154 EXPERIMENTS ON INSECT LIFE. 



can abbreviate instead of prolonging the term of existence. 

 Enclosing his chrysalides in the interior of a glass egg, 

 Reaumur called in the assistance of a brooding hen to hatch 

 the butterflies he willed into a prematurity of perfect form, 

 some of which appeared, accordingly, in four, instead of four- 

 teen, days. Others, in a similar state, being placed in a hot- 

 house, were forced to expand amidst the snows of January 

 the wings which, in the course of nature, would have fanned 

 the flowers of May; and the life of the perfect insects re- 

 maining the same, the sum total of their existence was, of 

 course, proportionably shortened. It is observed by Kirby 

 and Spence, with reference to these experiments, that Para- 

 celsus would, on this discovery, have renewed his search after 

 the elixir of immortality ; and Re'aumur himself appeared to 

 view, as something a little more substantial than mere chimera, 

 its possible application to mankind. He had also found that 

 by varnishing the skins of chrysalides, so as to prevent ab- 

 sorption, the appearance of the winged insect was retarded 

 for two months ; whereupon, reasoning by analogy, he sup- 

 posed that human existence might be lengthened in like 

 manner by the checking of perspiration, suggesting, gravely, 

 that the experiment might be tried on condemned criminals. 

 The encouragement of transpiration, by means of warm 

 clothing or other appliances, he considers, on the contrary, 

 as likely to abbreviate our natural term. 



From experimental fact and philosophical deduction, the 



