58 PHILOSOPHY OF ZOOLOGY. 



testines discover not the smallest sign of irritability upon 

 the application of alcohol or sulphuric acid. During the 

 operation, the animal sometimes opens its mouth, as if it 

 wanted to respire, but the lethargy is too powerful to ad- 

 mit of its reviviscence. 



Marmots are not roused from their torpid state by an 

 electric spark, strong enough to give a smart sensation to 

 the hand, and a shock from a Leyden phial only excites 

 them for a short time. They are insensible to pricking 

 their feet and nose, and remain motionless and apparently 

 dead. Bats are also equally insensible to the application 

 of stimuli. 



The most carious experiments on this subject are those 

 ofMANGiLi. Having killed a marmot in a torpid state, 

 he found the stomach empty and collapsed, the intestines 

 likewise empty, but there was a little faecal matter in the 

 coecum and rectum. The blood flowed quickly from the 

 heart, and in two hours yielded a great quantity of serum. 

 The veins in the brain were very full of blood. The heart 

 continued to beat during three hours after. The head 

 and neck having been separated from the tn.mk, and placed 

 in spirits of Avine, gave signs of motion even after half an 

 hour had elapsed. Some }x>rtions of the voluntary muscles 

 gave symptoms of irritability Avith galvanism four hours af- 

 ter death. In a marmot killed in full health, the heart 

 had ceased to beat at the end of fifty minutes. The flesh 

 lost all signs of irritability in two hours ; the intercostal 

 and abdominal muscles retaining it longer than those of 

 any other part of the body. 



5 . Diminished Action of the Digestive Organs. — The 

 digestive functions in torpid animals are exceedingly feeble, 

 and in general cease altogether. The situation, and still 

 more the lethargic state of the system, render this process 

 unnecessary. The intestines are in general empty, and in 



