164 THE LAWS OF ORGANIC 



we have no reason to suppose that life will be de- 

 stroyed, it will be prolonged according to the di- 

 minution of those powers which produce and 

 support it. 



CLXXXI. Cold having occasioned a certain 

 sluggish state of the system, the animal instinc- 

 tively retires from its severity, and fixes its abode 

 for the winter in barns, caves, or holes in the 

 ground. Before it takes up its retreat, the respi- 

 ration, and the production of animal heat, have ex- 

 perienced great alterations; and these changes in its 

 secluded situation progressively increase with the 

 intensity of the cold, till at last the former becomes 

 almost imperceptible, or is performed at great 

 intervals, and the latter is affected to the same 

 extent. " Mr CORNISH applied a thermometer 

 to a torpid bat, and found that it indicated 36 ;" 

 and SPALLANZANI found the chest of a bat, in 

 similar circumstances, to have a temperature as 

 low as 47. We observe, in these instances, a 

 great diminution of temperature, and this never 

 occurs unless it has been preceded by a corres- 

 ponding derangement of the respiratory function. 



At this period the senses are obliterated, the 

 various instincts no longer exist, nor do the ne- 

 cessities of nature any longer prompt the animal 

 to exertion ; its secretions have ceased, nor is there 

 any function in evident action that can materially 

 tend to waste the strength of the body. We per- 

 ceive the slow and almost imperceptible funo 



