118 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 



nation is insufficient, and that whatever the effect 

 of the conversion of oxygen into carbonic acid 

 may be, there must be some other source of 

 animal heat. 



I shall conclude this note with adducing some 

 other facts, which lead to the same conclusion, 

 and which indeed seem to be in themselves suffi- 

 cient to prove that the production of animal heat 

 is a subject which requires still further investi- 

 gation. 



1. The various animals of the class Mammalia 

 have nearly the same temperature, the differ- 

 ence between them being not more than one or 

 two degrees of Fahrenheit's thermometer. There 

 is, however, reason to believe that there is a 

 great difference as to the quantity of oxygen 

 which they consume in respiration. Thus M. 

 Le Gallois found, that in the space of 3 hours a 

 rabbit, weighing 947 grammes, consumed only 

 2724 cubic centimetres; while a dog, weighing 

 917 grammes, consumed 5503 cubic centimetres ; 

 and a cat, weighing 634 grammes, consumed as 

 much as 3963 cubic centimetres in the same 

 space of time.* 



2. In the course of his researches, M. Le Gal- 

 lois found that living rabbits, merely from being 

 confined in a restrained position on the back, gra- 

 dually became of a lower temperature ; and he 

 observes, that if this experiment were continued 

 for a considerable length of time, the cooling 



* QEuvres de Le Galloie, tome ii. 



