AND ANIMAL LIFE. 89 



cretory organs are invariably deranged, at times 

 almost suppressed, and although there may be a 

 difference in the delicacy of organic functions 

 in the higher and lower gradations of the animal 

 creation, yet, when we perceive the temperature 

 of a being, perhaps not less sensibly constituted 

 than ourselves, from 15 to 23 degrees beneath its 

 natural standard, have we a right, as observers of 

 cause and effect, to anticipate ordinary conse- 

 quences ? In the whole class of hibernating 

 animals, whose peculiarity it is to dose away a 

 third or fourth part of their existence at a pe- 

 riod of the year when their necessities could not 

 be supplied, the feelings which prompt them to 

 look out for food weaken with the diminution 

 of their temperature ; and as these feelings, in 

 health, are proportionate to the activity of inter- 

 nal functions, it is manifest that the influence of 

 cold, whether arising from external or internal 

 conditions, has a regularity in its action, and a 

 uniformity in its effects. The nature of my ex- 

 periments compelled me to keep a great number 

 of rabbits, and the necessity of passing many 

 hours a-day among them, readily disposed me to 

 investigate their habits, and to consider the agen- 

 cy of general causes upon their economy or sys- 

 tem, such as heat, cold, and perturbations of the 

 mind. Whenever the heat was increased by a 

 change in the seasons, or by additional warmth 

 in the room, the animals became more lively, 



