SPIDERS AND THEIR HABITS. 109 



changes in the weather. Further observations con- 

 firmed him iu believing these creatures to be in the 

 highest degree sensitive of atmospheric influence, 

 and that their retirement and reappearance, their 

 weaving, and general habits, were so intimately con- 

 nected with variations in the weather, that he con- 

 sidered they were of all things best fitted to give 

 accurate intimation when severe seasons, or the 

 reverse, might be expected. In short, he pursued 

 these inquiries with so much industry and intelli- 

 gence, that, by remarking the habits of his spiders, 

 he was at length enabled to prognosticate the ap- 

 proach of stormy weather from ten to fourteen days 

 before it set in, which is proved by the following 

 facts, which ultimately led to his release. 



When the troops of the French Kepublic over- 

 ran Holland in the winter of 1794, and kept rush- 

 ing forward over the ice, a sudden and unexpected 

 thaw, in the early part of the month of December, 

 threatened the destruction of the whole army unless 

 it were instantly withdrawn. The French generals 

 were thinking seriously of accepting a sum offered 

 by the Dutch and withdrawing their troops, when 

 dTsjouvil, who hoped that the success of the Ee- 

 publican army might lead to his release, used every 

 exertion, and at length succeeded in getting a letter 

 conveyed to the French general in January 1795, 

 in which he pledged himself, from the peculiar 



