92 



and the hinder limbs are pushed against the diaphragm, 

 so as to interrupt its motions, and to impede the flow 

 of blood through the large vessels which penetrate 

 it, and the longitudinal extension of the cavity of 

 the thorax is entirely obstructed." Such is the phe- 

 nomenon of the animal cradled in torpidity. Con- 

 trary to the opinion sustained by Mr. Gough and 

 others, animals prepare for the singular state from in- 

 stinctive feeling or presentiment, just as the silk- worm 

 prepares its cocoon, where, wrapped up like a mum- 

 my in its sycamore coffin, it awaits its remarkable 

 transformation. 



We rest secure in this opinion, and acknowledge it 

 as additional evidence of that provident care which 

 excites our wonder and delight. A peculiar organ- 

 isation is no doubt superadded by creative wisdom 

 for this purpose ; and Sir Anthony Carlisle informs us, 

 that animals of the class mammalia, which become 

 torpid in winter, have at all times a power of subsist- 

 ing under a confined respiration, which would destroy 

 other animals not possessed of this singular habit : he 

 also discovered in them a peculiar structure of the 

 heart and its principal veins. We may safely, there- 

 fore, draw from these premises the following conclu- 

 sions, and they certainly seem inductive and warranted 

 inferences : 



I. Some animals as naturally pass, by instinctive 

 feeling, into the state of torpidity, as the swallow and 

 other birds migrate, till Providence in due time re- 

 stores to them their natural and necessary food. It 

 is not doubted that there is a peculiar organisation 

 fitted for these extraordinary functions, and subservient 

 to this peculiar phenomenon. Night is the season for 

 common and temporary repose the winter of the 

 year for this extraordinary sleep. 



