Hbw long may an animal exift in a torpid, or in an infenfible ftate ? 

 Many of them, we know from obfervation, do annually live one half the 

 year in this ftate. We have well attefted accounts of a man living many 

 days in a ftate of fleep or torpor ;* of flies, immerfed and corked up in a 

 bottle of Madeira wine in Virginia, and many monthsafter coming tolife, 

 when the wine was opened in London ;+ of a toad that lived eighty or 

 a hundred years in the heart of an old oak at Nantz J And if all the 

 powers of animal life may be fufpended in fuch animals for fo long a peri- 

 od, what fhould prevent their continuance in fuch a ftate for a much longer 

 period of time ; for hundreds, or thoufands, or any given number o£ 

 years ? Or who would pretend to alFign any data, to determine the maxi- 

 mum, to which (nch a ftate might extend? It all circumRances flioulii, 

 remain the fame, as they were when the animal firft went into the torpid 

 Bate, it does not appear that the powers of life miift neccffarily wafte *wij, 



■ * Philofophical Tranfaflions. 

 ■i- Franklin. 



j Mcmoiii of the Academy of StUnccs for 17 19. 



