THE HAMSTER. 443 



they are farther rewarded by tlie skins of the animals, 

 which are esteemed valuable furs. 



In some seasons, the Hamsters are so numerous, 

 that they occasion a dearth of corn. In one year, 

 about 1 1,000 skins ; in a second 54,000 ; and in a 

 third 3rear 80,000 ; were brought to the Town-house 

 of Gotha, as vouchers of claims to the rewards al- 

 lowed for the destruction of the animals. 



The Hamster sleeps during the winter ; and 

 though neither respiration nor any kind of feeling 

 can be perceived in this state, yet the heart has been 

 discovered (by opening the chest) to beat fifteen 

 times in a minute. The blood continues fluid : but 

 the intestines are not irritable ; and, in the open air, 

 he does not become torpid. When found- in a state 

 of torpidity, his head is bent under his belly, be- 

 tween the two fore-legs, and the hind-legs rest upon 

 iiis muzzle. The eyes are closed ; and when the 

 eye-lids are forced open, they instantly shut again. 

 The merrsbers are all stiff, and the body feels as cold 

 as ice ; and if he is even dissected in this state, his 

 lethargy is too strong to admit of liis waking entirelv. 



The stupor of the Hamster has been ascribed 

 solely to a certain degree of cold ; but experience 

 has proved, that to render him torpid, he must also 

 be excluded from all communication with the ex- 

 ternal air : for when one of them is shut up in a 

 cage filled with earth and straw, and exposed in win- 

 ter to a degree of cold even sufficient to freeze 

 v.ater, he never becomes so. But when the case is 

 sunk four or five feet under-ground, and well se- 

 cured against the access of air, at the end of eight 



