HYBERNATION. 



S97 



atmosphere wa* at 26*, the beat of the animal in the 

 cavity of the abdomen, where an incision was made, 

 was reduced so low as 30. The same animal, when 

 exposed to the cold atmoiphere of 26* for two day, 

 had its heat at the rectum elevated to 93*, the wound 

 in the abdomen being so much diminished in size 

 as not to admit the thermometer. At this time, how. 

 . it was lively and active, and the bed in which 

 it lay t't-lt warm. As this animal allowed its heat to 

 descend to 30, wben in its natural state of torpidity, 

 and when there was no necessity for action, the in- 

 cnMed temperature cannot be attributed to the cold, 

 but to the wound, which called forth the powers 

 f the annual to repair an injury, which reparation 

 could not be effected at a temperature below the stand- 

 ard heat of the animal. The sources of error in making 

 experiments where the living principle is concerned 

 are so numerous that attention ought to I* bestowed 

 on every circumstance likely to influence the result. 



The aiel, (Arctomyt citillut), according to Pallas, 

 usually possesses a summer temperature of 10.1 Fahr. 

 but during winter, and when torpid, the mercury rise* 

 only to 8O" or 84. The temperature of the dormouM 

 (Jfjwni* mtucard'amt) during summer, and in its active 

 and healthy state, is 101". When rolled up and torpid 

 during winter, the thermometer indicate* 43 J , 9, and 

 even 55, on the external parts of the body. When in- 

 traduced into the stomach, the temperature was found to 

 be 67', and sometimes 73'- Mngili found this animal 

 torpid even wben the temperature of the air waa 66". 

 Hence he considers it a* the most tetnaiwk of anonab. 



The marmot ( Arctamyt marmota) poaatssti a sum- 

 mer temperature of 101 or 108", which is gradually 

 reduced in the torpid season to 43, and even lower. 



Bat* have a temperature in summer nearly equal to 

 that of marmots. They are soon affected by the 

 I of the atmosphere, and they cca*c to respire in 

 i of 43. In the month of July, the thermo- 

 r standing at HO', the internal temperature of a bat 

 was 101 . which i* just the degree of heat in a group 

 of them collected together in summer, and may there- 

 fore be considered a the natural standard. Mr Cor- 

 ni-li applied a thermometer to a torpid bat, and found 

 that it indicated 36'. When awakened so much that 

 it could fly a little, he again applied the thermometer. 

 and it thru indicate.! 38 . SJlillmsMsjj found a bat, 

 after being exposed an hour to a temperature of 4* 9 , to 



e chest 

 freezing j.- 



as the surrounding medinm, yet it always remains in. 

 ;hrr than the low temperature produced ar- 

 tiScially, though the skin indicate* the same. 



The wood-mouse ( Mm iv/nMinu) became torpid, ac- 

 cording to S[llan*ani, wtien the thermometer in it. 

 cage stood Che temperature of the belly ex- 



ternally was 45*, but it* internal temperature M not 

 rmhed even by a degree of cold sufficient to 

 - it very torpid. 



In these experiments we observe, that the tempera- 

 ture of these hybcrnatnuf quadrupeds it greatly re- 

 duced below the SUSMUIII standard, or the ordinary 

 temperature of the animal in health and activity 

 however, they continue to maintain a superiority in 

 point <>f temperature above the surrounding medium, in 

 whatever circumstances they are placed. Even in this 

 torpid state, the energies of 'life, though feeble, are still 

 imcieiit to the production of a certain quantity of 

 'it.it. 



iiuiu MI mupcnmv OT , <0 



-bulb of the thermometer being placed 



rt; exposed to a tsuiuoiatun of btluw the 



the heat of the animal became the same 



Animal* 



which 



beooine 



Torpid. 



*. Diminished Ktspiration. In this, as in all the 

 other departments of this curious subject, accurate and 

 varied experiments are still wanting. The following 

 are the principal facts which we have collected on the 

 subject. 



The hedgehog, according to Professor Manpili, who K 

 has bestowed more attention on this part of the sub- ** 

 ject than any of his predecessors, respires only from 

 five to seven times in a minute during ordinary repose. 

 When it becomes torpid, the process of respiration is 

 periodically suspended and renewed. Thus a hedge- 

 hog, obtained after it had revived naturally from its 

 winter lethargy in April, was placed in a chamber 

 whose temperature was about 5*. It refused ve?e- 

 table food, and became torpid, and continued in that 

 state to the tenth of May. At first, after even- fifteen 

 minutes of absolute repose, it pave from thirty to thirty- 

 five consecutive signs of languid respiration. In the 

 beginning of May, when the thermometer was about 

 gave from seven to ten consecutive respirations. 

 after an interval of ten minutes of absolute rqio-r. 

 I'pon lowering the temperature, the intervals of repose 

 became greater, while the number of respirations in- 

 cruMed to eighteen or twenty. 



Marmots, according to the same author, when in 

 health ?nd active, perform about five hundred rr^pira- 

 tions in an hour, but when in a torpid state, the num- 

 ber is reduced to fourteen, and these at intervals of 

 four minutes, or four minutes and a half, of absolute 



Bats, when kept in a chamber from 45* to 50*, were 

 observed at the end of every two, three, or four mi. 

 nutes of absolute repose, to give four signs of respira- 

 tion. Spalbmuni, not aware of these periodical inter- 

 vals of repose, could not discover any signs of respira- 

 tion. Indent, when their temperature is reduced to 

 about 47", this function does not appear to be exer- 



O Vti. 



The dormouse, when in a torpid state on the 

 December, exhibited a languid respiration of one hun- 

 dred and forty times in forty-two minutes. On the 

 tenth of January, the thermometer being at 4.T 9 , it re- 

 spired at intervals in the following manner, according 

 to Mangili. 



In some instances, the intervals of repose or tucpended 

 respiration lasted sixteen minute*. 



Mangili also found the fat dormouse (3fonrt glu) 

 when in a torpid state on the 87th December, and when 

 the thermometer indicated 40", to respire at intervals. 

 After every four minutes of repose, it respired front 

 twenty-two to twenty -four times every minute and a 

 half. The thermometer being raised one degree of 

 Reaumur, the intervals became only three minutes. 

 The temperature being reduct ' 'he intervals of 



repose became four *nd the consecutive re- 



spiration* twenty to twenty-sis. The cold increasing, 



