244 THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. 



You should be told, also, that living trees, 

 and shrubs, and plants, and seeds, have this 

 same power of resisting the cold in a degree 

 that animals have. Trees do not often 

 freeze very hard. Were it not for this con- 

 trivance of the great Creator, everything 

 would perish in the winter ; and we should 

 have no beautiful trees and green fields in the 

 spring. Besides, if we had, there would be no 

 men and other animals alive to enjoy them. 



But we not only have this wonderful power 

 of resisting cold ; we are also equally able to 

 resist extreme heat. -By long practice, men 

 have become able to remain in ovens and other 

 places, heated to 220, and even 270 of 

 Fahrenheit, for ten or twelve minutes at a time. 

 The only serious inconvenience which arises 

 in such cases is a profuse perspiration.* But 

 a piece of flesh without life would, in ten min- 



* Perspiration always modifies the heat of the hu- 

 man body more or less, and is one means of keep- 

 ing us cool. The reason is, that the moisture on the 

 surface of our bodies evaporates ; and this produces 

 cold. It is said that you may almost freeze a man 

 in midsummer, by keeping him wet with ether ; so 

 rapidly does the ether evaporate. 



