+ 
i120 THE CANINE FAMILY 
exceeds twenty years. The phenomena of gestation 
in canines demand some observations, from the 
number of whelps produced at a birth by animals 
destined to make violent exertions to obtain their 
daily food, and therefore not fitted to be imactive 
for any length of time. It appears that the young 
are produced in a premature condition, for they are 
born blind; and while they remain in this state, 
the foramen ovale is still open, according to the 
experiments attributed to Mr Edwards.* But it 
appears, in the work of that able observer, that he 
regards the blindness of the new-born animal rather 
as a proof that the vital action is not sufficiently 
energetic to generate animal heat, a process effected 
by the combined action of the nervous and vascular 
systems ; and that animals born with their eyes open 
are more mature. But whether under these cireum- 
stances their blood is imperfectly arterialized, or the 
vital energy be as yet insufficient, and consequently 
that if they be removed from the nest, or for any 
length of time from the maternal warmth, it is a fact 
that they soon cool down to the temperature of the 
surrounding atmosphere and perish. Now, the in- 
complete and helpless state of these animals, in their 
* Edwards sur la vie-—This conclusion may demand some 
qualification ; for we are informed by a medical officer in the 
Royal Navyy—one of unquestioned ability and experience—- 
that in opening a seaman killed by a fall, the foramen ovale 
was found open, admitting the passage of a quill; yet the man 
had been as strong, active, and healthy, as any other person 
on board. 
eh 
