842 FALLACIOUS EXPERIMENTS OF HUNTER. 



much lower. But we have seen, that birds ge- 

 nerate about sixteen, and mammalia above eight 

 times more caloric in a given time, than the same 

 weight of reptiles, therefore must require a longer 

 time to be reduced to the frozen state. In support 

 of the above argument, he found that fresh eggs 

 were a longer time in congealing, ceteris paribus, 

 than after they have been deprived of life by 

 being frozen. But it is known to those who deal 

 in eggs, that fresh ones are warmer to the touch, 

 than after they have been frozen or spoiled by 

 long keeping, and may therefore be supposed to 

 contain more caloric around their particles. For 

 the same reason, fresh blood requires a longer 

 time to congeal than after it has been once frozen, 

 and then raised to its former temperature. 



Hunter was further confirmed in his opinion 

 that " life has the power of regulating animal 

 temperature," because he found that on intro- 

 ducing the bulb of a thermometer into the urethra 

 of a living penis, while immersed in water at 50, 

 it fell from 92 to 58 ; but that in a dead penis it 

 fell to 50. He also found that when a living penis 

 was immersed in water at 118, with the bulb of 

 a thermometer in the urethra, it rose only to 102^, 

 and to 104 when applied to its surface, while the 

 temperature of the water was reduced : but that 

 when he introduced the bulb into the urethra of 

 a dead penis, while immersed in water at 1 18, it 

 rose to 114, without sensibly reducing the tern- 



