37,2 O.F 1 N F A N C Y. 



to breathe, and another half hour after It had 

 refpired,. feemed to be very little incommoded ; 

 for it foon recovered, and was as ad:ive and livelv 

 as thofe which had received no injury. Of the 

 fix that were brought forth in the air, I threw 

 away four; fothat there remained only two 

 with the mother, befide the one that had been 

 littered in the water. I continued my experi- 

 ments upon the other two which had been twice 

 immerfed in the milk \ After allowing them to 

 breathe about half an hour, 1 plunged them a 

 third time into the milk, where they remained 

 another half hour. Wheiher they fwallowed any 

 of the milk, I could not determine ; but, when 

 removed, they appeared to be nearly as vigorous 

 as before their immerfion. Having carried them, 

 to the mother, however, one of them died that 

 fame day; but I know not whether its death 

 was owing to fome accident, or to the injury it 

 received from being pjunged into the milk, and 

 deprived of air. The other lived as well as the 

 iirft ; and both grew up, and were equally vi- 

 gorous as thofe which had not been fubje£ted to 

 the experiment. I puflied thefe trials no far- 

 ther : But I learned enough to convince me, 

 that refpiration is not fo indi-fpenfibly necelTary 

 to the exiftence of a new-born animal, as- to an 

 adult; and that, by employing certain precau- 

 tions, it is, perhaps, poffible to keep the foramen- 

 ovale open, and, by this means, produce excel- 

 lent divers, or a fpecies of amphibious animals, 



whiclt 



