UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 91 



as to having the power of sleeping like a clor- 

 ouse or a bear, to whom Providence gives 

 that habit, because they have no means of 

 procuring food, she could not believe that pos- 

 sible. 6( Man has so many resources, that it 

 was evidently unnecessary to endow him with 

 the capability for sleeping away hunger : but I 

 really believe," she added, " that there are peo- 

 ple of such inveterate indolence, that they would 

 sleep for several months to relieve themselves 

 from all care, if they had the power of voluntary 

 torpidity." 



My uncle replied that doubts have been ex- 

 pressed whether it was in any case a voluntary 

 power ; it is asserted that animals never yield to 

 torpidity till driven to it by necessity; and that 

 many of those lethargic animals, while existing 

 during winter on their accumulated fat, which 

 is gradually absorbed into the system, retain 

 the use of their faculties. The cricket is one 

 proof, that animals do not submit to it from 

 choice. This insect passes the hottest part of 

 summer in crevices of walls and heaps of rub- 

 bish ; about the end of August it quits its sum- 

 mer dwelling, and endeavours to establish itself 

 by the fireside, where the comforts of a warm 

 hearth secure it from torpidity. He then men- 

 tioned a colony of crickets which had taken up 

 their abode in a kitchen, where the fire was dis- 

 continued from November to June, except one 



